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
We discussed the Palisades and Eaton Fires in Southern California, noting that both fires are mostly out despite ongoing wild weather. We highlighted the high-severity burn in vegetation-rich areas and the ecological benefits of lower-severity burning in the riparian zones. We talked about how the complex, bureaucratic post-fire cleanup process will roll out, based on … 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
UPDATED 10:20pm, 1/8/2025 The Palisades and Eaton Fire were both active today. Both fires made major advances last night, and throughout the daylight hours, today, and with the exception of some growth to the north on the Palisades Fire, the fires largely burned out previously unburned areas and consumed structures within their morning footprints. Lookout … Read more
Our most destructive fires often occur in places most people don’t think of as being ‘wildlands’, but people from Paradise, Santa Rosa, Boulder County, and Lahaina have learned the hard way, living in an urban environment doesn’t mean your place isn’t at risk of burning down. This video talks about the difference between wildfires and … Read more
A note from the editor/Zeke: Last week part of a hydropower flume in Upper Butte Creek, near where we live, in Chico, California, collapsed, sending millions of gallons of water down a steep forested slope, and causing a landslide of mud and soil which poured into Butte Creek. This has caused many days of extremely … Read more
What does a metalwork have to do with wildfire? It takes a lot of welding and wrenching to run a mobile wildfire mapping operation, and I built up a pretty good shop during the years we started and ran Deer Creek Resources. When I sold DCR to Firestorm, in 2017, I kept the shop. The … Read more
A Conversation with Eric Knapp and Yana Valachovic Eric Knapp, of the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, and Yana Valachovic, from UC Cooperative Extension, came by The Lookout in November to talk with me about their new paper on home losses in the Camp Fire. Our talk is live on Amanda Monthei’s Life … Read more