LA faces ‘critical’ fire danger, electricity cutoffs ahead of forecast Santa Ana winds

The first fierce dry winds of California’s Santa Ana season are forecast to make landfall on Thursday and Friday, prompting officials to warn residents about the high potential for wildfire.

The National Weather Service issued multiple red flag warnings for communities throughout the state, while communities in Los Angeles’ northwest, including Santa Clarita, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, were put under “critical” fire danger. The warnings were issued from Thursday into Saturday due to the strong Santa Ana winds, which are dry winds funneled through canyons and mountains that can reach up to 100 mph and lower relative humidity throughout the Los Angeles region.

The warnings have triggered electric utility providers Southern California Edison and PG&E to warn hundreds of thousands of their customers about the potential for power shutoffs due to the elevated fire danger. On Wednesday evening, Southern California Edison said shutoffs were being considered for over 258,000 customers, while 28 counties were either under required shutoff warnings or watches with PG&E.

“Combined with warm and dry conditions, elevated fire weather conditions will be present across much of the territory later this week and may necessitate (Public Safety Power Shutoff) PSPS in the windiest locations,” PG&E officials said in a Wednesday update. “The fuel moisture content in brush is approaching annual minimum values, if not already there, with most species at critically flammable levels.”

California Office of Emergency Services announced on Wednesday it would be moving firefighters and equipment into Southern California before the dangerous Santa Ana winds arrive. The office also urged residents to prepare for dangerous fire weather and the possible utility power shutoffs.

“Review evacuation routes, develop a wildfire action plan, and pack a go-bag with essential supplies,” the office said in a recent statement. “Sign up for local emergency alerts and follow instructions from local emergency management and public safety officials.”

Maui residents contaminated with toxic metals long after 2023 wildfires, study finds

The lungs of many Hawaii residents are filled with extremely high levels of toxic metals, months after the smoke from the disastrous 2023 fires in Lahaina had cleared, according to a recent study published by the University of Hawaiʻi.

The research, published on September 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the urine of 1,400 adults from Maui tested 6-18 months after the fires had toxic metal levels far above normal levels, including antimony at nearly 40 times, manganese at 3.8 times, barium at 2.3 times, and arsenic at 2.2 times reference levels. High metal exposure is associated with poor lung health, with the metals that the researchers found contributing strongly to negative health impacts.

While the study lacked pre-fire data of the participants and cannot determine how much of the contamination came directly from the wildfire, researchers emphasized the toxic metals came from a variety of exposures, which the wildfire likely exacerbated.

“The biggest message is that exposure may not end when the smoke clears,” said the University of Hawaiʻi’s Maui Wildfire Exposure Study co-director Ruben Juarez. “What we are likely seeing is a complex combination of exposures – some that may have been present for years and others that may have been generated or remobilized by the wildfire. When a disaster burns through a community, it can fundamentally change how contaminants move through the environment. The next scientific challenge is to disentangle those sources and understand which exposures persist, where they come from and what they mean for long-term health.”

High-metal concentrations were not just found in Lahaina residents. Researchers said residents closest to the fire showed a distinct metal profile, specifically elevated concentrations of arsenic and cadmium. While residents from Wailuku/Kahului and Kula/Kihei showed different metal profiles as well, which researchers say shows there was no single uniform exposure pattern across the island.

“As destructive fires increasingly reach developed communities, researchers say disaster-response systems may need to look beyond short-term measurements of smoke and particulate matter,” the university said in a press release about the research. “Future responses could include longer-term environmental monitoring, human biomonitoring, respiratory surveillance and targeted assessment of soil, ash and settled dust, particularly in places with histories of agricultural or industrial contamination.”

Click here to read the full research.

‘Pyroterrorists’ may increasingly use wildfire as a weapon, expert warns

Over a decade ago, the then-US Forest Service’s Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management, Robert Baird, warned the nation about the growing threat of “pyroterrorism,” specifically the threat of al-Qaeda setting wildfires. His warning has been echoed by experts worldwide in the 13 years since.

