Bull Fire Smoke in Reno and the Palisades Fire Report

A new fire near Reno brought smoke into the city on Friday, while a long-awaited report looked back at what went wrong during the Palisades Fire. Colorado also has two wildfire stories on the calendar: a Supreme Court hearing and a ballot measure.

Bull Fire smoke drifts into Reno

The Bull Fire broke out Friday afternoon near Verdi and burned about 150 acres in a few hours, prompting "get set" evacuation warnings in West Reno, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. Smoke lowered air quality across much of the city to "moderate," with AirNow showing an AQI of 58 downtown around 1:45 p.m.

The paper notes that conditions can change quickly with wind and fire activity. Northern Nevada Public Health advises sensitive groups to limit outdoor exposure once the AQI reaches 101 or higher. On smoky days, keeping windows and doors closed helps keep smoke out of the house.

Palisades Fire report details delayed evacuation alerts

A 724-page independent review of the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people, was released Friday, according to the New York Post. It found that some residents near where the fire started didn't get an evacuation alert until roughly 40 to 90 minutes after homes had begun burning.

The report, completed by UL Research Institutes' Fire Safety Research Institute at Gov. Gavin Newsom's request, says the destruction came from "multiple interconnected factors" rather than one failure. It points to outdated manual processes and a mid-switch to new alert software, with staff drawing evacuation zones by hand from street names read over the radio.

Supreme Court to hear Boulder's climate case

On Monday, the first day of its new term, the Supreme Court will hear a case brought by the city and county of Boulder against Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil, the AP reports via HuffPost. Boulder sued in 2018, arguing the companies deceived the public about their role in climate change, and is seeking damages to help cover the cost of worsening disasters.

Boulder County is one of dozens of jurisdictions suing oil and gas companies, and the ruling could decide the fate of similar cases. The companies, backed by the Trump administration, say state courts are not the place to deal with a global issue.

Colorado voters to weigh wildfire funding

Colorado's Proposition 137, on the Nov. 3 ballot, would direct an estimated $175 million a year in existing sales taxes on outdoor gear to conservation and wildfire prevention, the Denver Post reports. It would not raise taxes, but it would reduce taxpayer refunds in years when revenue exceeds the state's spending limit.

Most of the money would go to Great Outdoors Colorado and to wildfire-mitigation programs at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado State Forest Service. Some critics say the money could fund harmful wildfire-related logging.

Drones take on a bigger role in wildfire response

During Montana's Sand Creek Fire, which has burned since early August, fire managers used drones to find smoldering spots on steep slopes that were dangerous for crews, Mother Jones reports in a story from Inside Climate News. Federal agencies already use drones to map fires and detect hotspots, and are testing them for dropping water and foam.

The U.S. Forest Service is also evaluating firefighting robots on the ground, and researchers are studying how AI could help predict where fires will start and how fast they will spread.

Sources

Bull Fire location, size, containment, evacuations, road closures — Reno Gazette-Journal
Deadly Palisades wildfire report details delayed evacuation warning — New York Post
Supreme Court Will Hear Major Climate Change Case Involving A Devastating Colorado Wildfire — HuffPost
Prop 137 would set aside sales taxes from outdoor gear for conservation, wildfire prevention — The Denver Post
The Future of Wildfire Response: AI, Drones, and Robots — Mother Jones

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.