CALIFORNIA FIRE: HERE’S HOW

What started as a tiny brush fire became the state’s deadliest wildfire. Here’s how:

Before there was a spark, there was the wind.

On the morning of Nov. 8, as the sun rose over the isolated mountains in the Sierra Nevada, gale-force winds tore through the canyon. A fire outpost on the Feather River recorded blasts of 52 mph — a bad omen in a national forest that hadn’t had a satisfying rain since May.

READ MORE...