LA’s first female fire chief, in a public spat with the mayor, is a 25-year veteran who’s prioritized diversifying her team
Kristin Crowley was appointed Los Angeles fire chief in 2022 at a time of turmoil in a department consumed by complaints of rampant hazing, harassment and discrimination among its 3,400-member ranks.
She was portrayed by then mayor Eric Garcetti as a stabilizing force, a trailblazer and the most qualified person. “I look for who’s best, not just who makes history, because the protection of our city first and foremost has to go to the human being who is best prepared to lead. But let me be clear, that is Kristin Crowley,” he said.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/12/2025 - 16:21
01/12/2025 - 14:26
Getty team says no current plans to move prominent pieces from center deemed ‘marvel of anti-fire engineering’
It houses some of the richest treasures of the art world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, a popular Rembrandt and a priceless collection of paintings, portraits and other works spanning more than seven centuries.
To protect them, the Getty Center in Los Angeles was built in 1997 as “a marvel of anti-fire engineering”, complete with fire-resistant stone and concrete, protected steel, and set in well-irrigated landscaping.
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01/12/2025 - 09:00
More than 7,000 hectares logged in planned park area since Chris Minns won 2023 election with commitment to deliver new sanctuary, conservationists say
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Logging of native forest in the proposed “Great Koala national park” in northern New South Wales has intensified since the Minns government took office, according to new analysis by conservation advocates.
The report, which the state’s forestry corporation disputes, found 7,185 hectares (17,700 acres) had been logged within the promised park in the 21 months since the March 2023 state election.
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01/12/2025 - 09:00
Organic farmers sound alarm about greenwashing amid push to introduce national domestic standard
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Organic farmers and retailers have warned that Australians are being misled by producers who engage in a form of greenwashing by falsely labelling their products “organic”.
Australian consumers may be happy to pay higher prices for meat, cheese, cosmetics and other goods marked “organic” but producers can use the term without meeting any particular standards or being certified.
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01/12/2025 - 07:17
A fire tornado was spotted as the Palisades fire continued to blaze through the San Fernando valley in California
LA fires: international crews arrive to battle raging wildfires as evacuations spread
Politicians quibbling as LA burns: Gavin Newsom’s latest beef with Trump
California fires live: latest news updates
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01/11/2025 - 12:01
Postmortem will be carried out on wild cat, one of four humanely captured in Cairngorms after illegal release
One of the four lynx captured in the Scottish Highlands this week has died. The animal, which had been illegally released, was caught on Friday near Kingussie in the Cairngorms national park.
The Eurasian lynx was one of four that had been discovered running wild in the Dell of Killiehuntly area. Two were captured on Thursday and are being kept in quarantine at Edinburgh zoo. The other pair were trapped the next day and the survivor will join the first two in captivity.
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01/11/2025 - 09:00
Elon Musk, one of the brightest minds of his generation, is saying it, so it must be true
Women, eh? They’re simply not to be trusted. Eve ate that apple; Pandora opened that horrible little box; and now women are to blame for the devastating wildfires in California. I know that sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but it’s what Elon Musk, one of the brightest minds of his generation – and one of the most powerful people on Earth – is saying, so it must be true.
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01/11/2025 - 09:00
John Vaillant, the author of Fire Weather, explains why fires such as those in Los Angeles are different from those before
When writing about the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and how they affect the behavior and imaginations of southern Californians, Joan Didion once said: “The winds show us how close to the edge we are.”
I’ve lived here my entire life. I evacuated my family’s hillside home as a teenager. I’ve experienced the surrealism of watching ash rain down from the sky more times than I can count. But there is something different, supercharged, about the hurricane-force winds that fueled this week’s catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles.
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01/11/2025 - 08:43
We fell in love with the power and speed that fossil fuels brought us. But the price being paid in California, and around the world, has become too high
Zero per cent contained. In layperson’s terms, that means “out of control and burning at will”. It’s a common designation for a wildfire – in the wild. But when a fire like this enters an urban area such as Los Angeles County, the most highly populated metropolitan area in the US, it becomes an exploding bomb, and this one has been detonating since last Tuesday.
By now, the energy release from this wind-driven, drought-fuelled firestorm turned urban conflagration is into the megatons, and the nuclear-scale destruction is there for all to see: block after block and neighbourhood after neighbourhood levelled – roughly 12,000 structures destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, 55 sq miles of city and mountain burnt, nearly 200,000 residents evacuated – so far. There is more to come.
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01/11/2025 - 06:36
Common Wealth thinktank warns that communities and taxpayer may have to pick up pieces when production ends
North Sea oil and gas must be brought under greater public control to avoid a cliff-edge collapse of the industry and secure a sustainable future for workers and communities, according to a report.
Under the current private ownership model the inevitable end of North Sea oil and gas production – whether through government action or the lack of viable oilfields – will lead to private companies abruptly abandoning the basin, leaving frontline communities and the state to deal with the social and economic consequences, the authors predict.
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