Disasters: Summer Fires, Take Two | Newsweek Scope

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
California Burning
Charlotte Buchen 10/14/2008 12:00:00 AM
Wildfires are once again ravaging California, with three major blazes that have killed two people and burned more than 10,000 acres in an area from San Diego to Los Angeles. Though wildfires are not uncommon here, the state is catching fire earlier in the season and in more places than ever before. Thanks to its vast forests and hills of dry grasses, oak and underbrush, the state is naturally vulnerable to wildfire, and this year was one of the driest on record. A bark beetle infestation is killing trees in the south, creating further fuel for the flames. After a lightning storm started fires in Northern California in June and Big Sur's legendary forests later began to burn, the state's massive fire authority, Cal Fire, has been forced to turn to unexpected places for help. During another round of fires in early August, NEWSWEEK's Charlotte Buchen talked with Dan Burns, an assistant fire chief with Cal Fire (the official nickname of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), about the various groups helping in the battle against the flames and the potentially "catastrophic" fall fire season. Excerpts:
Crews Make Gains on Calif. Fires
10/28/2007 12:00:00 AM
LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. — Firefighters Sunday hoped to hold on to the strong gains they made against Southern California blazes, despite a forecast of warmer, drier weather and a continuing threat to some homes.
2 Burned Bodies Found in Calif.
10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM
Crews found two burned bodies in a gutted house, authorities said Thursday, and flames drew perilously close to thousands of homes in Southern California's firestorm despite a break in the harsh winds and a massive aerial assault.
CALIFORNIA
Avoiding Another Katrina
Karen Breslau 10/23/2007 12:00:00 AM
Perhaps it was the images of elderly patients who'd been abandoned on the baggage carousels at the New Orleans airport. Or the desperate parents cradling dehydrated infants at the Superbowl, or TV reporters shouting on the air at clueless government officials. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up at the Del Mar racetrack outside of San Diego at 10 p.m. Monday night and found local officials struggling to find hospital beds for nearly 300 patients who'd been evacuated from nearby nursing homes, he was determined to leave nothing to chance.
Calif. Wildfire Threatens Pepperdine
10/21/2007 12:00:00 AM
MALIBU, Calif. — A wildfire driven by powerful Santa Ana wind threatened a university and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the Malibu Hills on Sunday, authorities said. Flames destroyed a church and several homes, one of them a landmark castle.
Why the Esperanza Fire Is So Deadly
Andrew Murr 10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM