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      San Bernadino Fire Destroys Homes and Forces Evacuations in California

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      A blaze in San Bernardino burned suburban homes and threatened others nearby, adding to an already intense California fire season.A fast-moving brush fire burned homes and forced evacuations in the inland California city of San Bernardino on Monday afternoon. Shocking views of the fire tearing across a residential hillside stoked fears that an already dangerous fire season could threaten the more populated parts of the state.The fire in the Southern California city, about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, has grown to 100 acres and burned multiple buildings, said Eric Sherwin, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. Residents of dozens of homes in the Shandin Hills neighborhood are under evacuation orders, and the county has set up an evacuation center at a nearby elementary school.Multiple suburban houses with tile roofs could be seen on live TV engulfed in flames on Monday afternoon.The fire was first reported at 2:40 p.m. in a northern San Bernardino neighborhood, where firefighters found a grass fire spreading quickly. Very dry weather and temperatures approaching 110 degrees conspired to “allow this fire to move at a ridiculously rapid clip,” Mr. Sherwin said.The fire, which has been named the Edgehill fire, is zero percent contained, and 200 firefighters from various agencies are battling the blaze.In San Bernardino, gusty winds coming from the southwest on Monday were helping to push the fire up a hill where many of the homes were perched, said Sam Zuber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego, which provides forecasts for the San Bernardino region.“That’s probably why it’s been so difficult for them to get containment,” Ms. Zuber said, adding that low humidity and high temperatures were further fueling the fire. “It’s the perfect conditions for it to spread right up to the ridge top.”California has had a particularly bad fire season so far after scorching temperatures this summer parched the heavy vegetation that grew over the two past wet winters. Those dry grasses and brush have turned into abundant fuel.Hundreds of miles to the north, the Park fire began nearly two weeks ago near Chico and has ballooned into the fourth-largest fire in California history, spreading more than 403,000 acres. The fire, which is 34 percent contained, is expected to keep expanding, though its growth has slowed over the past week.That fire alone has burned more acres than all of the fires in California did last year combined, according to Cal Fire. This year, more than 778,000 acres have burned statewide, compared with roughly 325,000 acres in all of 2023, and the peak of the fire season has not yet arrived. More

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      Maui Wildfire Plaintiffs Reach $4 Billion Settlement as Anniversary Nears

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      Hawaiian Electric is expected to pay the largest share — nearly $2 billion — but avoided a heftier price tag that could have forced the utility into bankruptcy.Nearly a year after a ferocious wildfire on Maui killed 102 people and leveled the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii’s largest utility has agreed to pay the largest share of a legal settlement totaling just over $4 billion and compensating more than 10,000 homeowners, businesses and other plaintiffs.The proposed agreement was filed late Friday in a Maui-based state court, six days before the anniversary of the disaster. Fire victims and insurers have spent months in court-ordered mediation with the state, Maui County, large private landowners and utilities within the fire zone to resolve more than 600 lawsuits brought in state and federal courts by survivors of the catastrophe.The settlement, which remains subject to court approval, will cover less than half of the overall cost of the disaster — estimated at nearly $12 billion — which cut a path of destruction through one of the world’s most spectacularly beautiful destinations. More than 3,000 homes and other structures were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of residents were killed, injured or displaced.Gov. Josh Green had pushed for a single global agreement among all the parties to litigation to swiftly compensate fire victims, rather than extending negotiations for years without payment. State officials had also hoped to ward off a potentially devastating financial hit to Maui County and the bankruptcy of Hawaiian Electric, which provides electricity for more than nine in 10 of the state’s residents on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii Island.“Settling a matter like this within a year is unprecedented,” Mr. Green said on Friday. “And it will be good that our people don’t have to wait to rebuild their lives as long as others have in many places that have suffered similar tragedies.”Under the proposed terms, which do not include any admission of liability, the utility is expected to pay a little less than half of the $4.037 billion settlement, $1.99 billion, a considerable amount but less than the potential $4.9 billion liability that the investment research firm Capstone estimated last year would most likely bankrupt the company.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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      ‘I Was a Childless Cat Lady’: Women Respond to JD Vance

