Recovery

'This is why defensible space is so important for homeowners. You run out of fuel, you run out of fire.'

But the massive federal relief package includes a slew of changes to federal disaster-recovery policy that could remove numerous bureaucratic roadblocks for victims of the 2016 Louisiana floods.

About 16,000 people in Santa Barbara County still can’t go home. At assistance centers, case managers meet with evacuees one-on-one to help them once they’re allowed to resettle.

The disaster aid bill nearly doubles the $44 billion request made by the White House last month.

News reports indicated that the Amtrak train that crashed Monday, killing three passengers and closing Interstate 5 for days, did not have that safety measure working yet.

The county relies on 25 public schools as shelters with a total capacity for 35,000 evacuees. During Irma, 24 schools sheltered 25,000 evacuees, about 5 percent of whom came from other counties.

The solidarity and unity once palpable after Harvey has been left to the history books. Now it feels like we're back to politics as usual.

One of the train cars slanted at a 45-degree angle onto the highway. Others crashed into a wooded area nearby, aerial images show. Twelve cars total went off the tracks.

They are instrumental in protecting and preserving lives at accidents, fires, natural disasters and even terrorist attacks.

The Thomas fire is on track Tuesday to become California’s second-largest wildfire. It’s now just 161 acres smaller than the second-largest fire on record, the lightning-sparked Rush fire that burned 271,911 acres in Lassen County in 2012.

Commissioners signed an 11-year agreement with Motorola for upgrading the system equipment, software and purchasing 1,200 radios for the county and local fire and police departments.

Between the drivers and train passengers, roughly 100 people were taken to local hospitals, a number of them with critical injuries.

A total of 77 people were sent to hospitals in Pierce and Thurston counties, according to CHI Franciscan Health, which operates numerous hospitals in Western Washington.

One in three U.S. homes — some 44 million residences — are in the wildland-urban interface, where they abut fire-prone forests and open space.

The Thomas Fire, which began burning through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties on Dec. 4, has grown to 270,000 acres — the third-largest fire in the state’s modern history — with containment up to 45 percent.