By DON THOMPSON and GILLIAN FLACCUS , Associated Press PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — A fierce wildfire in Northern California incinerated most of a town of about 30,000 people with flames that moved so fast there was nothing firefighters could do, authorities said Friday. Nine people died in what quickly grew into the state’s most destructive…
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — A surgical nurse who evacuated from a Northern California hospital with a wildfire roaring nearby says she had to return after her vehicle went up in flames and one of her pant legs caught fire. Nichole Jolly said Friday that she helped evacuate patients Thursday from Adventist Health Feather River Hospital…
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — A law enforcement official says authorities have identified the gunman and the handgun he used to kill 12 people at a Southern California bar. The official told The Associated Press the man was 29 years old and deployed a smoke device and used a .45-caliber handgun when he opened fire inside…
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — A sheriff says 13 people are dead, including a sheriff’s sergeant and the gunman, after a shooting inside a crowded Southern California bar late Wednesday. Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean says sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus responded to the scene and was shot after he entered the building. He died at…
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A gunman killed five people, including his wife, before turning the gun on himself as a Kern County sheriff’s deputy closed in Wednesday, authorities said. There was no immediate word on what sparked the shootings that took place at a home and a business in Bakersfield, which is some 90 miles…
By MARCIO SANCHEZ and AMANDA LEE MYERS , Associated Press LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters made significant progress trying to tamp down a wildfire that threatened homes and has been raging for days south of Los Angeles, officials said Saturday. Aircraft have been making flight after flight, dumping water and bright pink retardant to…
LAKEPORT, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires tearing through trees and brush, rampaging up hillsides and incinerating neighborhoods: The places and names change, but the devastation is showing signs of becoming the new normal in California. On Monday, twin fires in Northern California being treated as one became the largest wildfire in state history, destroying 443 square…
By JANIE HAR and BRIAN SKOLOFF , Associated Press UPPER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Just a month into the budget year, California has already spent more than one-quarter of its annual fire budget, at least $125 million, state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler said Wednesday. Following years of drought and a…
By JANIE HAR and BRIAN SKOLOFF , Associated Press UPPER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — A massive wildfire in Northern California has torched more than 1,000 homes in and around the city of Redding, authorities said Wednesday as some evacuees were allowed to return home and new blazes exploded in what has become an endless summer…
By JANIE HAR and BRIAN SKOLOFF , Associated Press UPPER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Jessyca Lytle fled a fast-moving Northern California wildfire in 2015 that spared her property but destroyed her mother’s memorabilia-filled home in rural and rugged Lake County. Less than three years later, Lytle found herself listening to scanner traffic and fire-proofing her…