Latest Wildfires News
Safer buildings vs more housing: How new building codes may impact Hawaii
A month after wildfires ravaged Maui in August 2023, Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation to postpone the adoption of any new building codes that might exacerbate a housing shortage that had just gotten worse. The governor’s office is now moving to fast-track adoption...
Second teen charged in New Jersey forest fire as rain should help douse New York blaze
A second teenager was charged with intentionally setting a wildfire in a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia as “significant” rainfall was expected to help douse a stubborn wildfire burning on the New Jersey-New York border Wednesday. Many parts of the Northeast have been under red...
Maui Invitational returns to a Lahaina still grappling with raw emotions left by deadly wildfire
HONOLULU (AP) — Three generations of TJ Rickard’s family lost their homes in the deadly Maui wildfire more than a year ago, and he and his extended family still have not rebuilt. That leaves Rickard, a high school basketball coach, conflicted about next week's return of the storied Maui...
Police in Massachusetts arrest man on charge of intentionally setting brush fires
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — A man was arrested on suspicion of intentionally setting brush fires in Massachusetts during a time of dry conditions that have led to blazes throughout the Northeast, police said Monday. Police said they arrested the 72-year-old Attleboro man during a...
More logging is proposed to help curb wildfires in the US Pacific Northwest
U.S. officials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest in the name of fighting wildfires and boosting rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan that’s been in place for three decades. The U.S. Forest Service...
Wildfire threat continues in much of the US Northeast as dry conditions persist
Firefighters in New York said Sunday that a voluntary evacuation overnight helped them protect more than 160 homes from a stubborn wildfire near the New Jersey border as officials in much of the Northeast coped with hundreds of brush fires in tinder-dry and windy conditions. ...
Firefighters are closer to taming the wildfire that's across the New Jersey-New York border
WEST MILFORD, N.J. (AP) — Firefighters were getting closer Friday to taming a wildfire burning across the New Jersey-New York border on Friday, increasing their encirclement of the hard-to-access blaze. The fire, named the Jennings Creek blaze, was 90% contained on the Passaic...
Whistleblower sounds alarm about destruction of tribal sites in North Carolina
Spear points, hammer stones and picks lost to history under layers of leaves, roots and rocks — it was the evidence Scott Ashcraft was looking for. The ancient tools were inadvertently unearthed in 2021 by a bulldozer fighting a wildfire along a steep slope in western North...
Natural gas flares sparked 2 wildfires in North Dakota, state agency says
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Natural gas flares at oil wells sparked two North Dakota wildfires earlier this fall, according to reports from the North Dakota Fire Marshal's Office. Investigators concluded that flares combined with high winds and extremely dry weather and started a...
2 charged with setting some Northeast wildfires amid New Jersey drought warning and blazes out West
BRICK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's governor declared a drought warning. Black Hawk helicopters scooped water from a lake to dump on a burning forest in New York state. A park in Manhattan caught fire. And authorities in two states revealed criminal charges Wednesday against people accused of setting...
