U.S. Fires Release Enormous Amounts of Carbon Dioxide

Large-scale fires in western and southeastern states can pump as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a few weeks as the states’ entire motor vehicle traffic in a year, according to newly published research by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Their paper, “Estimates of [...]

Poor air from wildfires a health threat

LOS ANGELES – Even as many of the wildfires in flame-ravaged Southern California died down and residents returned home, lingering dust and soot-laden air made it difficult for many to [...]

Some Calif. fire evacuees return home

SAN DIEGO – Thousands of evacuees from areas hard hit by this week’s Southern California wildfires were returning Friday to neighborhoods stripped bare, but other communities remained emptied because of [...]

Fire evacuees seek return to normal

SAN DIEGO – The NFL stadium where thousands of displaced residents sought refuge is closing as an evacuation center, a symbolic show of progress against wildfires still menacing Southern California.
Once sheltering more than 10,000 people, Qualcomm Stadium was home to just 350 on Friday morning. It was to close later in the day.
Across San Diego [...]

Bush tours fires, sees ‘better day ahead’

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Firefighters gained the upper hand on nearly all of the California wildfires on Thursday as winds died down after five days battling 20 fires from the mountains north of Los Angeles down to the Mexican border.
Most of the 500,000 people in the largest evacuation in California’s modern history were on their [...]