MWNB

Local elected officials across the region are worried that changes in federal policy are putting their communities at risk from wildfire. But public land agencies say some of the concerns are overstated.

New data also points to major insurance impacts in places surprising to many, including the Snake River Plain.

The report finds children raised by grandparents face higher rates of poverty and limited access to support services.

The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar in January, but has received substantial bipartisan support.

As wildfires get more intense, there are questions about how effective prescribed fire and other fuel treatments can be. New research suggests that they can still have real impacts.

Brian Fennessy has nearly 50 years of fire experience, which began in the late 1970s on elite federal hotshot crews and other wildfire teams.

A group of mostly Western U.S. Senators is demanding answers on why the U.S. Forest Service has fallen behind on efforts to reduce hazardous wildfire fuels. The 12 senators – all Democrats – are from Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and other wildfire-impacted states.

The Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff and Republican Utah Senator John Curtis. If passed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal officials would have one year to develop a plan to make “commercially available appropriate respiratory personal protective equipment for wildland firefighters and supporting staff in settings in which smoke exposure surpasses covered permissible exposure limits.”

Data analyzed by the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters shows that prescribed fires and other hazardous fuel reduction efforts have fallen by nearly 40% across the West this year.

The tragic Los Angeles fires were a historically destructive disaster, but they also presented a unique opportunity to study the toxic exposures faced by firefighters. New findings point to a heightened risk for serious diseases like lupus.