Preparedness and Communications

“The coroner’s office serves in an indispensable role in our county and it is vitally important that we ensure that they have all of the tools necessary to carry out their essential mission.”

After a 90-day pause on the U.S. Forest Service's prescribed burn program following two fires that got out of control in New Mexico, but some worry new restrictions put in place will do more harm than good.

As California wildfires grow more intense and frequent, many children who live through them experience lasting psychological trauma such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Children may also develop sleep problems, or struggle in school.

“What we’ve seen almost over the last 10 years now is a huge change in the ways fires have been burning throughout California,” said Jon Heggie, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“The concerns that we have heard have been mostly from students. It’s interesting. I hadn’t thought about it actually, until you asked that, but I haven’t heard from parents.”

In 2018, Folly Beach along with a 26-mile stretch underwent emergency beach renourishment to restore sand lost from Hurricanes. The damage was so bad that the Army Core of Engineers paid for the entire cost of renourishment.

Recent fires having killed more than 13 percent of all giant sequoias, and scientists and officials are growing increasingly concerned that the state its forests emit more climate-warming carbon dioxide than they absorb.

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Acting Director Dawn Brantley said drought conditions are being felt through the state, from damaging wildfires to dry riverbeds and wells.

California is struggling through drought, but a growing number of scientists say climate change — the same catastrophe that’s drying up the West — is also increasing the risk of nightmarish flooding across much of the state.

Resting in the hands of Congress is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal for a $1.1 billion sea wall that would encapsulate about 8 miles of Charleston’s peninsula in the city that’s expected to continue to swell in population.

Most emergency preparedness checklists say to have hard-soled shoes to wear to protect your feet from embers or glass shattered by heat. Fire experts suggest wearing flame-resistant garments, from head to toe, if possible.

The HERricane program, developed by the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management and with partner Farmers Insurance, hosts young women and girls to learn about the field.

The Army Corps’ proposal calls for flood walls only to keep water out of the city’s two main highway tunnels. The plan suggests floodproofing more waterfront homes and businesses instead of waterfront neighborhoods.

Boulder County, Colo., has witnessed several major wildfires recently, including the Marshall fire in December, which destroyed and damaged more than 1,000 homes and over 30 commercial buildings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking the BA.4.6 subvariant of COVID-19 and cases are now present in four states. Here's what we know so far about its spread and whether vaccines offer protection against it.