California
“It’s a war”: California turns to new, high-tech helicopters to battle wildfires
![“It’s a war”: California turns to new, high-tech helicopters to battle wildfires “It’s a war”: California turns to new, high-tech helicopters to battle wildfires](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/09/26/cafb86a9-bb11-4241-8d49-3465f5f1e97c/thumbnail/1200x630/85962c9cd365e3805cfd902789aecaea/nightfiresarticle.jpg)
Final summer time, California suffered probably the most savage hearth years in its historical past. Drought and scorching temperatures turbocharged fires that had been extra excessive than ever. Two of the most important fires in state historical past laid siege to greater than one million acres in Northern California, burning dangerously near Lake Tahoe. Firefighters did not have a time without work for months. Hearth chiefs warned there weren’t sufficient plane to go round. “It is a conflict,” one informed us. So hearth chiefs from Southern California stole a web page from the army: taking the struggle to the evening. As we first reported final fall, a fleet of high-tech helicopters fought wildfires 24/7. And for the primary time, the large Chinook – you have seen them in different conflict zones –led the evening assault. It was an $18 million pilot program – that the fireplace chiefs hope will probably be a game-changer.
The U.S. Forest Service was already short-staffed when the Caldor Hearth exploded final August, churning towards South Lake Tahoe. Hundreds of residents had been pressured to flee. To the north, the Dixie Hearth rampaged for months, demolishing historic gold rush cities. The drought-parched forests burn so scorching they generate their very own hearth tornados. Between the 2 infernos, greater than 8,000 bone-weary firefighters fought a relentless battle. Orange County Hearth Chief Brian Fennessy – a former Hotshot who has been combating fires in Southern California for 44 years – informed us there was no extra give within the system.
Brian Fennessy: These fires get so giant that there aren’t sufficient firefighters, aren’t sufficient airplanes, helicopters, bulldozers.
Invoice Whitaker: I might assume that may be worrisome .
Brian Fennessy: You realize, we’re to the purpose the place if we had been to ship rather more, we will have firehouses which can be empty. And for the people who we have sworn to serve, you already know, our taxpayers, it isn’t acceptable to have firehouses empty for any size of time.
Invoice Whitaker: Every little thing is stretched to the restrict.
Brian Fennessy: Every little thing is stretched.
We met Brian Fennessy on the Truckee Airfield, about 45 miles from the fires. After Caldor destroyed the city of Grizzly Flats, Fennessy volunteered to ship his new firefighting choppers north. Extra like flying computer systems with rotors on prime, they’re referred to as the Fast Response Pressure. Fennessy calls the fleet, “The Hammer.”
Brian Fennessy: That is The Hammer!
Invoice Whitaker: So if somebody calls 911
Brian Fennessy: If one thing breaks out
Invoice Whitaker: You hit it with every thing you have bought, these massive guys and knock it out.
Brian Fennessy: In case of fireplace, break glass.
The star of the present is the large Chinook – this one used to fly in Afghanistan for the U.S. Military. It has been retrofitted to struggle a unique conflict, dropping water or retardant. Now, Fennessy informed us they’ve this highly effective new software to take that struggle to the evening.
Brian Fennessy: The flexibility to put retardant line, to proceed to drop hearth retardant after sunset, that is a primary.
Invoice Whitaker: That is gonna change the best way you struggle fires?
Brian Fennessy: We hope so.
The Chinook can drop 3,000 gallons. That is about 10 instances what most firefighting choppers drop. No larger helicopter has ever fought fires at evening.
Wayne Coulson, the CEO of Coulson Aviation — which constructed the fleet — is a pioneer in evening firefighting. He confirmed us the specially-designed tank. Computer systems management the tank’s doorways, opening at exact GPS factors.
Invoice Whitaker: You’ll be able to zero in precisely on the spot you need to drop?
Wayne Coulson: We are able to fly the plane to these GPS factors and the doorways will robotically open and shut between these two factors.
Coulson informed us it is a extra surgical strike. Flame retardant might be dropped in virtually straight strains. At evening, there’s an added benefit: the fireplace often dies down.
Invoice Whitaker: Is that a greater time to hit the fireplace?
Wayne Coulson: It completely is. That is when it is its weakest.
Invoice Whitaker: Often its weakest?
