Latest news with #fire season
CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Los Angeles Mayor says it's not a problem "at all" that city continues fire season without a permanent fire chief
As Southern California's fire season reaches its midway point, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she isn't concerned that the city still doesn't have a permanent fire chief, five months after she fired the previous one. She made those comments on a Sunday morning appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," when Brennan asked her if she felt the city was prepared to handle another fire emergency without a permanent chief. "No, no, I don't think that [the lack of a permanent chief is] a problem at all," Bass said. "Our interim fire chief has 40 years of experience. In fact, he had just recently retired. I called him in, out of retirement, during the fires. He was doing the emergency operation center. So he stepped in, didn't miss a beat by taking over the fire department. And we are prepared. We do know that it's fire season." Bass named Ronnie Villanueva as the interim fire chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department in February after she fired former Chief Kristin Crowley in the aftermath of January's devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. The mayor cited a lack of preparation and Crowley's apparent refusal to conduct an after-action report after the Palisades Fire destroyed neighborhoods and businesses across parts of L.A. Crowley denied those claims and appealed Bass' decision, but the City Council upheld it in a vote, with many councilmembers stating that Bass had the right to fire her. Crowley chose to remain with the department as Assistant Chief of the LAFD's Operations Valley Bureau. Villanueva, on the other hand, retired in 2024 after more than 40 years with the department. He came out of his brief retirement to take the interim chief position. Bass told Brennan on Sunday morning that the city is still conducting a nationwide search for a permanent chief, and that Villanueva is welcome to apply for the job if he'd like to. "We're doing a national search, and he is certainly open to apply. But the nation's second-largest city needs to make sure that we search the nation for the best talent," she said. "And I'm sure that there will be people in the department that apply, but we want to cast the net wide." It's not yet clear if Villanueva will apply to keep the position. Bass said he is "more than capable of managing well."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Gov. Kotek declares state of emergency for Oregon wildfire season
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a State of Emergency on Wednesday as the state's fire season began to ramp up. The emergency declaration is expected to be in place through the rest of the year, as Gov. Kotek determined that Oregon will be in a 'critical fire danger.' As of Wednesday morning, the Cram Fire burning north of Madras has more than doubled in size to roughly 64,000 acres. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'Oregon is already experiencing a devastating wildfire season that will have lasting consequences. The summer is only getting hotter, drier, and more dangerous – we have to be prepared for worsening conditions,' Kotek said. By announcing a state of emergency, Kotek has freed up state resources for communities across the state to respond to ongoing and future wildfires. 'All Oregonians should follow local instructions and evacuation levels issued by emergency officials, subscribe to emergency alerts on have an evacuation plan, prepare a go-kit, and stay aware of changing conditions,' Kotek said. Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBC
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Sask. NDP wants province to call for more help as feds warn extreme fire season will continue
Saskatchewan's Official Opposition wants the provincial government to seek more help from the federal government to fight wildfires in the province, as one federal minister warned this year's fire season is expected to continue to be worse than past years, particularly in the Prairies. Tim Hodgson, the federal minister of natural resources, said in a national wildfire update Friday the conditions that have driven one of the worst wildfire seasons on record for Canada will persist until the end of the summer. "Forecasts point to above-average temperatures across much of Canada through the end of August, with dry conditions expected to intensify in the coming weeks, particularly in the West and the North," he said. As of Saturday, there were 51 active wildfires in the province, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Of those, 12 are considered not contained. There have been 379 fires in the province to date, well above the five-year average of 298 for this date. Saskatchewan NDP MLA Leroy Laliberte, who represents the Athabasca riding in northwestern Saskatchewan, said Friday the provincial government's response to the fires has been inadequate. His constituency includes the northern village of Beauval, which is under a full evacuation order. "The people I've been talking to for a week now aren't getting the resources and relief firefighters they need. They're working around the clock, they're exhausted and, frankly, they believe the provincial government has abandoned them," said Laliberte. He said the Saskatchewan Party government should seek federal assistance, maintaining the federal government has to "wait for a call from the province." Steve Roberts, the vice-president of operations for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, disputed that characterization, saying the provincial government has been in constant contact with federal officials. Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod "has sent a letter to his corresponding [federal] minister requesting some resources," Roberts said Friday. Specifically, those requests have been for "values protection resources from across the country to augment what we already have, [and] a general increase if there's available helicopters that could be deployed and added to move crews around to do some work," he said. Roberts also said the province has received permission to use a fire camp from the Department of National Defence, but has not yet needed to use it. 'Monster of a fire' flares up: Beauval mayor The public safety agency said Friday that eight communities are currently under full or partial evacuation orders, affecting about 1,700 people. Rick Laliberte, Beauval's mayor, said that on Thursday, the Muskeg fire near his community flared up due to strong winds, moving dangerously close to the local airport and industrial area. It's now effectively surrounding the village, which is about 350 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, and has periodically cut off Highway 918, the town's only northward access point, he said. "Rain is the only thing that will stop this fire," he said on Friday afternoon. "It's a monster of a fire. It goes from Dore Lake all the way to Île-à-la-Crosse. It's a huge fire." Earlier this week, 40 firefighters from Australia arrived in Beauval to assist the local and provincial crews. On Saturday, another 40 crew members from Mexico will be deployed on the fire line there, the public safety agency said. The two groups will join fire crews already flown in from Quebec. The agency's Roberts said crews are facing "stressful, long hours, harsh conditions in many cases, sometimes [working] around the clock." "To be honest, we need more boots on the ground," he said. "Our crews have been working for over six weeks now almost non-stop. So the more resources we can put to bear on these fires, the better control we will have of them."
CBC
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Federal officials say forecast suggests high risk of wildfires in August
Federal officials say the 2025 wildfire season is one of the worst on record for Canada, with a high risk of more fires in August. More than 5.5 million hectares of land have burned so far this year, more than double the 10-year average for mid-July. There are 561 fires burning, including 69 that are considered out of control, and most of them are on the Prairies. Officials say the fire risk rises throughout August and they are predicting higher than normal temperatures for most of the country next month. August is also slated to bring below-normal rainfall levels for the Prairies, B.C. and the Maritimes. Saskatchewan has already seen one of the worst fire seasons ever in terms of area burned, and a record number of people have been forced out of their homes in that province.
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Burning cash: Sask. insurance agencies dealing with glut of wildfire insurance claims
Social Sharing As wildfires continue to tear through northern Saskatchewan, insurance companies are starting to feel the heat. Insurance companies expect the fire season to run April to September. But while they often affect less-populated areas farther north, this year that has not entirely been the case, said Emily Proulx, branch manager for Hub International in Prince Albert. Proulx said she has noticed an uptick in claims made across the province from areas like Denare Beach, La Ronge and Flin Flon. While most people tend to purchase coverage for their homes, not everyone understands the full scope of it, especially when it comes to emergency situations. Many insurance companies have a moratorium during certain seasons, including wildfire season, when coverage cannot be changed or increased, Proulx said. She said fire insurance cannot be added if a fire is already burning within a certain distance of a property or there is a "threat." Proulx used Candle Lake as an example. "There's a fire burning within that 50 kilometres or whatever," she said. "There's no negotiation with the insurance company to say, 'Can you add coverage?' The answer is flat out 'no.'" Knowing your policy Craig Stewart, vice-president of climate change and federal issues for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said the priority is "making sure that our customers are prepared and that the people that need insurance can still get it and that the insurance coverages are what people need." "Most people expect it never to happen to them, so it's very important to be prepared in case it does," Stewart said. That includes taking photographs and inventory of what's in your home and identifying what is most valuable. "If you get to the point where you need to unfortunately evacuate, file a claim … sometimes you can't get back to your home to be able to demonstrate what was there," Stewart said. He said most people who have "full replacement value" in their policy can have their homes rebuilt. 700 wildfire related claims, SGI Canada says Since May, there have been close to 700 wildfire-related claims made to SGI Canada involving mass evacuation claims, total loss of house, cabin fires or houses with fire damage that are still standing. SGI Canada said its auto fund has also received more than 300 claims, with most being a total loss. "It's too early to tell what kind of impact this wildfire season will have, but as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, the insurance industry as a whole will be affected," said a spokesperson for SGI Canada in an email to CBC. "Losses due to wildfires, floods, wind and hailstorms continue to trend upwards. Mitigation measures and construction resiliency will be key to stabilizing insurance rates going forward."