Firefighter with Fire Rescue Victoria and High Threat Response Educator Sam Miletta was the most recent expert to share that warning at the Australasian Fire Authorities Council Conference in September in Melbourne. There, Miletta gave a presentation on how fire is increasingly being used as a weapon in numerous regions across the globe.

His most recent publication, Fire as a Weapon – the European Experience, was published in the counter-terrorism medical journal ASPIS Medical in July 2025. It begins with profiling arsonist Wess Roley, who started the Nettleton Gulch Fire in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, before shooting and killing two responding firefighters and then taking his own life. Miletta’s paper uses Roley as an example of how fire in general can be used as a weapon, both by terrorists and other violent actors.

Despite the wildfire intro, however, Miletta goes on to describe how wildfires and bushfires are the most difficult for a terrorist group to claim credit for, unlike other forms of pyroterrorism like ambushes, hostage situations, and during times of civil unrest. State-sponsored sabotage events using fire as a weapon have seen recent increases in Europe, but known wildfire-specific incidents have remained few and far between.

“Traditionally, in the post 9/11 world, with the heavy focus on the Islamic Extremist/jihadi threat, where their intent was often to spark fear and cause harm, it was difficult to make a claim to wildfires in locations where Governments/authorities in those countries are able to downplay them due to the constant occurrence of accidental and general arson wildfires annually,” Miletta told Wildfire Today. “I think that is why we saw a heavier focus on low-cost confronting attacks such as vehicle ramming, bombings/edged weapon and firearm attacks.”

Miletta said wildfire remains a potential tool for both right-wing groups targeting infrastructure like 5G towers and left-wing environmental groups. The remaining likelihood of a threat is why local, state and federal agencies should prepare for a potential terror-driven wildfire/bushfire event, including:

  • Being able to withdraw and rapidly share situational awareness with other units/agencies if the wildfire is being used as an ambush tactic to draw crews in, such as the Idaho event.
  • Resource planning/deployment/reserve in settings where resources are intentionally overwhelmed due to multiple wildfires ignited within close geographical areas/jurisdictions.
  • Improved intelligence sharing between national security/law enforcement agencies and fire services. This is done in other national security settings, but Miletta suggests it be more common in larger urban locations rather than rural areas susceptible to wildfire.

See also The ABCs of Fire as a Weapon and Australia’s Experience in Salus Journal, March 2023.

Abandoned campfire caused Yosemite Dome Fire that killed two pilots

The Dome Fire that has burned over 5,000 acres and caused the deaths of two pilots in Yosemite National Park was caused by an abandoned campfire, according to fire crews at the scene.

Investigators listed the fire’s cause on Inciweb, but did not release details on how they determined the cause. The fire’s latest update on Tuesday morning reported that containment is increasing while the fire’s growth continues to slow due to cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity.

“Crews were successful at tying in more of the fire perimeter to control lines along the north and northeast areas of the fire,” according to the latest update. “Firefighters continue to improve indirect and contingency lines ahead of the fire.”

Some incident personnel on Tuesday morning attended a procession in Modesto, California, for Ryan Cutter and Greg King, the two pilots who died in a helicopter crash while working the fire. The FAA’s initial incident notification said the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS32 Super Puma, crashed under unknown circumstances while on water bucket drops at the fire.

Personnel working the fire have attributed the increasing containment to several pack mules from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest delivering fire equipment and medical supplies to crews.

“These intelligent, strong animals provide invaluable support,” crews said. “Using pack mules allows helicopters to do other work, such as bucket drops; and mules can also be used in smoky conditions where a helicopter would not have good visibility to deliver supplies to a remote site.”

Read the Dome Fire’s Tuesday update here.

Winning ideas to transform wildfire detection and response

Teams from across the world have competed to build transformative technology for wildfire detection and response. The winners were given hundreds of thousands of dollars to continue their development.

