Arkansas Logan County Fire Contained and a FEMA Denial for Colorado

A quieter weekend on the fire map. Arkansas crews contained a wildfire that forced evacuations near the Arkansas River, Colorado learned it will get less federal help than it asked for after the Aspen Acres fire, California loosened smog-check rules for a slice of older cars, and a toxicologist made the case that the air inside your home deserves as much attention as the air outside.

Logan County, Arkansas fire contained after Friday evacuations

Evacuation orders issued Friday for a wildfire in eastern Logan County, Arkansas, were lifted Saturday morning, and the fire was fully contained by Saturday evening after authorities let its northern edge burn to the river, Arkansas Online reports. The fire burned south of the Arkansas River and Lake Dardanelle and north of New Blaine, covering 372 acres by Saturday evening.

The county's emergency management office said the fire burned some barns and sheds but no occupied homes. It was one of two large fires in the state; a second fire near East Camden in Calhoun County had burned 2,849 acres and was 75% contained as of Friday evening.

FEMA denies two kinds of aid for Colorado's Aspen Acres fire

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Colorado's request for Individual Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding for communities hit by the Aspen Acres wildfire, which burned more than 100,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes in southern Colorado, the Denver Post reports. Individual assistance would have helped families in Pueblo and Custer counties with temporary housing, home repairs, crisis counseling, and disaster unemployment.

The state still has federal public assistance funding, approved earlier this month, to cover debris removal and public infrastructure repairs in Custer, Dolores, Ouray, and Pueblo counties. Gov. Jared Polis called the denial disappointing, and the state has 30 days to appeal.

California eases smog checks for late-1970s and early-1980s cars

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bipartisan bill easing smog-check rules for owners of cars from the late 1970s to early 1980s, a group often favored by lowrider enthusiasts, the Mercury News reports. The signature came after a two-year legislative effort to get past clean-air concerns.

A toxicologist's three indoor air culprits

Indoor air can be up to five times worse than outdoor air, toxicologist Dr. Yvonne Burkart said on a podcast, largely because people do not ventilate their homes enough, the New York Post reports. Americans spend roughly 90% of their time indoors, according to the EPA.

Cooking is one major source she named, since heating food releases combustion gases such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde. Gas stoves get particular attention: a Stanford study points to them as a large share of nitrogen dioxide exposure, and an estimated 38% of American households use one. Running the range hood or cracking a window while cooking is a simple habit that helps.

Opinion: wildfire strategy needs a connected system, not a single winner

A team of fire researchers argues that America's wildfire response keeps chasing one dominant strategy at a time, whether that is fast suppression, more logging and thinning, or letting fires burn under safe conditions, when what worsening fire seasons demand is a system of connected actions that reinforce each other, they write in a Boulder Daily Camera opinion piece. Research groups, governments, and organizations tend to sort into separate camps, each promoting its own approach, and the result is a system that cannot keep up with rising risk.

Sources

Logan County lifts evacuation call; wildfire fully contained, official says — Arkansas Online
FEMA denies remaining federal funding for Colorado counties affected by wildfires — The Denver Post
Latest line: A good week for classic car owners, a bad week for Santa Clara County's child welfare leader — The Mercury News
3 threats making the air in your home unhealthier than you realize — New York Post
Wildfire strategy doesn't need a winner — Boulder Daily Camera

Canairy aggregates publicly reported air-quality and wildfire news and summarizes it in plain English, with links to the original sources. This is educational information, not medical or emergency advice. In a wildfire or air-quality emergency, follow guidance from local authorities.