The 2025 Eaton fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed the Altadena community, began at an inactive tower belonging to Southern California Edison, officials said.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Aaron Farinacci, 37, was arrested after a witness reported seeing him kneeling near the ignition site, officials said. Winds were forecast to increase Friday and Saturday, bringing a return to extremely critical fire weather.

© Loren Elliott for The New York Times

The handcrafted leather boots are a century-old tradition – but with money tight, the cost of up to $800 is harder to justify

For 18 years, one of the most important relationships in Luke Mayfield’s life was with his boots. As a hotshot – one of the US’s elite firefighting crews sent deep, on foot, into wildfires – Mayfield hiked a thousand miles a fire season in his boots, stood in them 16 hours a day and slept near them on assignments that lasted weeks in terrain no truck could reach.

Like every wildland firefighter, he learned the rituals of their upkeep: how to grease them, how to lace them, how soon before the season to break in a new pair so the blisters came during training instead of on duty.

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© Photograph: Rajah Bose/The Guardian

© Photograph: Rajah Bose/The Guardian

© Photograph: Rajah Bose/The Guardian

The Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is still dealing with foul odor and fears over possible toxins over a month after a cold-storage facility burst into flames.

© Mark Abramson for The New York Times

At least some of the victims, who were all members of the same family, were found with gunshot wounds, an official said. The children ranged in age from 5 to 15.

More than 2,000 people have been told to flee the Creelman fire, which has burned more than 300 acres near Ramona, Calif.