With much fanfare and no less hand-wringing, state regulators approved plans that for the first time set out how California’s electric utilities intend to prevent their equipment from sparking wildfires. But the plans provide scant details, and little evidence to support the companies’ claims that indiscriminately clear-cutting millions of trees and replacing hundreds of thousands of wooden utility poles with steel ones will actually reduce the risk of wildfires.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Mercury News - Metered Site

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is facing a volunteer shortage. More than 600 kids are waiting for a mentor — and about 80 percent are African American boys. The local branch of the nonprofit is launching a program in the hopes of filling the volunteer gap and building trust within communities of color.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Public Radio

The federal government wants the owner of a tourist train in Durango to pay $25 million for causing a wildfire that scorched 53,000 acres of Forest Service land last summer. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office says burning cinders from the exhaust stack of a coal-fired steam train operated by the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Co.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Colorado Sun

Village of Elk Grove Fire Department 107-foot Ascendant aerial ladder quint. Enforcer cab and chassis; Detroit DD13 525-hp engine; Waterous CSU 2,000-gpm pump.

VIDEO: A 2-acre wildfire was started with fireworks in Grant County, according to Grant County Fire District 13. The fire broke out just after 9 p.m. Wednesday in the 1400 block of Road 12.3 NW near Ephrata. The firefighters got to the scene was at the scene within 3 minutes, which helped keep the fire contained to 2 acres.
- PUB DATE: 7/4/2019 3:09:25 PM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000