Wildfire news, January 25

Powerlines and lawsuits

Electrical lines have been blamed for starting a number of large, devastating fires over the last several years. One lawsuit over property destroyed in the 2007 Witch and Rice fires east of San Diego is keeping over 150 lawyers employed and involves at least $1 billion in damages. An interesting article about powerline-caused fires in Colorado and California is at the Daily Camera.

Texas fires

Firefighters in parts of Texas have been busy lately, working on a 2,600 acre fire west of Dallas that destroyed 6 homes, and another one-acre fire in central Texas where a 53-year old man died near several homeless camps on the outskirts of Austin.

A 1,000 acre fire on North Padre Island did not threaten infrastructure and was allowed to burn itself out.