Wayne Coulson: That is the time to assault an enemy, at its weakest time limit.
The Fast Response Pressure works in pairs. The Chinook will get its orders from this plane. Consider it as a visitors management tower — however within the air. Sporting evening imaginative and prescient goggles, Orange County Air Assault officer Joel Lane makes use of infrared cameras to see via the smoke to map the perfect targets for the Chinook.
Lane has spent the final 23 years within the air. Improved evening imaginative and prescient know-how has revived evening firefighting — most businesses halted evening flying after a mid-air collision within the Nineteen Seventies. Lane informed us the know-how means they’ll assault fires at any hour.
Joel Lane: If you happen to time a hearth let’s say for one minute, and its 2 acres, in two minutes, it isn’t gonna be 4, it is gonna be 9. And in three minutes, it is gonna be 27.
Invoice Whitaker: And the fireplace’s going quicker.
Joel Lane: And the one factor that stops that’s pace and power.
Invoice Whitaker: And that is what you get with the plane?
Joel Lane: That’s precisely what you get with the plane.
In early September we flew with Britt Coulson, Wayne’s son and tech wizard at Coulson Aviation. He turned on the highly effective thermal imaging digital camera and the Caldor Hearth burst into view.
Britt Coulson: These flames are greater than the timber.
As we flew nearer, we watched a fountain of flames exploding over the treetops. There was hearth in every single place, each level of sunshine a probably hellish new blaze.
Britt Coulson: The embers that come up when it is actually intense, they’re gonna spot out far forward.
Zooming in, Britt Coulson confirmed us a spot hearth that had leapt over a containment line dug by firefighters.
Wayne Coulson: So for instance in the event that they had been attempting to catch it alongside that ridgeline there.
Invoice Whitaker: This has already jumped over?
Wayne Coulson: It is jumped over. With out one of these know-how, they’re by no means gonna see that.
We circled the fires at 13,000 ft. Beneath us, we noticed the command helicopter with Joel Lane. A thousand ft beneath that’s the place the Chinook flies. Lane directs the large chopper to the drop zone. From our perch, we may virtually depend the timber as we flew over a blackened panorama. Then we noticed boats, docks and homes: South Lake Tahoe.
Wayne Coulson: That is South Lake Tahoe airport proper there. And you then bought the fireplace proper there.
Invoice Whitaker: Proper behind it.
Wayne Coulson: So there, you have bought all the person embers developing.
Invoice Whitaker: That is burning closely.
Wayne Coulson: Yeah.
The Chinook sweeps throughout the flames, drops its water, then heads to the closest lake to refill. In contrast to fixed-wing craft that should return to base, the Chinook can refill wherever. Hovering like some prehistoric chicken, it sucks up 3,000 gallons in 90 seconds.
This does not come low cost. A helitanker can price as much as $15 million, and $8,000 an hour to function. However Joel Lane informed us it is cash properly spent.
He informed us concerning the Tuna Hearth, which ignited in dry brush close to Malibu final July. It was promptly doused by a fast response Chinook at a value of a number of hundred thousand {dollars}, a fraction of what it will have price if the hearth had gotten uncontrolled. If you happen to by no means heard of the Tuna Hearth, says Lane, that is a win.
Joel Lane: So the 10-acre hearth that you just—that we catch 98% of the time, it is by no means gonna make the paper, you are by no means gonna hear about it. Public wakes up the following day and until they drive by it, they by no means realize it occurred. And we do this very efficiently, particularly in Southern California.
Invoice Whitaker: The funds that you just’re laying out, that, sure, it is costly to have these plane however it’s dearer in the event you do not catch the fireplace.
Joel Lane: Exponentially.
Invoice Whitaker: Exponentially dearer?
Joel Lane: Appropriate.
In Northern California, the Dixie Hearth grew to become the biggest single hearth in state historical past. Firefighters fought the Caldor Hearth for months. The price? Greater than a half-billion {dollars} and climbing. But, throughout our journey final August, the helitankers flew just one out of 4 nights. We questioned, why? So did Orange County Hearth Chief Brian Fennessy, who had despatched his finest tools to struggle the state’s worst fires.
Invoice Whitaker: Did they not put it to work as quickly as you introduced it up right here?
Brian Fennessy: Not not initially, no.
Invoice Whitaker: Why not?
