Wildfires

The initiative is designed to mitigate fire risk, but some residents say the work is drastic, and needs more community input.

Crews working near Boulder spent the past few months extinguishing an unusual fire: It was an underground blaze left over from the area’s coal mining days more than a century ago. Today on In The NoCo, we find out how they put out the fire – and just how hazardous these underground fires can be.

Recent fires that consumed entire Los Angeles neighborhoods underscore a stark lesson -- water utilities generally aren't designed to respond to the large urban fires growing more common as climate change worsens. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring enough water flows to enough hydrants while demand is high and damaged pipes may be hampering the system.

Researchers are working to better understand the toxic exposures faced by the firefighters who responded.

An obscure federal agency recently released what it calls the “most comprehensive data on homeowners insurance in history.” And the picture it paints for the Mountain West is a concerning one.

Wildfires, hailstorms, and other catastrophic events have caused billions of dollars in damage in Colorado. They’re also amping up worries that insurance companies might pull out of high-risk areas, leaving homeowners high and dry, without coverage. A state lawmaker discusses a few ideas to prevent that from happening, today on In The NoCo.

Nearby smoke plumes can drop generation substantially, but smoke that blows in from distant blazes appears to have only a "modest" effect.

While California has a uniquely unstable insurance market, many of the issues there are increasingly being seen across the West. The state’s previous insurance commissioner says there are things other states can do to stave off more serious problems.

The Karuk of Northern California are one of many Native peoples with a long tradition of burning their ancestral lands. These practices are key inspiration for an annual prescribed fire training that’s been going on for more than a decade.

“What played out in L.A. could easily occur in other communities, other cities across the West and even outside the West,” said Kimiko Barrett, the senior wildfire researcher at Montana-based Headwaters Economics.