Latest Wildfire Headlines

All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Washington Saw 567 Square Miles Burned by Wildfires

Sep 22 2014 // Wildfires this summer in Washington have burned about 567 square miles. Last year wildfires burned about 156 square miles in the state. State Forester Aaron Everett said this year’s scorched acreage is about six...

Explosive Growth From California Wildfire Threatens Homes

Sep 19 2014 // An out-of-control wildfire that was threatening more than 2,000 homes in Northern California showed explosive growth, consuming tens of thousands of additional acres, fire officials said Thursday. The fire east of...

California Fire’s Rapid Growth Draws Droves of Firefighters

Sep 17 2014 // Just days after a wildfire tore through a small Northern California town and destroyed scores of homes, crews on Wednesday battled another fast-moving blaze in the region that was also threatening residences. Hundreds of...

100 Homes Destroyed by Northern California Wildfire

Sep 16 2014 // A wind-driven fire cut through a small California town near the Oregon border on Monday damaging or destroying 100 homes and prompting evacuation orders for at least 1,500 people, authorities said. The town near the base...

Washington Governor Asks Feds to Reconsider Aid for State’s Largest Wildfire

Sep 12 2014 // Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is asking the federal government to reconsider providing federal aid to people hurt by the state’s largest wildfire. Inslee said that more homes were destroyed or damaged than initially...

Washington Saw 567 Square Miles Burned by Wildfires

Sep 12 2014 // Wildfires this summer in Washington have burned about 567 square miles. Last year wildfires burned about 156 square miles in the state. State Forester Aaron Everett says this year’s scorched acreage is about six...

Southern California Fire Danger Rises Amid Heat Wave

Sep 12 2014 // Forecasters say a heat wave building across Southern California will elevate fire danger through early next week. The National Weather Service says temperatures will edge upward to around 100 degrees in warmest areas...

Insureds Rarely Have Home Inventories Despite Benefits, Say Claims Pros

Sep 8 2014 // Despite big storms and wildfires highlighting the need, home inventories are rare, say insurance industry experts. A recent Allstate Insurance survey of Atlanta homeowners found that while than more than 90 percent of...

Wildfire Spending In Oregon Triggers Lloyd’s Insurance Policy

Sep 5 2014 // Oregon’s tough wildfire season has pushed spending to the point the state Department of Forest is tapping its special insurance policy for the second year in a row. The Bulletin reported that state wildfire costs...

More Evacuations in Northern California Wildfire

Sep 4 2014 // Crews battling a wildfire in a far Northern California forest have expanded a mandatory evacuation order and expect another day of gusty winds and dry conditions that could push the fire over containment lines and into...

New Firefighting Strategy Unveiled by Colorado

Aug 21 2014 // Colorado will begin a new strategy for fighting wildfires in the coming weeks by deploying aircraft designed to pinpoint the location of blazes quicker after the first smoke sighting. The goal is to identify the location...

Eight Homes, 10 Buildings Destroyed by California Wildfire

Aug 21 2014 // A wildfire northeast of Bakersfield, Calif. has destroyed eight homes and 10 other structures, authorities said, but residents of some 200 homes under evacuation orders were allowed to return home Wednesday evening. The...

Wildfire Near Yosemite In California Threatens 500 Structures

Aug 19 2014 // Firefighters from throughout California have been dispatched today to protect homes threatened by a wildfire near Yosemite National Park. The nearly 2-square-mile blaze in Madera County had destroyed eight structures and...

Insureds Rarely Have Home Inventories Despite Benefits, Say Claims Pros

Aug 18 2014 // Despite big storms and wildfires highlighting the need, home inventories are rare, say insurance industry experts. A recent Allstate Insurance survey of Atlanta homeowners found that while than more than 90 percent of...

Hundreds of Oregon Households Told to Flee Wildfire

Aug 8 2014 // A new wildfire pushed by gusting winds threatens the small Columbia River Gorge community of Rowena, Ore., where residents of 275 homes had been told to evacuate. The fire made a run along the river in the evening on Aug....

U.S. Fire Prevention Budget Tapped to Fight Summer’s Wildfires

Aug 8 2014 // The U.S. Forest Service will soon have to scale back some projects designed to help prevent wildfires so that it can meet the expenses of fighting this summer’s round of fires. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said...

Wildfires Burn Structures, Threaten Homes In California, Oregon, Washington

Aug 5 2014 // Two wildfires that burned or threatened hundreds of homes in Northern California were bearing down on a small town as they plowed through more than 100 square miles of drought-stricken brush, and Tuesday brought a chance...

Wildfires Prompt California Governor to Declare State of Emergency

Aug 4 2014 // A pair of wildfires burning without restraint about 8 miles apart in northeast California became the focus of state and federal firefighters Sunday as authorities reported that one of the blazes had destroyed eight homes...

AP Finds That Wildfire Citations in California Applied Unevenly

Aug 4 2014 // A review by The Associated Press of California government data has found a wide discrepancy in how state and local fire officials apply fines and citations for failing to clear vegetation in areas prone to wildland...

Cost Of Fighting Washington Wildfires So Far: $50 Million

Jul 29 2014 // The cost of fighting this season’s wildfires in Washington, including the largest one in the state’s history, has crossed the $50 million mark. Bolstered by the nearly 400-square-mile wildfire in north-central...