California Department Of Forestry

Barry Biermann, 28, of the California Department of Forestry, has souvenirs few firefighters would envy : charred collar insignia and a badge burned so badly the state seal has dropped off. Biermann, Capt. Al McBride, 43, and Sean Kite, 25, all from Butte County, were injured in the Calabasas/Malibu blaze. Biermann and Kite were released Wednesday from the burn unit at Sherman Oaks Hospital, where McBride is still being treated. Biermann's story is the team's story.

A joint Assembly and state Senate committee will conduct a hearing to determine the extent California agencies are using off-budget accounts to hold money outside the state system. Monday's announcement follows a Times report that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection hid $3.6 million rather than depositing it in the state's cash-strapped general fund. Cal Fire, as the department is known, placed the money with the nonprofit California District Attorneys Assn.

Winds gusting to 25 m.p.h. fanned a brush fire across more than 700 acres of light grass and hillside shrubbery at Cajon Summit in the San Bernardino Mountains, threatening homes in the Oak Hill and Summit Valley communities. The California Department of Forestry sent 600 firefighters to the scene with 45 engines, three fixed-wing aircraft, two helicopters and three bulldozers, and by late evening, authorities said it was fully contained.

As brush fire season continues in San Diego County, firefighters are concerned about an increase in the number of fires caused by target shooting in rural areas. So far the county has had 10 fires caused by target shooting, compared with only two last year, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Two kinds of ammunition found at these locations are also puzzling. One is a Russian-made bullet and the other is used with M4 rifles, which by law can be sold only to the U.S. military, law enforcement and U.S. military allies.

Flames fanned by wind gusting up to 30 m.p.h. burned 600 acres of eucalyptus groves and briefly threatened three homes in San Luis Obispo County before being largely contained, authorities said. No injuries were reported from the blaze on Nipomo Mesa, according to a volunteer dispatcher for the California Department of Forestry.

More than 200 firefighters were called to the San Diego Wild Animal Park on Tuesday to battle a spreading brush fire that started when a "control burn," designed to remove 400 acres of thick chaparral, got out of control and "jumped" across 160 acres not intended for burning. Officials of the California Department of Forestry said the burn began around 9 a.m. but that high winds and dry conditions caused the fire to spread out of control around 1:30 in the afternoon.

A Tecate brush fire that began about 1,000 feet from the Mexican border Friday afternoon was contained Saturday morning after scorching nearly 400 acres. There were no injuries reported or any structures threatened. It began about 4:20 p.m. Friday and was reported contained about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. It took 140 firefighters from the California Department of Forestry and a water drop from a helicopter to contain the blaze, said Robert Vanderhyde, a Forestry Department spokesman.

The California Department of Forestry won't renew a contract with the company that employed two pilots killed in a midair collision while fighting a Mendocino County wildfire. A spokesman said the agency had launched an investigation of San Joaquin Helicopters before the August crash near Hopland that killed Larry Groff, 55, of Windsor, and Lars Stratte, 45, of Redding.

State firefighting officials said they plan to cut their air force by nearly a third as a means of coping with a revenue shortfall. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention plans to reduce the number of retardant-dropping air tankers from 21 to 15, said Bill Teie, deputy director for fire protection. The reduction will leave the state with its fewest air tankers since the early 1960s, said Olis Kendrick, the agency's air operations chief.

A pilot and his passenger were missing after a California Department of Forestry spotter plane crashed Wednesday in the remote Tulare County foothills, officials said. The victims were identified as George Willett, 52, a Hanford pilot contracted to help battle the fire, and CDF Battalion Chief Robert Paul Stone, 36, of Visalia. "I've worked here 26 years and you hear of a CDF plane going down every few years," agency spokeswoman Becki Redwine said. "This one's a mystery.

Will clear-cutting forests increase global warming? That's a contentious issue as California, which is seeking to slash its carbon footprint, wrestles over rules to manage the state's private forests. The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group, this week filed lawsuits against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in seven California counties to halt logging plans for 5,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions. The group contends that the agency approved the projects without properly analyzing carbon emissions and climate consequences under the California Environmental Quality Act. "Clear-cutting is an abysmal practice that should have been banned long ago due to its impacts on wildlife and water quality," said Brian Nowicki, the group's California climate policy director.

Fire officials Sunday said the Jesusita fire destroyed 77 homes, more than double their earlier estimate, and concluded that the blaze was probably started by someone using power tools to clear brush. Mild weather allowed firefighters to make progress in containing the fire to the more than 8,700 acres it has burned.

A man was killed after a car being pursued by police smashed into the side of his pickup and knocked him from the cab. Rodrigo Vega, 38, of San Marcos died Tuesday, according to an investigator with the county coroner's office. Karl Joseph Russell, 28, of Phoenix faces felony charges that include evading arrest, hit-and-run and driving under the influence, California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Kerns said. The pursuit began after an officer saw Russell run a red light, officials said.

A pilot and his passenger were missing after a California Department of Forestry spotter plane crashed Wednesday in the remote Tulare County foothills, officials said. The victims were identified as George Willett, 52, a Hanford pilot contracted to help battle the fire, and CDF Battalion Chief Robert Paul Stone, 36, of Visalia. "I've worked here 26 years and you hear of a CDF plane going down every few years," agency spokeswoman Becki Redwine said. "This one's a mystery.

Bungling by fire and police agencies here allowed last October's Cedar fire to spread "into a wildfire of epic proportion," one of the largest insurance companies in the state has charged in a claim filed against three public agencies. Allstate Corp.

And the winners in the new era of competitive bidding for jobs in California's national forests are ... current staffers. About 535 employees who maintain trails, facilities and grounds in the state's 18 national forests will keep their jobs after a study showed they are doing the work more cheaply and better than the private sector could. One of those who welcomed the results of the study was Maribeth Gustafson, Lake Tahoe Basin forest service supervisor.

An environmental activist who has led high-profile opposition to commercial logging has conceded violating state timber harvest rules by cutting down trees to make way for a new home, it was reported. Settling a dispute with the state Department of Forestry, Vince Taylor agreed that he violated the regulations last year when he felled trees on property he owns near the town of Mendocino on the Northern California coast, according to a report in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The California Department of Forestry won't renew a contract with the company that employed two pilots killed in a midair collision while fighting a Mendocino County wildfire. A spokesman said the agency had launched an investigation of San Joaquin Helicopters before the August crash near Hopland that killed Larry Groff, 55, of Windsor, and Lars Stratte, 45, of Redding.