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      More from our inbox:Clearing Homeless EncampmentsFood and Gas PricesThe Roger Maris FireThe selection of Senator JD Vance of Ohio as former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate was supposed to appeal to women, voters of color and blue-collar voters, but a stream of years-old comments has threatened to undermine that.Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “Past Comments Fluster Vance as Democrats Go on Offense” (front page, July 29):JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, said in 2021, “We’re effectively run, in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”I would say this to Mr. Vance:I was a childless cat lady: three cats, no kids.I thought fertility was a given. There was no medical reason I couldn’t have children. Yet it did not happen. Three cats. A great career. No kids.I was, in effect at 38, a “childless cat lady.”I pursued fertility treatments. Treatments that many Republicans want to ban.I had painful tests, surgeries, running to the lab — five vials of blood drawn every day at 6 a.m. — then rushing to work for a minimum 12-hour day.Childless cat lady lawyer. Meow.I had one fabulous child at 38 with I.V.F. She was a triplet, but I lost my daughter’s siblings.I was pregnant three other times. I lost two other babies at four months. I needed a D and C: same procedure as an abortion. If I didn’t have the surgery, I would have died.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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      Heat Will Intensify Across the U.S. This Week

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      Summer heat will once again engulf much of the country, bringing above-average temperatures, setting daily records and increasing wildfire risk.Heat, on average, is the deadliest weather disaster in the U.S., causing typically over 100 deaths each year — more than hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding. Because of climate change, extreme heat is likely to worsen over time. Humidity can exacerbate the issue, preventing heat from properly escaping our bodies. Judson Jones, a meteorologist and reporter for The New York Times covering extreme weather, explains the dangers and how to find relief.A dangerous midsummer heat wave is expected to overtake much of the United States this week, with a swampy heat index reaching over 100 degrees in the East and drier, blistering triple-digit high temperatures in the West. More

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      Scenes From the California Park Fire

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      Last Wednesday, a man pushed a burning car into a gully near Chico, a college town north of Sacramento, according to the authorities. Within days, the flames have consumed more than 370,000 acres and the Park fire has become the largest active blaze in the country.Thousands of people are under evacuation orders and at least 111 structures have been destroyed, according to Cal Fire.Residents of this part of California have dealt with one fire after another in recent years. In 2018, the Camp fire destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest fire in state history. In 2021, the Dixie fire burned nearly a million acres. That history loomed large for Paul Mozzino, who was working an afternoon shift at a grocery store in Chico last week when he heard the alerts about a nearby fire. He thought, “Oh God, not again.”Here are photos from the last few days as the Park fire — already one of the largest in the state’s history — burned through this swath of Northern California.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesThe Park fire burned into the night in Butte County, northeast of Chico, on Sunday.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesA California Conservation Corps firefighter took part in a backfire operation on Monday.Noah Berger/Associated PressSmoke rose above the road as the Park fire jumped Highway 36 in Tehama County on Friday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesThe hills near Chico on Thursday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA helicopter dropped water on the Park fire along Highway 32 in Butte County on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesThe plum of smoke from the Park fire on Friday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA home destroyed by the Park fire in the Forest Ranch area in Butte County on Friday.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockThe burned remains of cars destroyed by the fire on Friday.Noah Berger/Associated PressThe Park fire burned below Highway 32 near Lomo on Friday.By Daniel Dreifuss For The New York TimesFirefighters set controlled burns along Highway 32 near Chico on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA Cal Fire firefighter sprayed down hot spots along Highway 32 as the Park fire continued to grow on Saturday.Nic Coury/Associated PressA firefighter monitored a burn operation on Highway 32 near Forest Ranch on Sunday.Noah Berger/Associated PressHorses were evacuated as the Park fire tore though the Cohasset community in Butte County on Thursday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA firefighter kept a close eye on a controlled burn along Highway 32 on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesFire trucks lined Highway 32 on Friday.Almendra Lawrence More

