When disaster strikes, government emergency alert systems offer a simple promise: Residents will get information about nearby dangers and instructions to help them stay safe.

When Lucy Walker debuted her harrowing documentary about California wildfires, “Bring Your Own Brigade,” at Sundance in 2021, it was during peak COVID.

As fires burn in Los Angeles, water utilities are responding to extensive damage to pipes and storage and treatment facilities.

Fire crews are working to hold on to the progress made against the largest blaze in California this year ahead of warming temperatures forecast for later this week.

Wildfires across the western United States and Canada have put millions of people under air quality alerts, as thousands of firefighters battle the flames, including the largest wildfire in California this year.

Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California are getting some help from the weather just hours after the blaze exploded in size, scorching an area larger than Los Angeles.

Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California are getting some help from the weather just hours after the blaze exploded in size, scorching an area larger than Los Angeles.

Thousands of firefighters are battling a wildfire in northern California that exploded in size — one of several blazes tearing through the western United States and Canada amid dry, hot and windy conditions.

Insurance giant State Farm says it will discontinue coverage for 72,000 houses and apartments in California starting this summer.

Paradise is still recovering five years after a wildfire destroyed most of the northern California town.

As wildfires tear through the Hawaiian island of Maui, residents of a Northern California town are reliving their own harrowing experience with a similar conflagration.

The number of confirmed deaths from the Maui wildfires has increased to 67.

Allstate and State Farm both announced in the last week that they would be halting insurance policies citing inflation and natural disasters in the state.

A wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and businesses in suburban Denver last winter caused more than $2 billion in losses, making it by far the costliest in Colorado history.

Former executives and directors of Pacific Gas & Electric have agreed to pay $117 million to settle a lawsuit over devastating 2017 and 2018 California wildfires sparked by the utility’s equipment.

Officials say more than 100 homes have burned in and around the town of Greenville as California’s largest wildfire surged through the Sierra Nevada.

Five of the 10 largest wildfires in state history have occurred since August. Beyond their size, how do the scope and devastation of this year's fires compare to previous wildfire seasons in California? The previous record was set in 2018 when deadly wildfires destroyed 1.67 million acres (2,609 square miles or 6,760 square kilometers). The August Complex, burning in the Coast Range between San Francisco and the Oregon border, surpassed 1 million acres, another record. Gavin Newsom said the amount of land scorched by the August Complex is larger than all the recorded fires in California between 1932 and 1999.

A wildfire burning farther north in rural Shasta County has destroyed another 146 buildings. The National Weather Service warned that hot, dry conditions with strong Santa Ana winds could continue posing a fire danger in Southern California through Tuesday afternoon. Three people have died in the fire, Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini said Monday. Residences are widely scattered in Shasta County, which was torched just two years ago by the deadly Carr Fire — infamously remembered for producing a huge tornado-like fire whirl. The fires came as the region approaches the anniversary of the 2017 fires, including one that killed 22 people.

In Sonoma County, residents of the Oakmont Gardens senior living facility in Santa Rosa boarded brightly lit city buses in the darkness overnight, some wearing bathrobes and using walkers. More than 1,200 people were also evacuated in Shasta County for the Zogg Fire, spread over 23 square miles (59 square kilometers) by Monday. So far in this year's historic fire season, more than 8,100 California wildfires have now killed 29 people, scorched 5,780 square miles (14,970 square kilometers), and destroyed more than 7,000 buildings. Fire worries were developing across Southern California, although it was unclear how strong the predicted Santa Ana winds would become. Conditions were also hot, dry and windy in parts of Arizona, where the Sears Fire in Tonto National Forest north of Phoenix has grown to more than 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) since it erupted Friday.

FILE - This Dec. 3, 2018, file photo shows homes leveled by the Camp Fire line Valley Ridge Drive in Paradise, Calif. The fire never made it to Paradise as other foothill communities bore the terrible brunt, suffering thousands of destroyed structures. The 2018 fire struck two weeks before Thanksgiving, destroyed roughly 19,000 structures in and around Paradise and killed 85 people. But that law is set to expire at the end of the year, and it's unclear if the town council will extend it because of opposition from homeowners. Three of the five town council seats are on the ballot, and 15 people are running for them.

That's the situation now in Northern California, where high and dry winds are expected until Wednesday. The fire danger also is high in Southern California, where new fires were burning in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Evacuation orders were expanded to more mountain communities Monday as the largest blaze, the Creek Fire, churned through the Sierra National Forest in Central California. The fire moved 15 miles (24 kilometers) in a single day during the weekend and burned 56 square miles (145.04 square kilometers). California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes in mid-August.

That's the situation now in Northern California, where high and dry winds are expected until Wednesday. The fire danger also is high in Southern California, where new fires were burning in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Evacuation orders were expanded to more mountain communities Monday as the largest blaze, the Creek Fire, churned through the Sierra National Forest in Central California. The fire moved 15 miles (24 kilometers) in a single day during the weekend and burned 56 square miles (145.04 square kilometers). California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes in mid-August.

Pacific Gas & Electric officials are to be expected to appear in court Tuesday, June 16, 2020, to plead guilty for the deadly wildfire that nearly wiped out the Northern California town of Paradise in 2018. The fire killed 85 people, but prosecutors weren't certain they could prove PG&E was responsible for one of the deaths. The proceedings will continue Wednesday when surviving family members of those who died in the 2018 wildfire will be allowed to make statements before Deems. As part of a deal with California power regulators, PG&E will replace 11 of its 14 board members. Despite PG&E's pledge to turn over a new leaf, the utility's critics fear more danger looms during an upcoming wildfire season after an unusually dry winter in Northern California.

Some of their arguments echoed those made Wednesday by Tom Tosdal, another lawyer for a wildfire victims. The San Francisco company and the bankruptcy committee representing wildfire victims are currently negotiating the date when PG&E stock can be sold. In balloting completed last month, more than 80% of the roughly 50,000 wildfire victims voted supported the plan. To pay all the parties in the plan, PG&E will nearly double its debt load to $38 billion. To me, confirming the plan or not confirming the plan doesn't mean it's going to start raining," the judge said.