Latest news with #CreekFire
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Camp House Fire now 31% contained, reducing in size
The Camp House Wildfire is now 31% contained almost a week after it erupted in northern Minnesota. The latest update from the Eastern Area Incident Management Team shows that the fire near Brimson has been contained on its south and northwest edges, and has reduced in size to 12,277 acres, down from almost 15,000 acres at its peak. A cold Saturday "provided favorable conditions for crews and dozers to build containment lines on the south end and west side of the fire," the management team said,. "Firefighters will continue to work from these areas to strengthen line on the east and north sides of the fire today," it added, though notes that "dead and distressed trees and downed power lines continue to pose significant hazards for firefighters." The fire, which started last Sunday, has "not grown for the past four days," but there remain risks over the coming days, with dry conditions and "strong, shifting winds" forecast for the north of the state, with rain set to focus primarily on the southern larger Jenkins Creek Fire remains 0% contained as of Sunday, and has grown slightly in recent days to 16,332 acres. Focus remains on protecting the communities of Skibo and Hoyt Lakes from any possible spread, with firefighters and bulldozers focusing on the northwest and southern edges of the fire on Saturday. The management team sats "prioritizing structure protection in this area will continue today in preparation for the return of potential drier and gustier conditions this week." Homeowners in the evacuation zones are still being allowed to return to their properties during the day on Sunday, but must be out by the evening.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Crews reach 100% containment on 66-acre Creek Fire in Stanislaus County
( — Fire crews reached 100% containment on a fire that started Thursday in Stanislaus County, Cal Fire said. According to the West Stanislaus County Fire Protection District, crews responded to the Creek Fire near Ingram Creek Road west of Interstate 5 in Westley. Video Above: City of Lincoln adopts new fire hazard map The fire burned approximately 66 acres. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Rain brings some relief to raging wildfires in Minnesota
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Minn. – Much-needed rain Thursday night brought some relief to firefighters fighting three wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres in northern Minnesota. It was a busy night Thursday, as severe weather moved through western Minnesota, the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest. Days of high temperatures and low humidity helped the spread of three wildfires: the Camp House, Jenkins Creek and Munger Shaw fires, burning in St. Louis County and Lake County, Minnesota. The cause of all three fires remains under investigation. Each fire quickly grew, forcing evacuations, and prompting the National Guard to join the firefight. Well over 100 buildings have been destroyed by the three fires, but the exact number of buildings is still under investigation. The Camp House fire has scorched 14,852 acres, according to InciWeb. Evacuations remain in place, and the fire is still uncontained. The Jenkins Creek Fire continued to grow Thursday, after strong wind gusts raised concerns that it would spread even more rapidly. Thankfully, rain helped ease some of the fire officials' concerns, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said in a Thursday night update. Inciweb reported Friday that the Jenkins Creek Fire had burned 15,570 acres and was 0% contained. Evacuations are still in place. Meanwhile, firefighters are getting ahead of the Munger Shaw fire, which is 25% contained and isn't actively growing, Ramsay said. The Munger Shaw Fire was the smallest of the three wildfires, burning 1,600 acres. Evacuation orders were lifted for that fire on Thursday article source: Rain brings some relief to raging wildfires in Minnesota
CBS News
16-05-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Creek Fire burns more than 80 acres in Stanislaus County
WESTLEY — Crews are battling a vegetation fire that has burned dozens of acres in Stanislaus County on Thursday. Cal Fire SCU said the fire was burning near Ingram Creek Road and Interstate 5 in Westley. As of 5 p.m., 81 acres have burned and containment was at 40%. Cal Fire said crews were making good progress in implementing containment lines. The blaze, dubbed the Creek Fire, was previously reported to have burned 100 acres but Cal Fire downgraded that number due to better mapping. The fire was not causing any disruptions to I-5 traffic. No evacuations were in place and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Logging isn't all bad, but Trump's order to boost timber harvest is troubling
Logging is not necessarily a dirty word in the environmental dictionary. There, I said it. Provided sustainable practices are used, namely the careful choice over what trees get chopped down, logging can have a positive impact on the health of our forests as part of an effective management strategy that includes mechanical thinning and prescribed burning. Selective logging can also mitigate the risk and destructive power of wildfires, as shown in theory by a 2023 study co-authored by fire scientists at UC Berkeley and in real life. Like during the 2020 Creek Fire, when 20,000 acres of mixed-conifer forest around Shaver Lake owned by electricity provider Southern California Edison that had been actively managed since the 1980s proved significantly more resilient than adjacent national forest lands filled with dead trees and overgrown brush. This is my way of saying logging shouldn't automatically be perceived as an environmental threat – despite what history tells us is the result when chainsaws and bulldozers are employed by the wrong hands. Opinion Which brings us to the Trump administration's recent edict to boost timber production by 25% across roughly 112 million acres of our nation's forests, even if that means bypassing federal protections for endangered species and other environmental laws. The emergency order issued by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins intended to justify the move did not include any forest names or specific timber harvest targets. But based on the low-res map included in Rollins' announcement, all 18 national forests in California will be impacted in some fashion. (Federally designated wilderness areas managed by the U.S. Forest Service appear to be excluded.) In her notice, Rollins argued these actions will 'better provide domestic timber supplies, create jobs and prosperity, reduce wildfire disasters, improve fish and wildlife habitats, and decrease costs of construction and energy.' 'Healthy forests require work,' Rollins said. 'We're facing a full-blown wildfire and forest health crisis.' Environmental groups reacted with outrage to Trump's order, calling it a thinly veiled attempt to bypass environmental laws in order to justify widespread commercial logging under the false pretense that such actions will reduce wildfire risk. 'Another day, another massive giveaway to industry at the expense of our planet,' said Garett Rose, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'The administration is recklessly cutting thousands of federal jobs and directing an understaffed, under-resourced agency to supercharge destructive logging.' That last part cuts to the heart of the matter. Two months ago, the Trump administration laid off 3,400 full-time US Forest Service employees or roughly 10% of its entire workforce, including staff that oversee and supervise the felling of trees into logs. Now, an agency that is already stretched to its breaking point gets weighed down with the extra burden of ramping up timber production over the next five years. Not exactly a blueprint for success – unless success is measured by how much profit can be harvested off our public lands. Once again, logging can be a beneficial practice. By carefully selecting which trees to chop down – which oftentimes means making a deliberate decision to leave standing the largest and tallest specimens in any given area – it is possible to produce lumber in ways that also help forests regenerate and thrive. But of course the largest and tallest trees also yield the most board feet of wood, making them highly desirable to commercial loggers. And the decision to spare those trees and other old-growth areas from the chainsaw requires regulation and enforcement, two things Trump abhors. Given his administration's track record of handling sensitive and complex issues with the precision of a splatter painting, I'm distrustful that anything good will grow out of cutting down more trees in our forests.
