"Catastrophic" alerts have been issued in Australia after record-breaking temperatures and wild lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country, officials said on Saturday.

Australia has issued "catastrophic" alerts after record-breaking temperatures and wild lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country, officials said Saturday.

"Catastrophic" alerts have been issued in Australia after record-breaking temperatures and wild lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country, officials said on Saturday.

Southern California wildfire is 95 percent contained; no homes threatened. Cold weather and calm winds are helping firefighters in their battle against a wildfire in Southern California.

Senate panel studies how national forests can be used to store carbon, slow global warming. National forests can be used as a carbon "sink" with vast numbers of trees absorbing carbon dioxide to help slow global warming, the Forest Service chief said Wednesday, but that goal must be balanced.

Southern California wildfire is 100 percent contained. Firefighters have fully surrounded a 145-acre wildfire in Southern California.

Australian firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes on Friday as record-breaking hot weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.

Some 25,000 lightning strikes set off about 100 blazes in South Australia state alone, most of which had since burned out.

Australian firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes on Friday as record-breaking hot weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.

Australian firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes on Friday as record-breaking hot weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.

Australian firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes on Friday as record-breaking hot weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.

Australian firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes on Friday as record-breaking hot weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.

Southern California wildfires staying tame despite high heat; dangerous weather persists. All but the most remote sections of a pair of major Southern California wildfires were contained Saturday, but officials warned that dangerous fire weather would persist through the weekend.

Calif. residents want federal investigation of initial response to massive LA-area wildfire. People affected by the massive wildfire that burned about 250 square miles northeast of Los Angeles are calling for a federal investigation into what they say was a poor initial response to the blaze.

Construction companies ordered to pay $36.5 million to cover 2004 LA firefighting costs. A federal jury in Los Angeles has ordered two construction companies to pay more than $36 million to reimburse the government for the costs of fighting a 2002 wildfire sparked by an electric grinder.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday ordered two construction companies to reimburse the government for $36.5 million in damages from a 2002 wildfire, in the largest such award and the first-ever damages for environmental harm, prosecutors said.

Wildfire on Vandenberg Air Force Base in Calif. 80 percent contained; no homes threatened. Authorities say a wildfire that has burned 450 acres of dry brush at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County is 80 percent contained.

Report: US Forest Service ordered reduction of state, local firefighters before deadly fire. The U.S. Forest Service ordered its supervisors to reduce the use of state and local firefighters three weeks before a deadly Los Angeles County wildfire erupted, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

Steep budget cuts at the Department of Conservation and Recreation will reduce the state's ability to fight forest fires, fire officials across the state said yesterday. Over the next week, the agency will issue layoff notices to as many as 55 employees to account for the $11 million in budget cuts required as a result of the state's fiscal crisis. Those cuts are likely to reduce the staff of the agency's Bureau of Forest Fire Control by at least half. ``It's going to be devastating,'' said Dennis Annear, president of the Massachusetts Forest Fire Council and fire chief for the town of Orange. ``This bureau will have a lack of ability to do its job in supporting municipalities in detection, prevention, and suppression.'' He said the cuts also mean the state will have fewer programs to teach residents how to avoid forest fires and fewer programs to train firefighters how to respond to forest fires. The cuts may also reduce the amount of federal firefighting equipment brought to the stat

Months later, no changes and little review of blaze that torched busy SC tourist region. The fire chief in one of South Carolina's busiest tourist spots said he won't alter his agency's practices even though his crews failed to extinguish a small blaze that mushroomed into the worst wildfire in state history.