fire

COMMENTARY
U.S. Forest Service firefighters prepare to battle the Caldor Fire on Aug. 31, 2021, in Meyers, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Wildland firefighter pay gains could go up in smoke

BY: - August 14, 2023

At any given moment during this smoky summer of 2023, hundreds of wildfires were blazing in the United States — more than 850 as of late July, according to the nonprofit Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center. Most of those wildfires ignited in the forests of the American West. Fires were also burning by the thousands […]

Wildfire smoke clouds the skyline on June 28, 2023, in Chicago. The Chicago area was under an air quality alert as smoke from Canadian wildfires covered the city for a second straight day. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Summer wildfire threat could imperil unexpected US regions: the Northeast and Midwest

BY: - June 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — In a summer of drought, smoke and haze, wildfires could flare up in unusual locations in the United States over the next few months — including New England and the Midwest, according to federal forecasters. “The predominant threat looks to be the Northeast, which is not normal,” said Jim Karels, the fire director […]

The One World Trade Center and the New York skyline is seen in the background as a man jogs through the Liberty State Park while the smoke from Canada wildfires covers the Manhattan borough on June 8, 2023, in New Jersey. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

On a record day in D.C. for smoke pollution, U.S. Senate panel debates wildfire strategy

BY: - June 8, 2023

As smoke from Canadian wildfires caused the most hazardous air conditions on record in the Washington, D.C., area on Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said that Congress should lift federal firefighter pay and encourage logging to reduce the risk of future blazes. “Smoke from the wildfires burning right now […]

The Palmer Gulch Fire burns in October 2022 in the Black Hills. (Courtesy of Black Hills National Forest)

Feds to send nearly $200 million to help communities prepare for wildfires

BY: - March 20, 2023

The Biden administration will send $197 million from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law to help communities prepare for wildfires this summer, Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials said Monday. The funding represents the first round of a new $1 billion Community Wildfire Defense Grant program authorized under the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that […]

Rep. Kevin Jensen, R-Sioux Falls, turns to ask a question during a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 27, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Volunteer fire departments could get millions in state aid

BY: - February 27, 2023

PIERRE — Most of South Dakota’s land area is protected by firefighters who don’t get paid for their work. Most of the fire departments they work for aren’t government entities. That means the fundraising reality of the state’s largely volunteer fire force is one of charity drives, fill-the-boot dances, chili feeds and direct mail solicitation. […]

Smoke rolls off the roof of the Good Samaritan Center on Nov. 8, 2022 in Wagner, South Dakota.

Fire puts nursing home residents in Wagner polling place

BY: - November 9, 2022

Some poll workers in Wagner had to make space for around two dozen senior citizens on Tuesday after a late morning fire damaged the city’s Good Samaritan Center. The fire at the nursing home in the city of 1,400 broke out around 11 a.m., according to Charles Mix County Emergency Manager Mike Kotab. The roof […]