Brian Fennessy: It took a whole lot of— they did not have any familiarization with you already know flying at evening. And so we needed to decelerate.
Invoice Whitaker: However it’s confirmed.
Brian Fennessy: And we’re in the midst of chaos and uncertainty and houses are burning, that does not work.
Within the week we had been there, the Caldor Hearth grew by 40,000 acres. Maybe as alarming: we found the decelerate was fueled, partly, by infighting between the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees federal lands, and Cal Hearth, liable for state forests. Chief Fennessy informed us he twice provided up his new fleet, and twice met with discord and confusion.
We noticed the forest service log off on selections, solely to have them modified by Cal Hearth. Firefighters informed us the businesses disagreed about evening missions, radio frequencies, methods to feed firefighters. They each challenged the credentials of the Orange County flight crews.
Invoice Whitaker: That does not look like probably the most environment friendly option to deal with the assets, particularly within the face of an enormous hearth?
Brian Fennessy: Extraordinarily irritating. We now have a system, the Hearth Service, the place we honor one another’s {qualifications}. Yeah, it’s irritating as a result of you already know when there is a delay in accepting these {qualifications} to the detriment of the general public, yeah, that is a priority.
When Chief Fennessy first despatched his choppers, two crews sat on the tarmac for 48 hours. Fed up, he protested in an e mail, which we obtained via a Freedom of Info request.
“I do not assume the general public will perceive this nonsense,” he wrote. “Particularly if our crews are grounded and there aren’t any aviation questions of safety to deal with.”
Cal Hearth informed us the crew test was a normal security process and that smoke and wind prevented flying some nights. Chief Fennessy informed us solely when he threatened to take his choppers again south, did the businesses give the inexperienced mild to fly.
Nonetheless, Brian Fennessy and two different Southern California hearth chiefs had been so dismayed the fleet was getting used so little, they complained in an e mail to the Forest Service: “there was ample alternative for the protected constant operation of the [Quick Reaction Force] each in the course of the day and at evening, however this didn’t happen.”
Brian Fennessy: Properly I’ve an expectation that if I’ll mortgage you, you already know, my stuff ‘trigger you are having an emergency, you are going to put it to work. If you happen to’re not going to place it to work, ship it residence ‘trigger I’ve bought work and I’ve bought residents right here to guard. We’ll go to work.
Fennessy informed us the depth of those fires calls for a brand new method to combating them.
Brian Fennessy: I would heard from businesses on the highest degree, that there was not a priority for aviation security. It was extra of a priority for–
Invoice Whitaker: Forms….?
Brian Fennessy: You stated it.
Invoice Whitaker: The fires are altering …
Brian Fennessy: The fires are altering. We have to be extra—
Invoice Whitaker: The local weather is altering
Brian Fennessy: Oh— we— we have got to be extra nimble. We have to have the ability to pivot in a short time —
Invoice Whitaker: Fires aren’t going to attend so that you can get your act collectively.
Brian Fennessy: No, they are not.
We repeatedly requested Cal Hearth and the Forest Service why the night-flying choppers weren’t used extra. Weeks later, they did get collectively to subject a joint assertion about their “shared mission.”
They wrote: “Every hearth presents its personal distinctive challenges and hearth managers stand shoulder-to-shoulder day-after-day to beat these hurdles…”
The day after we left, Chief Fennessy took his Fast Response Pressure again south the place the Santa Ana winds and the variety of fires had been selecting up. Fennessy informed us, with fires getting extra excessive, Cal Hearth and the Forest Service cannot afford to sideline the Massive Hammer.
Brian Fennessy: These plane are being credited with saving numerous property as a result of they had been obtainable at evening to do this.
Invoice Whitaker: And you have confirmed it.
Brian Fennessy: We have confirmed it. It is a program that I consider must develop not simply to Northern California, however all through the West.
Invoice Whitaker: What is the resistance? Why the resistance?
Brian Fennessy: You realize, my intestine tells me primarily based on many years of expertise within the Hearth Service that there is simply an inherent resistance to vary. However we have got to evolve. We have to pivot. We’re standing, you already know, in a brand new world. It isn’t a brand new norm. It is the norm.
The Fast Response Pressure has been funded for a second hearth season, July via December.