The teams were awarded the funds at the XPRIZE Wildfire Competition Awardee Ceremony at the New York City Fire Museum on Sept. 23. Nine of the 124 teams ended up winning prize money for their inventions focusing on either Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence and Autonomous Wildfire Response.

Along with the prize money, each winner will move forward to XPRIZE’s “Impact Phase,” which will use field trials to translate the technologies into real-world solutions for wildfire management.

“The awardee announcement marks an important milestone in the fight against destructive wildfires, but the breakthroughs that emerged from the competition are only the beginning,” XPRIZE said in a press release. “By catalyzing technological innovation and collaboration between innovators and wildfire experts, XPRIZE Wildfire has helped spur the development, adoption and investment needed to strengthen the accuracy of wildfire detection and the speed of response.”

The winners in the Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence section, according to the XPRIZE website, included:

  • First Place – System Integration Awardee, $500,000: SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance
    SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance demonstrated comprehensive end-to-end and system integration methodology, integrating SAR and optical data to support fire characterization and spread modeling. 
  • Second Place – Methodological Innovation Awardee, $250,000: Team Snuffed
    Team Snuffed developed a probabilistic data-fusion framework designed to provide transparent, auditable and uncertainty-aware wildfire detection, with strong firefighter-facing usability.
  • Special Recognition, Commercial Viability, $100,000: MyRadar
    As a commercially mature team, MyRadar utilized upstream satellite acquisition and demonstrated spatial precision. 
  • Special Recognition, Operational Deliverable, $100,000: DeepFire
    DeepFire demonstrated an operational fire-spread-alert capability designed to support wildfire detection and intelligence.
  • Special Recognition, Innovative Algorithm Application, $100,000: Mayday.AI
    Mayday.AI applied an algorithm originally developed for volcanic-ash detection to identify wildfire smoke plumes through cloud cover.

The winners of the Autonomous Wildfire Response section included:

  • First Place Awardee, $1.2 Million: Anduril Industries
    Anduril’s modular Lattice software platform provided a detection-to-suppression integrated pathway for cameras, sensors, and drones.
  • Second Place Awardee, $800,000: Dryad Networks 
    Dryad’s Silvanet, a 170-sensor persistent field network, combined with their Silvaguard drones, demonstrated end-to-end autonomy.
  • Third Place Awardee, $500,000: AURA Foresight 
    AURA successfully demonstrated autonomous and persistent detection, meeting the critical 10-minute detection gate.
  • Lockheed Martin Accurate Detection & Intelligence Bonus Prize, $1,000,000: Anduril Industries
    Recognized for their rapid and precise multi-sensor detector performance.

Canada’s largest fire detector acquires US wildfire business despite barriers

Wildfire detection company SenseNet, Canada’s largest wildfire detection operator, recently announced the acquisition of N5 Sensors‘ wildfire-related assets, a semiconductor producer in the United States, despite the company’s recent failure in a federal audit and the two nations being in the middle of a trade war.

N5 builds environmental and chemical sensor platforms for air quality analysis, hazardous chemical monitoring and early wildfire detection, according to the company’s website. SenseNet acquired the company’s fire-sensing technology just months after the sensors failed an audit conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

SenseNet CEO and Founder Hamed Noori told Wildfire Today that he and his company were aware of the failed audit before the acquisition, deciding that the audit’s report did not accurately reflect N5’s technology nor how it would operate under SenseNet. He added that he believes N5’s integration into SenseNet would only add to his company’s ability to monitor wildfires.

SenseNet also monitors more than 400 million acres of wildlands across 10 other countries. The company focuses on smoldering-phase gas sensors, long-range AI cameras, and satellite intelligence, among other technologies.

