Wildfires

Cal Fire officials did not identify who hosted the party and if the hosts will be held responsible for the fire. 

Juliana Park was one of the hundreds of campers who were forced to rush from the popular forest because of an explosive Creek Fire that erupted over the weekend and was burning near Shaver Lake, Huntington Lake and Big Creek in the rugged foothills of eastern Fresno County.

In the past two days, evacuation orders were lifted for at least 50,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area and wine country, officials with the state fire agency, Cal Fire, said Thursday evening. At their peak, some 170,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Cal Fire Operations Chief Mark Brunton called the act "saddening" and said it's the last thing crews should have to experience while they're battling out of control fires with limited resources. 

Video from NOAA’s satellite Instagram account showed hurricane clouds and dust plumes on Aug. 25 as taken from the GOES-West satellite.

“But the forest is not gone,” Laura McLendon said. “It will regrow. Every old-growth redwood I’ve ever seen, in Big Basin and other parks, has fire scars on them. They’ve been through multiple fires, possibly worse than this.”

The Santa Cruz fire is one of three “complexes,” or groups of fires, burning on all sides of the San Francisco Bay Area. All were started by lightning.

Some fires burning in that area were eating up the earth as fast as 1,000 acres an hour. 

A helicopter pilot was killed in a crash while battling one of the hundreds of wildfires currently burning across California.

The maximum penalty assessed by Butte County Superior Court Judge Micahel Deems was a mere formality, given that PG&E reached a plea agreement three months ago to resolve manslaughter and other charges.

The blaze killed 85 people and destroyed 18,804 structures, per Cal Fire.

February is shaping up to be driest on record for much of the state, with chances of light showers on the horizon on March 1 and then not again until March 10.

Three American firefighters died in a water tanker plane crash Thursday while battling wildfires in Australia, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed.

The sails of the legendary Sydney Opera House were illuminated on Saturday to show support for first-responders battling wildfires in Australia.  

The utility company announced a $13.5B settlement with individual Northern California wildfire victims on Friday. It includes settlements for claims from the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Paradise will pause on Friday.

The American heavy metal band Metallica is donating $100,000 to California wildfire relief efforts.