Produced by Heather Abbott. Affiliate producer: LaCrai Mitchell. Broadcast affiliate: Emilio Almonte. Edited by Warren Lustig.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
California
In photos: Park Fire in Northern California
![In photos: Park Fire in Northern California In photos: Park Fire in Northern California](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/07/27/76d2b2bb-0789-48ad-bc89-a6ab61a509ab/thumbnail/1200x630/19b3f6055caa96e2f152b6cee447cdba/gettyimages-2162853933.jpg?v=5501038cbc281520ff9fdc308faab7dc)
A group of horses walk along a road as they are being evacuated during the Park Fire in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Park Fire in Chico
A home destroyed by the Park Fire is seen in Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25 a general view of damaged structure as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25 a general view of damaged structure as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews battle against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Dozens of burned up cars that were destroyed by the Park Fire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire in Cohasset
A sports utility vehicle is seen engulfed in flames during the Park Fire in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
Fire engines drive through flames ripping across Highway 36 as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
Firefighters Battle The Park Fire In California
The Park Fire near Chico, California, US, on Friday, July 26, 2024. Arson investigators in California arrested a man on suspicion of starting the state’s largest wildfire this year – a conflagration that has prompted evacuations and threatened the state’s power grid. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 26: A massive pyrocumulus cloud rises from the Park Fire, which has grown to 239,152 acres and is 0 percent contained, expands at a rapid rate on July 26, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousand of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 26: A massive pyrocumulus cloud rises from the Park Fire, which has grown to 239,152 acres and is 0 percent contained, expands at a rapid rate on July 26, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousand of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Firefighters Battle The Park Fire In California
A plane drops fire retardant during the Park Fire near Chico, California, US, on Friday, July 26, 2024. Arson investigators in California arrested a man on suspicion of starting the state’s largest wildfire this year – a conflagration that has prompted evacuations and threatened the state’s power grid. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
Vehicles drive through flames ripping across Highway 36 as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
A property is seen in flames as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
TOPSHOT-US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
TOPSHOT – Resident Grant Douglas takes a drink of water while evacuating his wife and dog as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. More than 1,150 personnel are deployed to fight the blaze, which has burned more than 180,000 acres and burned dozens of homes, and more than 3,500 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
TOPSHOT-US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
TOPSHOT – A property is seen in flames as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
Park Fire in Butte County
Vehicles destroyed by the Park Fire are seen in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Friday, July 26, 2024.
Park Fire Ravages Communities In California
A destroyed car is seen parked along Cohasset Road in Cohasset, Calif. Friday, July 26, 2024 after the Park Fire ripped through the community and continues to burn through Butte County.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Wild turkeys walk on scorched earth near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: A burned truck is seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
California
Park Fire roughly doubles in size, becomes one of the biggest in California history
![Park Fire roughly doubles in size, becomes one of the biggest in California history Park Fire roughly doubles in size, becomes one of the biggest in California history](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/07/26/USAT/74563855007-usatsi-23827834-168402897-lowres.jpg?auto=webp&crop=2249,1265,x0,y117&format=pjpg&width=1200)
The blaze has nearly doubled in size since Friday morning. It’s burning about 90 miles north of Sacramento.
Watch: Firefighters try to tame massive Park Fire in California
The destructive Park Fire has burned over 150,000 acres in California.
A fire that allegedly started when a man pushed a flaming car into a gully in a Northern California park on Wednesday has quickly ballooned into the West’s largest fire burning right now and one of the largest in state history.
The Park Fire, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, has now burned over 307,000 acres as of Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire. It’s currently the eighth-largest fire in California history, has no containment, and is even producing its own clouds.
The blaze has roughly doubled in size since Friday morning when it engulfed an area the size of Chicago.
Prosecutors allege the fire started when Ronnie Stout sent his mother’s car ablaze 60 feet down an embankment near Alligator Hole in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park. That gave the fire its match to spread northward across the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds contributed to the Park Fire’s rapid growth, officials say. The Park Fire on Saturday has burned an area roughly the size of the city of Los Angeles. So far, the Park Fire has damaged 134 structures, Cal Fire’s latest incident report showed.
Cooler temperatures, with highs in the upper 80s, and more humidity are expected Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office. On Friday afternoon, officials hoped these conditions would give some 2,500 firefighters the needed respite to reduce the fire’s spread from Butte County into Tehama County, where the majority of the fire is now occurring, as it burns grass, brush, timber and dead vegetation.
