A middle-of-the-night fire swept a boat carrying recreational scuba divers anchored near an island off the Southern California coast early Monday, leaving at least 25 dead and nine others missing. Rescuers recovered four bodies about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles just off Santa Cruz Island. The Coast Guard says five others have been found but not recovered due to unsafe conditions under the boat, which sank about 20 yards from shore.

A wind-whipped outbreak of wildfires outside Los Angeles on Wednesday threatened thousands of homes and horse ranches, forced the smoky evacuation of elderly patients in wheelchairs and narrowly bypassed the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, protected in part by a buffer zone chewed by goats. With California tinder dry and fires burning in both the north and south, the state was at the mercy of strong winds, on high alert for any new flames that could run wild, and weary from intentional blackouts aimed at preventing power lines from sparking more destruction.

As many as 100,000 Californians are eligible to receive payments for the damages they suffered from a series of devastating wildfires over the last several years. But tens of thousands of them have not sought compensation. They face a Monday deadline to file claims against Pacific Gas & Electric, the utility blamed for many of the fires and required to cover a wide range of wildfire-related losses as part of its bankruptcy plan.

Equipment owned by California's three largest utilities ignited more than 2,000 fires in 3 and a half years — a timespan in which state regulators cited and fined the companies nine times for electrical safety violations. How the state regulates utilities is under growing scrutiny following unprecedented wildfires suspected to have been caused by power line issues, blazes that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed dozens of people.

The nation's largest utility said Friday that its distribution lines haven't sparked any major wildfires since it began shutting off power to Northern California customers during periods of high fire risk. However, Pacific Gas & Electric is not ruling out the possibility that failed transmission equipment may have started a fire north of San Francisco that damaged or destroyed more than 400 structures.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said Thursday that it was "probable" that its equipment caused the Camp fire that destroyed thousands of homes in Paradise, Calif., and killed 85 people in 2018. The utility giant, which has filed for bankruptcy protection because of losses from the fire, said that while the investigation is continuing, "the company believes it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp fire."

Just hours after a fire raced through a scuba diving boat, a memorial started sprouting up to commemorate the lives of 34 people who died trapped below decks. Days later, it has all but enveloped the sprawling harbor boardwalk where the boat, the Conception, once docked in Santa Barbara. Hundreds of flowers, framed photographs, flags, candles, seashells, swim fins and other mementos stretched for yards, some accompanied by heartfelt expressions of grief.

The 75-foot dive boat Conception was considered one of the best of its kind in the region, and both it and its operator, Truth Aquatics Inc., were in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard regulations. That all changed Monday in the flash of a predawn fire near Santa Cruz Island, when the Conception sank in flames, taking with it more than 30 people who were below deck in bunk beds, apparently unable to get out. The cause has yet to be determined, but regardless of what sparked and fueled the fire, this much is clear: Once it started, it was too late for most of those on board to safely escape.

The storm that pummeled much of California for three days began moving east Thursday after causing at least six deaths, forcing wildfire victims threatened by floods to flee their homes and plunging nearly 300,000 utility customers into darkness at its peak. The National Weather Service says the winter storm is forecast to drop its heavy rain, snow and wind in Colorado next and move across much of country in coming days.

The strongest earthquake in 20 years shook a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on Thursday, rattling nerves on the July 4th holiday and causing injuries and damage in a town near the epicenter, followed by a swarm of ongoing aftershocks. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 10:33 a.m. in the Mojave Desert, about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, near the town of Ridgecrest, California.