'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Searing, record-setting heat in the interior West didn't loosen its grip on firefighters struggling to contain blazes in Colorado, Utah and other Rocky Mountain states.
As firefighters battle blazes in New Mexico and Colorado that have forced evacuations and destroyed hundreds of structures, the U.S. Forest Service chief is renewing his call to restore forests to a more natural state, where fire was a part of the landscape.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator on Tuesday arrived at the scene of a deadly air tanker crash in Utah and began scouring the 600-yard debris field for clues about why the plane went down while battling a wildfire.
Rock and blues pianist Chuck Leavell is getting a new title to reflect his environmental work outside the studio: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making him an honorary forest ranger.
Chief Tidwell told the Associated Press in a phone interview Monday that about half of the nation's personnel who are usually assigned to large fires are working in Colorado right now.
"It's just because it's so dry," Chief Tidwell said. "Not unlike New Mexico — they saw very low snowpack, especially in that lower country. Hot, dry winds with dry fuels, you get the ignition, and this is what we see."
