Tag: wildfire

Los Angeles fire officials were reportedly distracted by special requests from politicians and high-profile residents during the first crucial hours of the Woolsey Fire last November, an after-action report of the wildfire said this week. The requests were mostly to ensure the safety of specific homes as the fire spread rapidly through the county, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. The review did not say which politicians and VIPs were involved or how the requests affected the firefight. “We have to understand we probably have some of the wealthiest communities in America, and with that comes a certain amount of political power,” Los Angeles Fire Assistant Chief Tim Ernst said in the interview Friday, the Times reported. He said that any requests should go through the proper channels to make sure they don’t become a distraction. Ernst added that requests from politicians are common during most large-scale wildfires. Four people died in the fire that started Nov. 8 and burned 96,949 acres; it was the most destructive wildfire in modern California history with more than 1,600 structures were destroyed. The Ventura County Fire Department used up most of its resources on the Hill Fire which started just before the Woolsey Fire but burned fewer than 5,000 acres, leaving the LAFD and L.A. County Fire Department to deal with the Woolsey Fire themselves, the L.A. Times reported. During the initial hours of the fire, firefighters reportedly said there wasn’t enough water, direction and communication from fire incident leaders.

Many of the missing are in their 80s and 90s and authorities acknowledge that dozens more could still be unaccounted for; Claudia Cowan reports on the aftermath of California's deadliest wildfire. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news…

42 dead, over 200 missing and 52,000 evacuated in Northern California; Claudia Cowan reports from Paradise. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number…

Live at 2 pm ET: Officials hold a press conference in Thousand Oaks, California to provide updates on the Woolsey fire. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political…

27,000 people have already been evacuated. Claudia Cowan reports from Paradise, California. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable,…

The Holy Fire in Southern California has burned more than nine-thousand acres. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable,…

SACRAMENTO, California (The Borowitz Report)—Californians were baffled on Monday by a series of tweets by Donald J. Trump in which he utterly failed to blame the state’s current wildfires on Hillary Clinton. In interviews with residents up and down the Golden State, Californians agreed with the assessment of Harland Dorrinson, a Modesto native, that Trump’s failure to pin the fires on Clinton was “nothing short of bizarre.” “When he said that there wasn’t enough water to put out the fires, I naturally assumed he was going to accuse Hillary Clinton of sneaking into California and somehow stealing all of our water,” Dorrinson said. “It was so confusing when he didn’t.” “I thought that the wildfires would be a perfect opportunity for Trump to accuse Hillary of being anti-water and pro-fire, but he didn’t even mention her,” Tracy Klugian, who lives in San Jose, said. “Maybe he’s really distracted by all this Russia stuff and he’s off his game.” Carol Foyler, who lives in Monterey, said that Trump’s failure to accuse Hillary Clinton of single-handedly causing the wildfires left her shaken and appalled. “At a time when many of us in California are suffering from historic wildfires, we look to the President of the United States to blame them on Hillary Clinton,” she said. “And he let us down.”

Fueled by soaring temperatures, erratic winds, dry air and heavy vegetation, the Carr fire scorched more than 32,000 acres overnight and was only 5% contained, according to Cal Fire. CNN's Dan Simon reports from Redding, California.