California California Wildfires

Flames erupt on a smoky hillside near the Pierpoint area of the upper Tule Recreation Area east of Springville on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Photo by Craig Kohlruss, The Fresno Bee

California Wildfires

SQF Complex live updates: Three Rivers appears untouched; Sequoia closes; Kings Canyon threatened

By

Manuela Tobias

• September 15, 2020

The Creek Fire burns downed logs in the forest off of Highway 168 south of Huntington Lake on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. Photo by Craig Kohlruss, The Fresno Bee

California Wildfires

Creek Fire live updates: Evacuation plans laid out for Inyo National Forest as fire moves north

By

Manuela Tobias

• September 15, 2020

Smoke from the Dolan Fire billows skyward along Highway 1 less than a quarter mile south of the entrance to Julia Pfeiffer Burns. Aug. 22, 2020. Photo by Kate Cimini, The Salinas Californian

California Wildfires

Big Sur Dolan Fire slows, containment grows over weekend

By

Kate Cimini

• September 14, 2020

A pedestrian walks around Lake Merritt on Sept. 9, 2020, in Oakland. Smoke from multiple fires in California has filled the Bay Area sky. Photo by Aric Crabb, Bay Area News Group

California Wildfires

Wildfires, smoke and ash cause ‘apocalyptic’ sky over California

By

Kate Cimini

• September 10, 2020

California Wildfires

Dolan Fire jumps to over 90,000 acres; injured firefighters recovering

By

Kate Cimini

• September 9, 2020

A home that has just been destroyed by the Carmel Fire continues to burn on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020.Photo by David Rodriguez, The Salinas Californian

California Wildfires

California residents didn’t want controlled burns near their homes. Some of those homes then burned in a wildfire.

By

Kate Cimini

• August 29, 2020

Three fire fighters asses the damage and implement protective measures in order to protect surroundings homes near Boulder Creek on Aug. 21, 2020. Photo by David Rodriguez, The Salinas Californian

California Wildfires

The West is burning, so California struggles to find help fighting its wildfires

California’s early outbreak of major fires means its neighbors can’t send much aid because they’re ablaze, too.

By

Julie Cart

• August 28, 2020

The Oakmont of Varenna nursing home and assisted living facility in Santa Rosa on July 29, 2020. Oakmont Senior Living, the company responsible for Villa Capri and Varenna, has been accused by the state of abandoning around 100 residents the night of the Tubbs fire in 2017. Photo by Beth LaBerge, KQED

Environment

Disaster planning in nursing homes: The questions to ask your loved one’s facility

This guide is part of our “Older and overlooked” series on the danger wildfires pose to California’s older population, especially during COVID-19. Skip straight to: How to research a care home The questions experts recommend asking The coronavirus pandemic is a sudden, new threat to assisted living and skilled nursing homes — and those facilities […]

By

Molly Peterson

• August 10, 2020

Mark and Kathy Allen hold a photo of Mark's parents at their home in Sebastopol on July 29, 2020. Mark and Kathy evacuated Mark's mother and several other residents of the Villa Capri retirement community as the Tubbs Fire approached in October of 2017. The Oakmont of Varenna nursing home and assisted living facility in Santa Rosa on July 29, 2020. Photo by Beth LaBerge, KQED

Environment

Nursing homes weren’t ready for a pandemic. They’re not ready for wildfire, either

When the ominous beep of an emergency alert roused Mark and Kathy Allen out of bed in Sebastopol on Oct. 9, 2017, the Tubbs Fire was heading toward Santa Rosa. So the Allens did too. They knew the assisted living facility where Mark’s mother lived was in the path of fast-moving flames. They sped toward […]

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• August 10, 2020

Environment

How we analyzed where older Californians are at increased risk for wildfire

The average age of those who died in the 2018 Camp Fire was 72. The average age of those who died in the fires that burned across Sonoma and Napa a year before: 73. As wildfires grow more devastating in California, some of the most vulnerable are older people who live independently and who live […]

By

Lo Bénichou

,

Molly Peterson

and

Lisa Pickoff-White

• August 10, 2020