Wildfires

Two ASU professors are showing a very personal documentary at the Venice International Film Festival, which is taking place through Sept. 12. And they’re doing it with new technology, which allows for a more immersive experience.

Giant sequoias only grow naturally in California today. But they once ranged as far east as Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada, before the climate turned drier and pushed them into their current, narrower range.

So-called process based restoration (PBR) has a number of ecological benefits. But it can make ecosystems more resilient to wildfires when they come, and better able to recover in their wake.

From Spokane, Wash. to Pueblo County, Colo., fast-moving fires have again wreaked havoc in neighborhoods this summer. Now, a network of scientists, fire professionals and other experts have joined forces to seek research-based solutions to the problem.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will provide more than $4 million in emergency funds to help repair and rebuild the Hart Mine Road Bridge in western Arizona.

Wildfire smoke is not only harmful to the lungs. A new study from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix explains how exposure to smoke inhalation can cause damage to the brain.

A pilot project in the Tonto National Forest is studying a potential new way to gauge wildfire risk. It involves monitoring moisture levels in both soil and plants — both living and dead. If it goes well, the sensors could be used across different ecosystems around Arizona and beyond.

Invasive grasses like buffelgrass and stinknet have grown across large swaths of our Sonoran Desert, and they’re fueling wildfires — literally adding fuel to the fire.

The U.S. Wildland Fire Service identified the victim as 62-year-old San Carlos Apache Randy Lupe on Tuesday.

Last month, a wildfire led to the collapse of a bridge spanning the Colorado River in western Arizona. The federal government now says it intends to replace the bridge, but the disaster further complicates life in the small farming community.