Long after wildfires race through rural communities, mobile home parks still await rebuilding

May 25, 2022
In September 2020, blazes destroyed many homes and RVs in mobile home parks. Rebuilding plans call for publicly funded affordable housing.
Charred tree stumps and barren home pads are among the few remnants of the Lazy Days mobile home park site in Blue River, Oregon.
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace

Quantifying climate risk goes mainstream

May 16, 2022
People seeking to minimize flood and fire risk when looking for a home have new tools to guide them.
The 2017 Tubbs Fire decimated neighborhoods. Many people are seeking safer homes as fire risk worsens, but there are few tools to help them.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

U.S. Forest Service is short thousands of firefighters amid pay raise delay

May 10, 2022
With a pay raise funded by the infrastructure bill stuck in bureaucratic morass, the agency is struggling to staff up to the full force it needs.
Many firefighters have sounded alarms about crews and forests being critically short-staffed, even as they prepare for what is expected to be another challenging summer.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires in April signal growing costs of climate change

Apr 26, 2022
What to do when fuel for fires seems infinite, but resources to fight fires is decidedly finite?
As the risk for wildfires rises, small cities struggle to find the resources to combat them.

California utility PG&E agrees to pay $55 million settlement to avoid fire prosecution

Apr 12, 2022
Attorneys said they decided to pursue a civil prosecution instead of criminal charges to "maximize the return to the fire victims rather than to seek criminal penalties."
The PG&E settlement money will go toward fire prevention but lets the company avoid criminal charges.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

How much is climate a factor in where people are moving?

Jan 28, 2022
Duluth, Minnesota, is welcoming people who say they are moving away from places like California because of climate concerns.
Doug Kouma moved to Duluth, Minnesota, from Sonoma County, California, in 2019. He said Duluth may soon be known as a "climate migration hub."
Dan Kraker/MPR News

In fire-prone California, experts push utilities to monitor the riskiest equipment on the grid

Jan 6, 2022
Power lines and equipment have sparked devastating blazes. Now companies are asked to take stock of their aging infrastructure.
Utilities have been making upgrades to their systems. Above, workers re-anchor a pole that suspends power lines outside Acton, California.
Lily Jamali/Marketplace

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Prescribed burns can help reduce wildfire threat in the West

Nov 17, 2021
Managed burns take communication between federal officials and locals.
A U.S. Forest Service truck drives along a dirt road in the Albion Mountains in southern Idaho. Prescribed burns in the area can reduce overgrown vegetation that’s crowding out the iconic aspen tree.
Madelyn Beck/Mountain West News Bureau.

Climate change may force 200 million people to migrate, study says

Sep 14, 2021
And the mass migrations could start within a decade, according to a new report from the World Bank.
A farmer walks among orange trees dried out by a drought in Morocco's southern plains in October 2020. Water scarcity will likely be a cause of migration in Northern Africa over the coming decades, according to a World Bank report.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires have given parts of the West some of the worst air quality in the world

Aug 27, 2021
Even the East Coast has had air quality issues due to this summer's wildfire smoke.
The San Francisco skyline is only partially visible through smoky conditions in September 2020. Smoke from recent wildfires have caused Nevada and other parts of California to have unhealthy and hazardous air quality.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images