Big Burn

The Los Angeles times explores the growth and cost of California's wildfires:

 

Brain Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times

 

1. Big Fires, Big Business
By Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart

 

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

U.S. Forest Service firefighters try to control a backfire that was set to contain the Butler 2 fire northwest of

Big Bear Lake in September, 2008.

 

2. Political Meddling and Costly "Air Shows"
By Julie Cart and Bettina Boxall

 

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

 

3. Living in Fire's Embrace
By Bettina Boxall

 

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
A Sikorsky S-61 operated by Carson Helicopters drops water on the Zaca fire.

 

4. Lost Landscapes
By Bettina Boxall

 

Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times
Jon Griggs, manager of the Maggie Creek Ranch in northeast Nevada, looks over a 400-acre

area that was reseeded after a recent fire.

Winds blew most of the seeds away before they could germinate.

 

5. Stay and Fight
By Julie Cart

 

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
John Baker starts a gas-powered pump to test the portable firefighting apparatus on his family's farm in Anakie.

The family used their training and equipment to battle a bushfire in January 2006.