The acquisition also comes amid an escalating trade war between the U.S. and Canada, triggered after President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on numerous goods from Canada entering the U.S. on Aug. 19, and explicitly includes electronics and telecom equipment like those SenseNet and N5 rely on, along with vehicle parts, lumber, and agricultural goods. Canada exported more than $4 billion worth of electronics equipment to the U.S. in 2025 that would now be subject to the tariffs, largely made up of electrical boards and controllers.

Canada’s responded by instituting 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods on August 22 then issued more retaliatory tariffs on September 8, including taxes ranging between 15 and 50% on a list of more than 700 U.S. goods, including semiconductor-related parts and other technology goods.

Noori told Wildfire Today he expects the ongoing trade war to minimally impact his business, if at all.

“For one, the sensors are relatively cheap and the majority of our value comes from our platform and AI that detects the wildfires,” Noori said. “Secondly, wildfire prevention is an issue that transcends politics as both countries collaborate deeply and share resources.”

Fatal Yosemite Dome Fire helicopter crash details and pilot identities released

The two pilots killed in a helicopter crash while fighting the Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park have been identified by the helicopter’s owner, and the Federal Aviation Administration has released preliminary details on the crash.

The Precision aerospace company identified the men as Greg King and Ryan Cutter in a post on their social media account late Monday night. The company did not release further details on King or Cutter but acknowledged the public’s thoughts and prayers.

“These two men deserve every single one of them, as do their families and friends,” a company representative said in the post. “These two men brought honor to the mission. Their dedication and service will never be forgotten.”

The FAA’s initial incident notification said the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS32 Super Puma, crashed under unknown circumstances while on water bucket drops at the fire. The administration listed one flight crew member and one passenger on the helicopter.

The Dome Fire has burned 3,324 acres and is 15% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to fire crews at the scene. The fire continued to spread into the 2017 Empire Fire footprint, whiile a spot fire to the east grows. Officials expect spotting to continue as the fire moves north into heavy dead and down fuels.

“Fire behavior will remain moderate, with spotting behavior being a big challenge in the full suppression efforts of this fire,” officials said in the Monday morning update. “We continue to stage structure firefighters at Yosemite West and Wawona, supporting local communities and continuing prep work and contingencies.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Two dead in helicopter crash at the Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park

Two dead in helicopter crash at the Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park

Two flight crew members were killed on Sunday when their firefighting helicopter crashed at the Dome Fire burning in Yosemite National Park, according to the company that owned the helicopter.

Aerospace company Precision confirmed the two crew members’ deaths to WildfireToday. A company spokesperson said representatives are working to notify family members of those who were killed and that the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are leading an investigation into the incident. They did not share details on the events leading up to the crash.

“It is with unimaginable sadness and broken hearts that we share the loss of two beloved members of our team,” Precision said in a statement. “We are devastated by this loss and are struggling to find the words. We ask for privacy and compassion for their families and our team as we grieve this tremendous loss.”

Here is an update from the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Dome Fire burned 2,667 acres as of Sunday morning, according to crews working the fire. The fire continues to grow into the 2017 Empire Fire footprint, which burned 8,094 acres northeast of Wawona, California. The presence of abundant fuels in the area is driving fire spread.

“Heavy fuel conditions continue to pose challenges for ground-based suppression resources as they continue to utilize natural barriers such as granite outcroppings and bare areas in the northwest flank,” according to the latest incident update. “Fire is moving through red fir fuel type, which is conducive to spotting and susceptible to burning.”

Fire managers expected an incoming weak weather system to spread clouds and lower temperatures throughout the fire area on Sunday.

Track US states’ new wildfire laws for utilities with this interactive map

Hawaii’s Lahaina Fire killed over 100 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. California’s Eaton Fire triggered the evacuation of over 100,000 residents. Texas’ Smokehouse Creek Fire burned over one million acres.

These are just some of the many fires that were ignited by electrical utility infrastructure in the US. The fallout from these disasters has triggered a wave of recent legislation rewriting the rules of how utilities operate in numerous US states, but officials at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Smart Electric Power Alliance said lawmakers lacked a way to track how each state is addressing the problem.

