A former high school classmate of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has written to the L.A. Times to defend the mayor's conduct during the Palisades Fire -- which broke out when Bass was abroad at Ghana's presidential inauguration.
The post Karen Bass’ Classmate Defends Fire Response After Mayor Broke Promise Not to Leave Country appeared first on Breitbart.
Los Angeles residents are furious at an announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers that there will be no testing of local soil for toxins after the first six inches of topsoil are taken away during debris removal that began this week.
The post L.A. Residents Outraged After Army Corps Abandons Soil Testing in Burn Areas appeared first on Breitbart.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) could have pre-deployed ten engines to the Pacific Palisades ahead of the deadly Palisades Fire on January 7, but chose not to, according to former fire chiefs quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
The post Report: L.A. Fire Dept. Could Have Pre-Deployed 10 Engines to Palisades, but Did Not appeared first on Breitbart.
In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior.
Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around the world, including the United States, and wind is a major factor. It leads to unexpected and unpredictable fire growth, public threats, and fire fatalities, making micrometeorology a very effective tool to combat fire.
The campaign was run by NASA’s FireSense project, focused on addressing challenges in wildland fire management by putting NASA science and technology in the hands of operational agencies.
“Ensuring that the new technology will be easily adoptable by operational agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Weather Service was another primary goal of the campaign,” said Jacquelyn Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
The FireSense team chose the Alta X drone because the U.S. Forest Service already has a fleet of the quadcopters and trained drone pilots, which could make integrating the needed sensors – and the accompanying infrastructure – much easier and more cost-effective for the agency.
The choice of the two sensors for the drone’s payload was also driven by their adoptability.
The first, called a radiosonde, measures wind direction and speed, humidity, temperature, and pressure, and is used daily by the National Weather Service. The other sensor, an anemometer, measures wind speed and direction, and is used at weather stations and airports around the world.
“Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary,” said Robert McSwain, the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) lead, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.”
Robert Mcswain
FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead
Both sensors create datasets that are already familiar to meteorologists worldwide, which opens up the potential applications of the platform.
Traditionally, global weather forecasting data is gathered by attaching a radiosonde to a weather balloon and releasing it into the air. This system works well for regional weather forecasts. But the rapidly changing environment of wildland fire requires more recurrent, pinpointed forecasts to accurately predict fire behavior. It’s the perfect niche for a drone.
“These drones are not meant to replace the weather balloons,” said Jennifer Fowler, FireSense’s project manager at Langley. “The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.”
Jennifer Fowler
FireSense Project Manager
Drones can be piloted to keep making measurements over a precise location – an on-site forecaster could fly one every couple of hours as conditions change – and gather timely data to help determine how weather will impact the direction and speed of a fire.
Fire crews on the ground may need this information to make quick decisions about where to deploy firefighters and resources, draw fire lines, and protect nearby communities.
A reusable platform, like a drone, also reduces the financial and environmental impact of forecasting flights.
“A weather balloon is going to be a one-off, and the attached sensor won’t be recovered,” Fowler said. “The instrumented drone, on the other hand, can be flown repeatedly.”
Before such technology can be sent out to a fire, it needs to be tested. That’s what the FireSense team did this summer.
McSwain described the conditions in Missoula as an “alignment of stars” for the research: the complex mountain terrain produces erratic, historically unpredictable winds, and the sparsity of monitoring instruments on the ground makes weather forecasting very difficult. During the three-day campaign, several fires burned nearby, which allowed researchers to test how the drones performed in smokey conditions.
A drone team out of NASA Langley conducted eight data-collection flights in Missoula. Before each drone flight, student teams from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, launched a weather balloon carrying the same type of radiometer.
Once those data sets were created, they needed to be transformed into a usable format. Meteorologists are used to the numbers, but incident commanders on an active fire need to see the data in a form that allows them to quickly understand which conditions are changing, and how. That’s where data visualization partners come in. For the Missoula campaign, teams from MITRE, NVIDIA, and Esri joined NASA in the field.
Measurements from both the balloon and the drone platforms were immediately sent to the on-site data teams. The MITRE team, together with NVIDIA, tested high-resolution artificial intelligence meteorological models, while the Esri team created comprehensive visualizations of flight paths, temperatures, and wind speed and direction. These visual representations of the data make conclusions more immediately apparent to non-meteorologists.
Development of drone capabilities for fire monitoring didn’t begin in Missoula, and it won’t end there.
“This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing,” said McSwain. “We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.”
Robert Mcswain
FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead
The NASA Alta X and its sensor payload will head to Alabama and Florida in spring 2025, incorporating improvements identified in Montana. There, the team will perform another technology demonstration with wildland fire managers from a different region.
To view more photos from the FireSense campaign visit: https://nasa.gov/firesense
The FireSense project is led by NASA Headquarters in Washington and sits within the Wildland Fires program, with the project office based at NASA Ames. The goal of FireSense is to transition Earth science and technological capabilities to operational wildland fire management agencies, to address challenges in U.S. wildland fire management before, during, and after a fire.
Milan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to stage a photo-op Tuesday afternoon to mark the start of debris removal after the Palisades Fire -- even though the state government has little to do with it.
The post California Gov. Gavin Newsom to Stage Photo-Op to Mark Start of Federal Debris Removal; Update: No Newsom appeared first on Breitbart.
Steve Hagerty, the founder of Hagerty Consulting, which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass chose behind closed doors to lead the city's rebuilding effort, had a disastrous tenure as mayor of the liberal college town of Evanston, Illinois.
