U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday. Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana. The judge agreed with...

The deadly McKinney fire is believed to have been sparked by a 60-foot tall Ponderosa Pine that leaned onto a power line in 108-degree heat, that’s what sources close to the investigation are now telling NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit.

Evidence is mounting that the deadly McKinney Fire, California’s largest wildfire so far this year, was sparked by a tree leaning on a power line. Investigative Reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken reports.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday it’s taking emergency action to save giant sequoias by speeding up projects that could start within weeks to clear underbrush to protect the world’s largest trees from the increasing threat of wildfires.

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.