The two organizations, in response, created a new interactive map that provides a state-by-state view of wildfire-focused utility laws. The tracker shows which states are pursuing wildfire mitigation strategies, along with which measures have passed or failed.

“Research shows that states considered more wildfire-related legislation in 2025 than they had during the previous 10 years combined,” the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said in a press release. ” Currently, the map shows 44 legislative and regulatory actions across 18 states. PNNL and SEPA plan to update the map as new actions are introduced.”

The agencies had previously been tracking wildfire-focused utility legislation on their own, but decided to combine their efforts after representatives met at a conference and started comparing notes, according to the press release. Their new goal is to translate policy developments across states into something policymakers can act on.

The tracker also offers an alternative for those involved in wildfire mitigation planning who would otherwise have to search through hundreds of documents cast in state-specific contexts buried within bill management systems in state legislative sessions, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Electricity Infrastructure Advisor Rebecca O’Neil said in the press release.

“States across the country can benefit from an interactive tool like WRAPT – from states in the West as they consider policy options and interactions, states in the Midwest as they consider best practices and get in front of this issue as it arrives and states in the East adapting this playbook as they balance utility investment against the threat of wildfire,” O’Neil said.

Click here to use the tracker for yourself.

With or without roads, US forests burn at a similar rate, researchers claim

McKinley Fire Alaska Parks highway

Over 40 years of wildfire-ignition data across 11 western U.S. states showed that national forest areas classified as “roadless” didn’t burn more than national forest land with roads, further fueling discussion around the Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ intent to repeal the 2001 “Roadless Rule.”

Rollins has stated that the nation’s protected forests need to be opened to new road construction, development and logging in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. Rollins has also labeled the rule as an “absurd obstacle to properly managing our forests.”

Researchers out of Oregon State University explicitly cited the USDA’s wildfire-based claims for repealing the 2021 Roadless Rule as the reason behind why they analyzed four decades of fire research. Previous studies have highlighted the ecological benefits of roadless areas, including the conservation of biodiversity and supporting clean air and water quality, and the researchers argue those benefits are why it is important for decision-makers to critically evaluate proposed rationales for overturning the Roadless Rule.

Their study, published on Sept. 8, compiled fire severity and extent data to evaluate fire patterns across developed lands, inventoried roadless areas (IRAs), and wilderness. The fire severity data was sourced from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program, an interagency effort between the US Geological Survey and Forest Service that uses Landsat satellite imagery to map the extent and severity of all large fires from 1984 to the present.

The researchers found inventoried roadless areas burned at an estimated 1.13 times the annual rate of developed lands between 1984 and 2023. The annual burn rate of inventoried roadless areas dropped to 0.89 times the annual rate of developed lands when measured between 2014 and 2023.

“Our analysis indicates that IRAs across western states’ NFS land are not associated with a significantly greater rate of burning – or a greater rate of moderate and high-severity fire – relative to roaded or developed lands,” the researchers said in the study. “It is possible that burn rates in IRAs [inventoried roadless areas] are stabilizing as fires encounter previously burned areas with less fuel to burn. However, it is more likely that there is simply no consistent, quantifiable difference between patterns of fire in IRAs and the roaded and developed portion of the NFS landscape at the spatial and temporal scales we evaluated.”

The researchers did identify a landscape with a very high burn rate, but it would be unaffected by the Roadless Rule’s repeal. Congressionally designated wilderness areas burned at almost double the annual rate of inventoried roadless areas or developed lands, which they attributed to significant constraints on suppression resource availability during fire seasons and the low prioritization remote wilderness areas receive for both initial attack and containment.

Public comment on removing the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been extended to October 6, 2026. Go to this USDA page for more information and to Comment.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: End to landmark roadless rule will make wildfires more likely, study finds