Evacuation orders and warnings continued through Friday night, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced. This included warnings for Magalia in the foothills east of Chico, located just next to Paradise, the California town burned by the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed 14,000 homes and killed 85 people. The Camp Fire, caused by faulty Pacific Gas & Electric power lines, maxed out at 153,336 acres, half the size of the current Park Fire.
There are nearing 100 large wildfires across 10 western states and Alaska that have burned over a million acres and growing. Climate change is driving fires’ growing size and severity as warmer temperatures, high winds and dry conditions help fuel fires.
Contributing: Christopher Cann and Dinah Pulver of USA TODAY
California
California Still Has No Plan to Phase Out Oil Refineries – Inside Climate News
![California Still Has No Plan to Phase Out Oil Refineries – Inside Climate News California Still Has No Plan to Phase Out Oil Refineries – Inside Climate News](https://insideclimatenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1445335712-1024x692.jpg)
Gov. Gavin Newsom often touts California’s role as a global climate leader. Yet it’s hard to defend that claim as long as California remains one of the nation’s top oil-refining states, experts argued at a recent webinar calling for a phaseout of refineries.
The state has made major strides implementing policies to support the transition away from fossil fuels in the transportation and energy sectors, yet has largely ignored oil refineries.
This is an egregious oversight, policy experts and community advocates on the panel said, because refineries are the largest source of industrial fossil fuel pollution and one of the biggest threats to both health and the climate.
“There are significant acute and chronic public health and climate impacts from refiners,” said Woody Hastings, a policy expert at The Climate Center, a nonprofit that hosted the webinar and is working to rapidly reduce climate pollution. “There is no plan to phase them out.”
Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.
California can embrace its role as a global leader by charting a path to phasing out refineries that others can follow, as it’s done before, he said. When California passed a measure to cut vehicle tailpipe emissions in 2002, 13 other states followed suit. When it passed a 2018 law requiring that all electricity come from renewable sources by 2045, 10 other states and the federal government adopted the same goal, Hastings said.
The most recent climate Conference of the Parties, COP28 in Dubai, called for a transition away from fossil fuels and energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner, Hastings said. “Let’s have California create the model for how to do it.”
All the other major fossil fuel sectors—electricity, transportation and oil drilling—have some form of phaseout requirements and plan to lower emissions, said Alicia Rivera, an organizer with the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment who works in Wilmington, a Los Angeles neighborhood dominated by oil wells and refineries. “Refineries have none.”
The costs of inaction are clear, she said. Almost all the census tracts near refineries are communities of color forced to endure very high toxic releases and other health harms, Rivera said.
“People on the other side of the refinery cannot see the emissions because they are invisible,” she said. “But they are large and they are always there, nonstop.”
Refineries convert crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products like butane and propane. One refinery can cover thousands of acres, with massive heaters and boilers superheating the crude and separating the liquids that will become gas and other fuels. The refining process, storage tanks and flaring—the burning of excess hydrocarbons—all emit pollution and toxic gases like lung-damaging sulfur dioxides and cancer-causing benzene.
“People on the other side of the refinery cannot see the emissions because they are invisible. But they are large and they are always there, nonstop.”
Oil refineries must report annual benzene emissions. But various studies have shown that many refineries underestimate emissions of volatile organic compounds, including benzene, understating the health risks.
“We’ve seen places where California has found significant risk from benzene without including that massive underestimation,” said Julia May, senior scientist with Communities for a Better Environment. “If you include the underestimation, that means the cancer risk is higher. It’s also a VOC that contributes to smog.”
Working Toward a Just Transition
California has failed to act partly because several cities benefit financially from contributing to the nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil refined a day in the state, May said, noting that regulators are under “severe pressure” to avoid phaseout requirements.
But just two refinery products, gasoline and diesel, cause about half of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, she said. “You can’t solve the smog or climate disaster without phasing out oil refineries.”
The state must start looking at ways to reduce refineries’ production on the road to a full shutdown, May urged. “We’re not talking about shutting down refineries tomorrow. All we’re asking for is, start a plan over the next two decades and start with gasoline and diesel.”
This story is funded by readers like you.
Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.
