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US Forest Chief Calls for Pause of Prescribed Fires
Federal officials are warning that expanding drought conditions coupled with hot and dry weather, extreme wind and unstable atmospheric conditions have led to explosive fire behavior in the southwestern U.S., where large fires continued their march across New Mexico on Friday.
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US Forest Service Firefighter Dies of Illness While Assigned to Dixie Fire: Officials
A U.S. Forest Service firefighter responding to the Dixie Fire has died, officials said Saturday Night.
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Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota Closed Due to Fire
The U.S. Forest Service has closed a popular recreational wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota as the state’s largest active wildfire threatens the 1-million-acre property
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Rep. Gohmert Asks If Changing Moon's Orbit Could Halt Climate Change
During a legislative hearing for the House subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands on June 8, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, asked the Forest Service deputy director if altering the moon’s orbit was a viable solution to combating climate change.
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US Forest Service Police Dog Survives Second Stabbing Attack
A highly decorated U.S. Forest Service police dog suffered nine stab wounds during a marijuana raid in Northern California
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US Forest Chief: ‘Tough Choices' to Fund Wildfire Prevention
The U.S. Forest Service has been working with states and other partners to treat more acres every year in hopes of reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfire, but Forest Chief Vicki Christiansen acknowledged that a budget proposal for the next fiscal year could mean no funding for some programs.
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Forest Fire Prevention Icon Smokey Bear Is Turning 75
There will be 75 candles on his birthday cake and Smokey Bear still hopes none of them start a forest fire. The icon of the longest-running public service campaign in the U.S. is being honored with birthday parties around the country this week, a celebration that includes a social media campaign to share his safety message. “My friends at the...
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Sacred Hawaiian Tree Species Threatened by Deadly Fungus; Tourists Can Help Save It
A deadly fungus threatens one of Hawaii’s most beloved and important species, the ʻōhiʻa tree, and those believed responsible for introducing the threat to the tree in the first place are now being asked to help save it — tourists. The native ʻōhiʻa is sacred to Hawaiians as a cultural touchstone and ecological underpinning for the state’s lush forests and...
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Sacred Hawaiian Tree Species Threatened by Deadly Fungus; Tourists Can Help Save It
A deadly fungus threatens one of Hawaii’s most beloved and important species, the ʻōhiʻa tree, and those believed responsible for introducing the threat to the tree in the first place are now being asked to help save it — tourists. The native ʻōhiʻa is sacred to Hawaiians as a cultural touchstone and ecological underpinning for the state’s lush forests and...
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Search for Missing Massachusetts Man Conducted on Mount Washington
Officials conducted a search on Mount Washington Sunday for a Massachusetts man who has been missing for a week. Porith Stephon Sou, 21, of Dracut, has been missing since Sunday, March 10, but information on his whereabouts remained unknown until his vehicle was located at the Pinkham Notch Visitor center in Pinkham’s Grant on Saturday, March 16. Searchers received information...
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Snowbound Oregon Man Ate Taco Sauce Packets, Survived 5 Days
A man whose car was stranded in central Oregon snow for five days survived by eating taco sauce packets and starting the engine periodically to warm up. A snowmobiler found Jeremy Taylor, 36, of Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member who rode to him on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said...
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Boston Children's Hospital Neuroscientist Dies While Climbing Mount Washington
The U.S. Forest Service says police are investigating the death of a Mount Washington climber who was hiking up a snowy and icy area of the Northeast’s highest peak when he apparently slipped and fell more than 300 feet into a boulder-strewn area. The Forest Service said 37-year-old Jeremy Ullmann, of Somerville, Massachusetts, a neuroscientist at Boston Children’s Hospital, died...
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Party Bomb at Gender Reveal Party Started 2017 Wildfire
A border agent started a massive wildfire in Arizona when a gender-reveal party bomb, packed with explosives, ignited the surrounding brush on fire.
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1,000 Wild Horses to Be Rounded Up, Possibly Slaughtered in Northern California
The U.S. Forest Service is set to round up 1,000 wild horses and says that many of them could be sold to distant slaughterhouses. The Sacramento Bee reports the roundup is set to begin Oct. 9 and last through the month, and will target horses from a herd in the Devils Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory inside the Modoc National Forest.
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Border Patrol Agent Pleads Guilty in Wildfire-Starting Gender Reveal
A Border Patrol agent agreed to pay more than $8 million for damage caused by an Arizona wildfire he started by shooting a rifle in a gender reveal gone wrong, NBC News reported. Dennis Dickey, 37, entered the guilty plea Friday. He started the fire by shooting a target, meant to reveal the sex of his baby, that was filled...
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Study Shows Health, Reaction-Time Declines in Firefighters
Randy Brooks’ son had a request three years ago: What could his dad do to make wildland firefighting safer? To Brooks, a professor at the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources who deals with wildland firefighting, it was more of a command. His son, Bo Brooks, is a wildland firefighter who a few days earlier during that 2015 fire...
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Firefighters Find Undamaged US Flag, Lower it to Half Staff
Alameda Country firefighters came across an undamaged U.S. flag at a cemetery in Northern Calif. They decided to lower it to half staff to honor the two firefighters killed in the Carr fire.
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PHOTOS: The View From a Wildfire Lookout Tower, Inside and Out
If you have patience and like being alone outdoors for long periods of time, you might be a good candidate to staff one of the hundreds of remaining decades-old wildfire lookout towers that are still crucial to stopping forest fires in the U.S. West.
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California Wildfires Prompt Tougher Rules for Utilities
Devastating California wildfires this year — and expectations of more to come under the extremes of climate change — prompted regulators Thursday to toughen rules for utility companies to keep power lines clear of brush and tree branches that can easily spark into flames.
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Fighting Wildfires With the US Forest Service
Bailey McDade works as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona. Some of her fire gear, and the gear of other first responders, is on display in Boston.