Feds to allow night aerial firefighting in S Cal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service said Thursday it will permit agency helicopters to attack wildfires at night in Southern California, a significant policy shift that follows complaints about a 2009 blaze that became the largest in Los Angeles County history.

The night-flying program will begin modestly by next year with the use of a single helicopter, stationed in Angeles National Forest, where the 2009 Station Fire killed two firefighters, destroyed 89 homes and blackened 250 square miles.