Donate Now
California policy is headed toward no more oil production, which will significantly reduce refining capacity in the state, said Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil extractors and refiners. “An EV mandate that limits the sale of internal combustion cars may not say, ‘Hey refinery, you have to reduce production by X amount,’” he said. “But if you don’t have vehicles on the road that use that product, the refiners are probably not going to be here.”
Even without specific bills that mandate refinery reductions, Slagle said, California policy will lead to fewer refineries in the state, “probably quicker than folks expect.”
That phaseout needs to be managed in a way that doesn’t leave workers behind, the panelists argued. And that requires understanding that the phrase “just transition” means different things to different people, said Brian White, a longtime union leader and policy director for Eduardo Martinez, mayor of Richmond, home of the Chevron refinery, where a catastrophic fire and explosion in 2012 sent 15,000 people to the hospital.
White’s union, the United Steelworkers, coined the term “just transition,” he said. For refinery workers it means making sure they can shift to a job with dignity, benefits and pay. For environmentalists, he said, it’s moving from a dirty, dangerous industry to a cleaner, greener world. And for local governments, it means replacing revenue lost by closing refineries in order to continue providing the services communities need.
The different groups need to recognize that they’re working toward the same goals, White said. On that note, he added, the Richmond City Council recently voted to place a “polluters tax” on the November ballot.
“Oil refining has negative impacts on the city, including environmental hazards, public health harms and stress on emergency services,” White said. The tax on oil refining—Chevron’s Richmond refinery is one of the biggest in the nation—aims to improve the city’s financial position and the quality of life for Richmond residents, he said, especially those most affected by the oil refinery.
How to coordinate policies designed to reduce demand for refinery products like gasoline and phase out refineries remains a major challenge, the panelists said.
One in every four new car sales in California is a zero-emission vehicle, said Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission. “We’ve crossed our peak demand of gasoline in California in 2017,” he said, noting a downward trend that he expects to continue. “Yet even if we are wildly successful with EVs, there will be some demand.”
![Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission.](https://insideclimatenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Siva-Gunda-HR-732x1024.jpg)
![Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission.](https://insideclimatenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Siva-Gunda-HR-732x1024.jpg)
For Gunda, it’s imperative to find ways to reduce demand for fossil fuel products while expanding access to zero-emission vehicles and renewable energy for all Californians, especially for fenceline communities where residents suffer from higher rates of respiratory problems like asthma attacks, heart disease and cancer.
Gunda saw firsthand the disproportionate burdens these communities endure when Rivera, the community organizer, took him on a tour of Wilmington. This predominantly Black and Latino community at Los Angeles’ southern edge sits atop the third-largest oil field in the country. Residents have such a distinctive way of clearing their throats it’s called the Wilmington cough.
“It’s heartbreaking to imagine that some of us get to see our grandmothers a little bit longer than some of us, because of where we live,” Gunda said.
Yet the climate crisis will not affect only disadvantaged communities, the panelists warned.
Climate change is widespread and rapidly intensifying, May said. She pointed to a 2022 study from the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that studies U.S. risks from climate change, which found that about a quarter of the country could be practically unlivable in 30 years, frequently reaching temperatures higher than 125 degrees Fahrenheit. “It’s really quite frightening,” she said.
“We need just-transition planning to phase out refineries,” May said. “We need to deal with replacing the taxes. We need to support the workers. We need to support the communities and we need to survive catastrophic climate change. We can do it.”
About This Story
Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.
That’s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can’t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We’ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.
Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.
Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don’t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places?
Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.
Thank you,
-
Midwest1 week ago
Michigan rep posts video response to Stephen Colbert's joke about his RNC speech: 'Touché'
-
News1 week ago
Video: Young Republicans on Why Their Party Isn’t Reaching Gen Z (And What They Can Do About It)
-
News1 week ago
RNC speakers want to separate the president from the person to show softer side of Trump
-
Politics1 week ago
Fox News Politics: The Call is Coming from Inside the House
-
News1 week ago
Video: J.D. Vance Accepts Vice-Presidential Nomination
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago
Film Review: 'Oddity' is a Little Chiller That Shows a Lot of Atmospheric Promise – Awards Radar
-
World1 week ago
Trump to take RNC stage for first speech since assassination attempt
-
World1 week ago
Civilians try to pick up daily life in Ukraine's East