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      Wildfire Erupts in Orange County, Forcing Evacuations

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      A small brush fire in Southern California quickly grew into a nearly 2,000-acre blaze, threatening nearby suburban neighborhoods.A brush fire that erupted on Monday afternoon in the hills of Orange County in Southern California exploded to nearly 2,000 acres within a few hours, prompting evacuation orders for nearby communities as the blaze burned uncontrolled.Known as the Airport fire, it began just before 1:30 p.m. about 15 miles east of Irvine, Calif., near an airport for remote-controlled model airplanes. Officials have ordered evacuations in parts of Trabuco Canyon, a community in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, and have recommended evacuations for surrounding neighborhoods as well.The fire broke out during a prolonged heat wave that has pushed temperatures in many parts of Southern California into the triple digits in recent days. A fire in the San Bernardino Mountains that began on Thursday, about 55 miles northeast of Trabuco Canyon, has swelled to threaten more than 33,000 structures and is only 5 percent contained.In Trabuco Canyon, temperatures reached about 98 degrees on Monday, above normal for early September, said Samantha Zuber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. Wind speeds were about 15 miles per hour, she said.The winds are expected to slow into the evening, but overnight temperatures will remain unusually high, unlikely to drop below 70 degrees, she said. Similar conditions have been fueling wildfires in the state all summer. “Unfortunately, temperatures won’t cool that much,” Ms. Zuber said.She said that temperatures in the fire zone would begin to drop on Tuesday — a high of 95 is expected — before a significant cool down, which is forecast to start on Wednesday and continue for the rest of the week.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How Wildfire Smoke Threatens Human Health

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      The mucus and hairs in your nose can trap larger particles, and the mucus and cilia in your upper airway can catch some as well, said Luke Montrose, an environmental toxicologist at Colorado State University. But some PM2.5 or smaller particles can bypass these defenses and penetrate the deepest parts of your lungs. Dr. Montrose […] More

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      Man Charged With Arson in California’s Thompson Fire

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      The Thompson fire also burned over 3,700 acres and forced the evacuation of 26,000 residents.A 26-year-old California man was arrested last week on arson charges in connection with the Thompson fire in July, which destroyed 13 homes, burned over 3,700 acres and forced the evacuation of 26,000 people, according to the law enforcement agencies.The man, Spencer Grant Anderson, who was taken into custody on Aug. 22, was arraigned on Monday and is being held without bail in Butte County Jail.The Thompson fire began on July 2 when Mr. Anderson threw a “flaming object” out the window of a car he was driving just north of Oroville, where he lives, according to a news release issued Monday by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.On the day the fire began, investigators with Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, pinpointed where the fire had originated and learned from 911 callers and witnesses that a Toyota sedan had been spotted there at the time, the prosecutor’s office said.The next day, they found the Toyota and identified Mr. Anderson as the driver and potential arsonist, according to the release.Investigators monitored and investigated Mr. Anderson for 50 days before arresting him, prosecutors said.After his arrest, Mr. Anderson admitted that he had purchased fireworks from a stand in Oroville and tested one by throwing it out of his car window, according to the release.District Attorney Mike Ramsey did not immediately return a phone message on Monday seeking comment.Mr. Anderson is charged with arson of an inhabited structure, arson of forest land, and arson causing multiple structures to burn.“It was a long investigation, there was a lot moving parts to it,” Larry Pilgrim, Mr. Anderson’s attorney, said to The New York Times on Monday. “He is just being accused at this point.”He added that “it’s too early to pass judgment.”If convicted on all charges, Mr. Anderson could face more than 21 years in prison, prosecutors said. He has a previous felony conviction related to domestic violence, according to the news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office, which it said could double the punishment of any possible arson conviction. More

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      On Hawaii’s Big Island, Hurricane Hone Brings Heavy Rain but No Major Damage

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      More than 20,000 customers were without power by Sunday afternoon, but neither the winds nor the flooding from the storm were dramatic.Hurricane Hone passed within 60 miles of Hawaii’s Big Island early Sunday, bringing heavy rain, knocking out power to thousands of customers and snapping native ohia trees like twigs.More than 20,000 customers were without electricity on Sunday afternoon on the island, which has a population of about 206,000. But Mitch Roth, the mayor of Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, said there were no reports of injuries or major damage.Kazuo Todd, the fire chief for Hawaii County, said that nearly 18 inches of rain had fallen around the volcanoes in the southern part the island. But so far, neither the winds nor the flooding had been dramatic.“We do live on an island in the Pacific where the water can drain off into the ocean relatively quickly,” Chief Todd said.Forecasters predicted that Hone, which was a Category 1 storm as it was spinning westward below the islands on Sunday, could still bring up to 20 inches of rain to some areas. As the storm moves, it will slow down and push moisture over all the islands, increasing the potential for heavy rainfall statewide and the threat of flash flooding in some areas.Floodwaters flow through a soccer complex in Hilo, Hawaii, as a result of heavy rains.Bruce Omori for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      In Hawaii, a Sense of Alertness Without Panic Ahead of Tropical Storm Hone

