Colorado wildfires see a welcome lull after days of explosive growth, with fire behavior moderating across the state and in neighboring regions. In this eveningās briefing, fire analyst and mapping specialist Zeke Lunder walks through a landscape that is still dangerous, but clearly less volatile than it has been during the last three broadcasts. High … Read more
The latest installment in our Middle East series zooms out from individual countries to explore the broader geopolitics of the region, with a particular focus on how geography shapes power. Starting from early 20th-century maps, the video shows how the Middle East transitioned from empires and loosely defined regions like Mesopotamia and Persia into the … Read more
In this Lookout briefing, we use maps and terrain analysis to explain why geography sits at the heart of the escalating crisis in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. We begin by situating Iran in its regional contextācomparable in size to the U.S. West Coast and bordered by Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and … Read more
In part two of our coverage of the ongoing disaster at the Colgate Powerhouse, in Yuba County, Zeke Lunder and guests discuss the collapse of the Colgate penstock in Yuba County, California, following a major spill when the penstock which feeds the powerhouse ruptured. The disaster, which occurred after significant upgrades, has impacted water management … Read more
On January 16, 2026, the Butte Prescribed Burn Association conducted a landowner burn in Forest Ranch, with about 30 participants from various organizations. The burn area, which had been previously thinned, was covered in a layer of pine needles, oak leaves, and twigs. This video is about the importance of community involvement and cooperative efforts … Read more
Big wildfires burning in Chile are torching a region where native forests have been replaced with highly-flammable industrial tree farms which have experienced many large/disasterous fires in the past. This map shows current fires with perimeters of 2023 fires in yellow, and 2017 fires in blue.Ā These maps show industrial tree farms, in green. Many … Read more
Zeke, Denny O’Neil, and Tim Chavez had a phone call today week to catch up on the LA Fires. The three of us, along with Harrison Raine, toured the fire areas and Santa Monica Mountains back in May 2025, and made a docu-series about it called ‘DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT‘. The three recounted their journey … Read more
The 2025 Maidu TREX was a collaborative prescribed fire training exchange event, held in Berry Creek, California. The event was a collaboration between the Butte County Resource Conservation District, Berry Creek Rancheria of Tyme Maidu Indians of California, and many other partners. The Maidu TREX aimed to give tribal members safe opportunities to use fire … Read more
I got a chance to shoot video on a 20 acre landowner-run prescribed fire at First Rain Farm, burn off of North Bloomfield Read, this week, just above Nevada City. I wanted to cover this project because it has often been difficult to get permits to do prescribed burns in the Sierra Nevada Foothills before … Read more
Plenty of terrible political news out there, today, but if you want to hear two people who thought the other person was full of sh!t on Facebook have a conversation in real life, check out our latest interview. Frank Carroll came onto the Lookout Livestream and discussed the evolution of wildfire policy since 2009, emphasizing … Read more
Weāve been reporting on how the Garnet Fire, burning on the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, has been spreading into a large area of old-growth forest in the Teakettle Experimental Forest. The Climate & Wildfire Institute, a think tank with connections to UCLA, got about $5.4 million from the California Climate Investments (CCI) fund … Read more
If you’re interested in how wildfires affect the ecology of a place, and in how we can manage post-burn landscapes in anticipation of future fires, here is an interview with Jamie Allen, a biologist working in Seiad Valley, in the Klamath Mountains. We talk about how the 2014 Happy Camp Complex Fires are affecting the … Read more
In this episode, we talk with Sheryl Drinkwater, an architect working at the intersection of design and wildfire, in the Bay Area. We talked about new wildfire regulations recently adopted for portions of the Berkeley Hills which are among the most stringent in the nation – they require homeowners to maintain the first five feet … Read more
This video shares video, maps, and photos collected in the year since the Park Fire burned over 400,000 acres in Northern California, north of Chico, California. The audio for this episode was recorded on 7/31/2024, during an interview for the Blue Dot Report, a week into the fire. The Blue Dot Report is a science … Read more
As a prelude to our upcoming ‘Danger in Plain Sight’ Lookout video series about fire hazards in LA’s foothills, I critiqued an architecture video, shot in a very high fire hazard area of La CaƱada Flintridge, NE of Downtown LA. Summary We discuss a luxury home in La Canada Flint Ridge, built by a husband/wife … Read more
