Recovery

Firefighters are battling several major wildfires across California, including the Kincade Fire, an explosive Sonoma County blaze that has engulfed more than 54.000 acres, Cal Fire reported.

The Getty fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. along the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center and spread to the south and west, rapidly burning 400 acres and sending people fleeing from their homes in the dark.

Just under 1,300 total personnel – and 12 helicopters, 32 bulldozers and more than 75 fire engines - were assigned to the wildfire, which ignited in California. The blaze spread rapidly with help from fierce, erratic winds and reached 10,000 acres before sunrise Thursday.

In the early morning hours, motorists were surrounded by flames after the Tick fire jumped the freeway. Drivers could be seen in bumper-to-bumper traffic as they attempted to navigate the roadway.

PG&E told state regulators Thursday that equipment on a transmission tower broke near the origin point of the fire, near Geyserville in northeastern Sonoma County. PG&E identified an outage on the tower shortly before the fire was reported Wednesday.

It began after 9:30 p.m. near where PG&E shut off power on Wednesday afternoon — due to high fire danger — to prevent fires from being sparked by downed or damaged power lines. The blaze was 0% contained as of 11:30 p.m.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas Baptist Men for more than 50 years has shown up at disasters around the state and country to provide relief for people after earthquakes, tornadoes and other natural disasters.

Tornado warnings were in effect Monday morning in eastern Arkansas near the Mississippi River as the storm system moved east. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee could see severe thunderstorms later Monday.

Many first responders deal with a stigma that if they’re not tough enough to handle some of the worst events one can see, they need to leave the field. That’s not true and they need to know it’s OK to ask for help.

(TNS) - Three decades after the Loma Prieta Earthquake, local landmarks are rebuilt on legacies of their former existence, while others are made famous for surviving the temblor.

A drive through Mexico Beach tells visitors all they need to know about what happened in the small coastal town: large empty slabs of land, no gas stations, no sit-down restaurants and lots of food trailers set up.

Even after getting $1.3 billion in assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies, much of the region remained devastated from Michael's estimated $25 billion in total damage.

Unreliable communications make disaster recovery more dangerous, and for state, local and federal first responders, a decentralized communication system enables low-cost, long-range connectivity and situational awareness.

Debris removal, so far, is estimated at $90,000, and that number will grow. Emergency protective measures totaled $10,000, and repairing public utilities is estimated at $210,000, for a public property total of $310,000.

David Maurstad, FEMA flood chief, was in St. Louis on Monday to speak with Mississippi River mayors about disaster preparedness money and acknowledged the recognition that you can’t just do mitigation after a disaster.