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      Although the storm is not expected to pass directly over the Big Island, forecasters warned of threats including flooding and damaging winds.Debbie Arita, an office manager at a supermarket in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, took stock of the conditions. Tropical Storm Hone was approaching the region, but the scene on Friday was far from chaotic — no frantic rush for supplies, no desperate boarding up of windows.To Ms. Arita, who said she has been through her fair share of hurricanes and tsunamis, the prevailing mood seemed to be alertness without anxiousness.“There’s no sense of panic here,” she said.Hone (pronounced ho-NAY) is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Hawaii as it passes near or south of the Big Island late Saturday into early Sunday. Forecasters have warned of the potential for damaging winds, life-threatening surf and flash floods.Officials and residents largely said they were preparing, but not with alarm. While a landfall of a named storm on Hawaii is rare, storms frequently come close enough to affect the islands’ weather. Mitch Roth, the mayor of Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, wants residents to remain watchful. “We want people to be prepared for any kind of hazard,” Mr. Roth said. In August 2018, Hurricane Lane drenched the Big Island with 58 inches of rainfall, damaged over 100 buildings and killed one person — despite the eye of the storm passing over 100 miles south of the state.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Know About the Park Fire, the 4th Largest in California History

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      The rapidly spreading fire has consumed over 426,000 acres since it started burning in late July. The Park fire, the largest wildfire currently burning in the United States, has torn through over 426,000 acres in Northern California in recent weeks and has destroyed hundreds of homes and other structures.The fire ballooned in size in a matter of days, and it is the largest blaze in California so far this year. Thousands of firefighters and other personnel, some from as far as Utah and Texas, are battling the fire, which was 34 percent contained as of Wednesday.The hot and dry weather has made it difficult for firefighters to suppress the blaze, which is spreading northeast within Lassen National Forest and “ascending slopes with critically dry fuel,” according to Cal Fire. But forecasters say the coming days could bring lower temperatures and higher humidity levels in the fire zone. Current unseasonably warm temperatures are expected to steadily fade and give way to highs in the 70s next week.“It’s not a dramatic change, it’s slow. But each day is getting a little better,” said Eric Kurth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sacramento. “That’s certainly helpful.”Here’s what to know about the fire.The Park fire has burned more than 426,000 acres.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesWhen and how did the fire start?The fire ignited on July 24 near Chico, a college town in Butte County, north of Sacramento. After igniting, the fire exploded to more than 120,000 acres by the next day and then nearly doubled in size the night after that. Officials said the cause of the fire was arson.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Burned Out of Lahaina, Thousands Try to Rebuild Lives Elsewhere

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      Many struggled to find housing and work after the wildfire destroyed the seaside town on Maui last year. But they have faced new hardships.For Ernesto Perez, life on Maui wasn’t easy. But it was pleasant and peaceful, and a long way from the cartel violence of Mexico that his family escaped nearly three decades ago.He became a chef, serving the flow of tourists that propelled the local economy, and found a home a short walk from the shimmering waters of the Pacific Ocean in the historic town of Lahaina. He got married, had four daughters, got divorced and found love again.Then last year, the fires came, consuming his home and claiming his job, and he was confronted with a choice: Stay or go? His mother invited him to return to Mexico, but he said he would never raise his daughters amid the violence of the drug trade that overshadows his homeland. Eventually, he was drawn to Las Vegas, a place that has attracted so many Hawaiians in recent years that it has been called the Ninth Island. These days, he works as a cook at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, dreaming of his lost paradise and worrying about the toll on his family.“I lived a block from the beach in Lahaina,” Mr. Perez, 42, said. “My daughters would go to the beach, they would go shopping by themselves. I didn’t have to worry. Here, there’s a lot of danger for my girls.”One year after a wildfire incinerated Lahaina, killing 102 people in the deadliest fire in the United States in more than a century, residents on the island of Maui are struggling to find work and housing. Some are still living in hotels, while others cannot find apartments they can afford.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More