暗黑爆料

Recent fires that consumed entire Los Angeles neighborhoods underscore a stark lesson -- water utilities generally aren't designed to respond to the large urban fires growing more common as climate change worsens. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring enough water flows to enough hydrants while demand is high and damaged pipes may be hampering the system.

While California has a uniquely unstable insurance market, many of the issues there are increasingly being seen across the West. The state鈥檚 previous insurance commissioner says there are things other states can do to stave off more serious problems.

The Karuk of Northern California are one of many Native peoples with a long tradition of burning their ancestral lands. These practices are key inspiration for an annual prescribed fire training that鈥檚 been going on for more than a decade.

鈥淲hat played out in L.A. could easily occur in other communities, other cities across the West and even outside the West,鈥� said Kimiko Barrett, the senior wildfire researcher at Montana-based Headwaters Economics.

Medical resources are stretched in southern California amid the ongoing wildfires. Nurses from a large hospital system in our region are headed out to help alleviate the crunch.

Fire crews and equipment from around the Front Range are now in California to help with the wildfires. The state also sent a specially designed plane.