The fires raging around Los Angeles bring to mind another devastating U.S. fire that killed more than a thousand people on Oct. 8, 1871. The Great Chicago Fire? Right date, ...

"Fire is part of Earth's natural ... the possibility of fires starting on the forest floor and spreading to the canopies of trees, creating crown fires. Many threatened and endangered plants ...

A ground fire burns organic soil. A surface fire moves through grasses, forest litter, and shrubs. A crown fire flares through the canopy of brush and woods. A single burn may exhibit all these ...

You can’t even call the LA fires a warning shot. Rather, they are merely the latest episode in a rapidly unfolding story.

Forest fires have traditionally been classified ... If the fire reaches the upper branches of tall trees, a crown fire develops, spreading from the top of one tree to another.