As the first week of 2025 comes to a close, Cal-OSHA Reporter’s thoughts are with the employers, employees, and people of the Los Angeles metropolis, which is experiencing a waking nightmare. As Cal-OSHA Reporter goes to press, more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed by three major fires ignited by hellish winds – some have …
Summer is officially here, and so the fire season has arrived – in force. As Cal-OSHA Reporter goes to press, Cal Fire reports more than 2,100 wildfires throughout California, burning at least 66,000 acres and damaging or destroying at least 22 structures. These totals are sure to increase. The fires are releasing plumes of smoke and …
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board will convene two days of advisory committee meetings in mid-November with the wildland firefighting community to discuss updates to Cal/OSHA regulations based on National Fire Protection Association standards. This will be the fourth meeting of the committee since June 2022. It originally convened in 2015. These meetings are necessitated by legislation …
As August ended, 20 wildland firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Cal Fire, and the U.S. Forest Service donned their gear at the Del Valle Training Center in Castaic. They spent a hot day simulating “cutting lines” up and down a slope. Cal-OSHA Reporter was there to cover the training. In addition to …
Eight years after being mandated by the California Legislature, Title 8 regulations on personal protective equipment for firefighters – both structural and wildland – are now part of the California Code of Regulations, after the Office of Administrative Law signed off. But executing on the new rules is another story. The provisions are aimed at …
California’s wildfire season is in full swing, with major fires in the far north and the central part of the state. If past years are any indication, more are coming. The thick, heavy smoke that gave our urban areas an apocalyptic pall in recent seasons hasn’t descended, and hopefully, we’ll avoid the worst of that …