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      What to Know About the Wildfires in California

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      The state has had more than 3,500 wildfires this year, and the peak of the annual fire season has yet to arrive.Californians are once again thinking about the familiar perils of deadly wildfires as high temperatures and winds have made for an active early fire season.In recent weeks, more than 3,500 wildfires have erupted across California, the nation’s most populous state, from its northern boundary with Oregon to the Mexican border. Tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes, including most residents in the city of Oroville last week.After two relatively calm fire years, Californians fear that the blazes will be more intense this summer and fall, threatening towns and polluting the air with smoke up and down the West Coast. Here’s what to know.What’s the latest on the most intense fires?On Friday, the Lake fire started in the grassy hills of the Los Padres National Forest, about 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara. In mere days, it has burned almost 29,000 acres and has become the state’s largest wildfire so far this year, according to Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency.The fire initially drew attention because it threatened the property formerly known as Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Firefighters made early progress controlling the fire line and keeping it away from the ranch and other properties in the hills, but strong winds have continued to push the blaze southeast.Most of the fire has been in rural, rugged terrain, officials say, and it was 16 percent contained as of Wednesday. But it has still forced about 440 people to evacuate, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, while more than 1,100 are under evacuation warnings.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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      Neverland Ranch Threatened by ‘Lake Fire’ in California

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      The fire erupted on Friday near Zaca Lake, northeast of Los Olivos, Calif. As of Sunday, it had burned more than 16,000 acres and was zero percent contained.A wildfire that erupted in the mountains of Santa Barbara County in Southern California has burned more than 16,000 acres, prompting an evacuation order and threatening ranches, including Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch, the authorities said.The fire, called the Lake Fire, broke out shortly before 4 p.m. on Friday near Zaca Lake, just northeast of Los Olivos, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.The cause of the fire, which was zero percent contained as of Sunday, remained under investigation.The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order for an area near the Los Padres National Forest that includes the property once known as Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, a 2,700-acre property in Los Olivos, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.About 100 residents were affected by the evacuation order, said Kenichi Haskett, a public information officer for Cal Fire. No structural damage, injuries or fatalities have been reported so far.Winds were blowing the blaze southeast. Neverland Ranch and other ranches were in immediate danger on Sunday, Mr. Haskett said.Mr. Jackson bought the ranch for about $17 million in 1988 and transformed it into a private entertainment complex, complete with a zoo, a train and an amusement park that included a Ferris wheel and a 50-seat theater.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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      Lightning Is Blamed for Deadly New Mexico Fire

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      The South Fork fire and another one in the state left two people dead and destroyed 1,400 structures.Lightning sparked the larger of the two wildfires that have scorched southern New Mexico, leaving at least two people dead, destroying 1,400 structures and ravaging more than 25,000 acres, the authorities said on Wednesday.The blaze, known as the South Fork fire, began June 17 amid sweltering temperatures and was 87 percent contained on Wednesday evening, the Bureau of Indian Affairs said in a news release.“The identification of the point of origin and all evidence and data support lightning as the cause of the fire,” the agency said in a statement. “Human activity and factors did not contribute to the cause.”On June 23, the F.B.I. said that it was offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “person or persons responsible for starting” the South Fork fire and the Salt fire, the other major fire in New Mexico.On Wednesday, the bureau said that the Salt fire, which the authorities said was 84 percent contained, remained under investigation.The F.B.I. also said that it was still offering the reward for information “leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for starting the Salt fire.”Both fires broke out on June 17, burning across the Mescalero Apache tribal area, on U.S. Forest Service land and in areas around Ruidoso. The fires forced thousands of people to temporarily evacuate the village of Ruidoso and surrounding areas.According to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, the majority of wildfires in the U.S. are caused by people. Lightning is the most common natural cause, the organization said. More