The post Steve Hagerty, Head of Firm Karen Bass Chose to Rebuild L.A., Was Disaster as One-Term Mayor of Evanston, Illinois appeared first on Breitbart.
Developer Rick Caruso slammed the Los Angeles city government for an apparent delay in construction at a venue that is to be used during the 2028 Summer Olympics that officials are blaming on the recent Palisades Fire.
The post Caruso Slams L.A. After Olympics Construction Delayed over Fire appeared first on Breitbart.
Two former disaster recovery experts at Hagerty Consulting, which L.A. Mayor Karen Bass appointed to lead rebuilding efforts after the recent wildfires, pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to defrauding New York City of Hurricane Sandy relief funds.
The post Former Lead Recovery Consultants at Hagerty, Firm Hired by Bass, Pleaded Guilty to Stealing Disaster Funds appeared first on Breitbart.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called on multiple federal agencies to exempt federal seasonal firefighters from President Donald Trump's executive order implementing a federal hiring freeze.
In a letter to the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior and the Office of Management and Budget, Schiff noted that Trump's hiring freeze issued on Jan. 20 had stopped the onboarding of thousands of seasonal firefighters that could harm readiness to respond to wildfires, as Southern California is still grappling with the aftermath of last month's wildfires.
"The memo issued on January 20 states that it does not apply to positions related to public safety, but this onboarding delay is directly contrary to that claim," Schiff said in the letter dated Friday. "Our constituents and communities rely on the hard work and sacrifice of our more than 15,000 seasonal federal wildland firefighters each year."
LOS ANGELES FIRE VICTIMS TO BE BOOTED FROM RED CROSS SHELTER TO MAKE SPACE FOR FILM CREWS, EVENTS
"Seasonal firefighters are essential to the public safety of those who live in fire-prone areas, and I am alarmed that federal firefighters are not party to this exemption," he said. "In light of this, I am requesting information from your agencies explaining why the federal hiring freeze has extended to the hiring of seasonal federal wildland firefighters."
Southern California was devastated last month by two major wildfires and several smaller ones that killed nearly 30 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
Some of the firefighters subject to Trump's order that halted the onboarding of thousands of seasonal federal firefighters were from agencies that helped in the response to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, according to NBC News.
A Bureau of Land Management official told the outlet that despite Trump's order excluding positions related to "public safety" from the hiring freeze, federal firefighters are not exempt.
"In the face of increasingly destructive wildfires, we cannot afford to diminish the tools at our disposal to fight these fires," Schiff said in his letter. "Impeding the onboarding of federal firefighters and encouraging the early retirement of others, threatens California’s firefighting capacity and puts communities at great risk. Californians rely on the support of federal firefighters, and I hope you share my appreciation for the essential role these individuals play in keeping residents safe."
TABLES TURN ON LOS ANGELES ARSON SUSPECT IN CAUGHT-ON-CAM TAKEDOWN: 'WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD, BUDDY'
The senator also requested information on how the hiring freeze impacts federal firefighting applicants, the number of voluntary resignations and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's role in the hiring, preparedness or readiness of federal wildland firefighters.
Los Angeles "Chief Recovery Officer" Steve Soboroff said Saturday night that he would work for free, after coming under fire for earning $500,000 for three months of work, even though his salary was to have been paid privately.
The post L.A. ‘Recovery Chief’ Steve Soboroff Agrees to Work for Free, After Grenell Exposes $500,000 Salary appeared first on Breitbart.
Jacob Soboroff, a familiar face on MSNBC and NBC's political and national correspondent, has a deeply personal connection to the Palisades Fire: he grew up in town, and is the son of L.A. "Chief Recovery Officer" Steve Soboroff.
The post Bass’ Chief Recovery Officer’s Son, Jacob Soboroff, Leads MSNBC Coverage of L.A. Fires appeared first on Breitbart.
A local mother whose neighborhood was destroyed in the Palisades Fire is fighting back after the New York Times smeared Pacific Palisades residents as the "rogue rich" who are exploiting the disaster to buy up the lots of their neighbors.
The post Palisades Mom: ‘F*ck You, New York Times’ for Smearing Fire Victims appeared first on Breitbart.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) has brought in an Illinois consulting firm headed by a far-left politician who took part in a George Soros-funded mayors' program, appointed his city's first chief equity officer, and signed a resolution to recognize that his city's land was stolen from Native Americans by "white colonizers" to help the post-fire recovery process.
The post L.A. Mayor Bass Hires Illinois Consulting Firm Led by Far-Left Politician to Support Fire ‘Recovery Process’ appeared first on Breitbart.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two bills providing $50 million to fight President Donald Trump's policies -- after returning from a trip to Washington, DC, where he sought federal aid money for recent wildfires in his state.
The post Newsom Signs $50 Million to Fight Trump — After Asking for Federal Aid for Fires appeared first on Breitbart.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) plans to ban the use of plants within five feet of residential homes in what are designated as "fire-prone" areas -- which could include much of the state of California, given the recent wildfires.
The post Gavin Newsom to Ban Plants Within 5 Feet of Homes in Fire-Prone Areas appeared first on Breitbart.
The right thing to do -- the manly thing, if one can still say that -- would be for Newsom to veto the $50 million and concede that maybe now is not the time to be poking President Donald Trump and federal taxpayers in the eye.
The post Blue State Blues: Gavin Newsom Can Still Veto His Incredibly Stupid Anti-Trump Bills appeared first on Breitbart.
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