A new law will allow some California inmates who fight wildfires to have their records expunged

Sep 16, 2020
A new law clears the way for some offenders to become EMTs, and eventually firefighters, after they're released.
Inmate firefighters arrive at the scene of a fire in Whitewater, California, in August.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

As wildfires continue, air quality impacts farmworkers — masks requirements vary

Sep 15, 2020
California has regulations, but it's been hard to get PPE to workers in the fields. There's no federal standard.
Cars drive below an orange sky filled with wildfire smoke in Concord, California, on Sept. 9.
Brittany Hosea-Small/AFP via Getty Images

For 2 California volunteer firefighters, the losses hit home

Sep 14, 2020
Fire decimates the neighborhood where they both grew up.
Brandon North and Becca Brown-Dehner grieve the loss of their two family homes at Spanish Flat Mobile Villa in Napa County, California.
Lesley McClurg/KQED

Insurance companies face their own risks as wildfires continue

Sep 10, 2020
Climate change and regulated rates are making it harder for insurance companies to do business at a time when fire risk is growing.
A firefighter douses flames as they push toward homes during the Creek Fire in Madera County, California, on Sept. 7.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Insurance increasingly unaffordable as climate change brings more disasters

Aug 31, 2020
In California, homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas are finding insurance is harder to find, costs more and is worth less.
The LNU Lightning Complex Fire burns through Napa on Aug. 18, 2020.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

People need basic resources to evacuate safely from disaster zones

Aug 26, 2020
As people in the U.S. flee wildfires and a hurricane, they may need a car, tank of gas, enough money for a hotel room or place to stay where they can socially distance.
A resident runs into a home to save a dog while flames from the Hennessey fire get closer in Napa, California, on Aug. 18.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Ron Howard on his documentary 'Rebuilding Paradise'

Jul 30, 2020
The director trained his lens on the people of Paradise, California, whose lives were transformed after their town was ravaged by fire.
A home burns as the Camp Fire rages through Paradise, California, in November 2018.
Noah Berger

For public good, not for profit.

California mayors want customers to run PG&E

Nov 5, 2019
Several California cities are pushing for a public takeover of the investor-owned utility.
A fallen PG&E utility pole lays on a property burned during the Kincade Fire in Healdsburg, California on Oct. 28, 2019.
Philip Pachecho/AFP via Getty Images

Who pays for California's wildfires?

Oct 28, 2019
Multiple wildfires continue to burn in California, prompting evacuations, preventive power outages and a scramble for funds to pay to fight the fires.
A home burns during the deadly 2018 Camp fire in Northern California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California utility is reportedly considering bankruptcy after wildfires

Jan 7, 2019
California lawmakers are back in session after a holiday break, and a new governor is in place. One of the sticky issues all those folks might have to confront is what to do about the troubled utility Pacific Gas and Electric. The investor-owned utility provides gas and electricity to more than 5 million Californians. And […]