Today’s Lookout Livestream We look at the potential for continued spread of the Green Fire, north of Shasta Lake, the Summit Fire, in the Marble Mountain Wilderness, near the town of Etna, California, and the Butler Fire, east of Somes Bar, on the Salmon River. Also, we take a first look at the Dragon Bavo … Read more
I was in a burn plan writing workshop at Chico State this week, and ran into retired US Forest Service leader, Patty Grantham. She is a Lookout fan, and said yes when I asked her to sit for an interview! We discussed her 41-year career. She detailed her tenure on the Klamath National Forest from … Read more
The Green, Butler, and Summit Fires continue to spread in far-Northern California. We look at today’s events on each fire, and at the Neil Creek, Demming, and Elk Fires, in Southern Oregon. Today’s Livestream ļ»æ Situation Status Hot weather has settled in over much of NorCal, under a ridge of high atmospheric pressure. This is … Read more
The Butler Fire is spreading freely across the steep and rugged slopes of the Lower Salmon River Watershed, in Northwest California. My friend and colleague, Will Harling lives at the bottom of the mountain, and is watching the fire spread toward his neighborhood. Rather than packing up and running, he is setting up to conduct … Read more
Our 7/6/2025 NorCal Fire Report provided a detailed update on the Green Fire, Butler Fire, and Summit Fires in Northern California. This episode was sponsored by QTAC, WATERAX Pumps, and FyreBx. The Green Fire, located north of Redding, has grown from 96 acres on July 3 to 1,100 acres by July 6, doubling in size … Read more
{Written by a robot, skimmed by Zeke} Zeke Lunder discussed the active wildfires in Northern California on July 4, 2025. Key fires included 2 small fires in Butte County, the Green Fire near Round Mountain/Shasta Lake, the Horse Fire between Lakehead and Trinity Lake, the Helena Fire west of Weaverville, and the Summit, Butler, and … Read more
On 4/18/2025, Terra Fuego Resource Foundation crews conducted a 60 acre prescribed burn for the Butte County Fire Safe Council on land owned and managed by the Paradise Unified School District. This project used fire to reduce forest undergrowth, pine needles, branches, and logs in an area that has been thinned, masticated, and chipped over … Read more
If you’ve followed our work, you’ve probably heard about my friend and colleague, Will Harling, who is a leader in bringing community-based prescribed fire back to the Klamath River after a century of fire exclusion and criminalization of native burning by local tribes. Locals on the River have been through a lot of fire, and … Read more
As the US Forest Service has lost internal capacity to get projects planned, awarded, and managed, it has become increasingly reliant on ‘partners’ – NGO agencies – to do a lot of the work Forest Service employees used to do. Until she was fired as a part of sweeping workforce reductions being carried out by … Read more
In this episode of The Lookout Livestream, Zeke Lunder and Michael Steinberg, a current CSUC pyrogeography student/storm chaser/videographer, reviewed mapping and on-scene videos captured by Michael during last week’s Palisades and Eaton Fires in Southern California. Steinberg documented the fire’s rapid spread, highlighting the critical role of embers and wind in igniting homes. He emphasized … Read more
Destructive Fires Are Not A New Thing in SoCal! We just wrapped up an interview with my longtime friend and colleague, Tim Chavez, about the history of large, damaging Santa Ana wind-driven wildfires in Southern California. Some areas around Malibu have burned 5 times in the past 60 years! A summary of the interview and … Read more
8pm, 1/9/2025 We just finished our evening livestream. It covers today’s fire activity. Tonight, after covering today’s basic fire action, we did an interview with journalist Susie Cagle about ways communities work together after major disasters. A summary of the fire situation and our interview follows the video, below. Summary Lookout Director Zeke Lunder, a … Read more
8/14/2024 – 6:30am. In yesterday’s post we talked about the high potential for the Boise Fire to cross Boise Creek and make a big run up the north fork of Boise Creek. That happened yesterday evening. We’ve also been talking on the Livestream about how some locals have been pushing for the incident management team … Read more
We have been using the Boise Fire as an opportunity to talk about the social aspects of fire management in the Klamath Mountains. If you missed those stories, you can watch them in the two videos embedded at the end of this post. 5pm UPDATE: The maps below show the fire’s location at 2:40pm, today, … Read more
The Lookout’s Zeke Lunder was on KQED’s forum on Friday, 8/2/2024 to talk about the Park Fire and wildfire resilience in California, in general. Here is a transcription of our conversation. You can listen to the broadcast here: Mina KimĀ Welcome to forum. I’m Mina Kim. Hotter temperatures expected this weekend and possible dry … Read more