Parts of California are seeing fire season start more than 10 weeks earlier now than in the 1990s.
Articles on California wildfires
Displaying 1 - 20 of 31 articles
The Trump administration wants to abolish FEMA and hand disaster recovery over to states. But local officials are best positioned to help local people in a crisis.
Discrimination has made it harder for Black people in the Los Angeles area to buy and keep their homes. Did it also make them more fire-prone when Altadena burned?
It starts with better building policies that recognize future risks, but there are many other important steps.
In this course, eight professors share their disciplinary perspectives to help students analyze proposed interventions for increasing wildfire risks.
Reading and maintaining a human connection have a vital role to play as extreme events that have long served as the stuff of dystopian fiction simply become a part of everyday life.
Human bodies aren’t prepared for the toxic chemicals in smoke, and the effects can be harmful in the short term and long term.
What are the goals of the insurance? Who is being insured? And how are policyholders and their risks classified?
The causes of the wind-driven fires that burned thousands of homes in the Los Angeles area are under investigation, but there were no lightning strikes reported at the time.
The US has seen huge wildfires in recent years. The vast majority of those that affect communities are started by human activity.
A changing climate, humans and fire were a deadly combination for the big animals that used to roam southern California. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
More homes are burning in wildfires in nearly every Western state. The reason? Humans.
Not all forests respond to hotter and drier conditions in the same way.
Without enough water, trees can develop embolisms, similar to blockages in human blood vessels, and they’re more likely to die from drought or fires.
Drought conditions are so bad, fish hatcheries are trucking their salmon to the ocean and ranchers are worried about having enough water for their livestock.
While climate change is certain, some uncertainty remains in its severity — and that’s where the hope shines through.
Restoring western forests – thinning out small trees and dead wood – is an important strategy for reducing the risk of massive wildfires. But these projects aren’t fast, easy or cheap.
My research focuses on how to support children with a parent who must travel afar for work. Strategies that boost understanding and maintain connection with the absent parent build resilience.
It’s comforting to blame California’s wildfires on human stupidity. But this hides a very uncomfortable truth.
How climate change and other human actions have combined to create conditions for explosive wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington state.
Top contributors
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Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy, Colorado State University
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Interim Earth Lab Director, University of Colorado Boulder
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Sr. Associate Vice President for Research and Research Professor, University of Oregon
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Emeritus Professor of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London
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Director of the Earth Lab Analytics Hub, University of Colorado Boulder
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, McMaster University
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Assistant Professor of Quantitative Fire Ecology, University of Washington
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Master's Degree Candidate in Environmental Studies, University of Oregon
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Professor of Engineering, University of California, Merced
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Associate Curator, La Brea Tar Pits; Adjunct Faculty, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
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Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of Environmental Governance Lab, University of Toronto
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Professor of Fire Ecology, University of Montana
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Associate Professor in the Early Childhood Education, University of New England
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Reader in Cultural Geography and Communication, University of Westminster
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Fellow, Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, Ontario