A mom and daughter in their Nissan, and a male driver and his passenger in a pickup truck, escaped from the dark, gaping, flooded hole on Monday night after their vehicles fell, without warning, into a cavernous gap in Iverson Road just yards from the 118 Freeway in northern Chatsworth.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said on Wednesday Jan. 11 that the second vehicle, carrying the two men, fell into the hole and landed atop the first car in which the women were trapped, and the men “got out on their own and scrambled out of the sinkhole prior to our arrival.”

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The mother and daughter faced a more harrowing situation, trapped in the dark in their Nissan as the San Fernando Valley got hammered by an “atmospheric river” storm.

Iverson Road was so unstable that LAFD rescuers who arrived Monday night couldn’t work near the edge of the cavern, and the city’s helicopters were grounded due to the fierce winds and extreme downpour.

That gave rescuers only one option: A large crew of LAFD rescuers “used ladders and a harness system for a rope rescue with aerial and ground ladders,” Humphrey said. “The rescuer was in a harness” in order to reach the mother and daughter.

On Wednesday, he said, the “Department of Street Works and other city officials are there, with experts to assess the soil and investigate so this doesn’t happen again.” The city crews are “trying to understand what happened” he said.

On Tuesday, city crews salvaged the two wrecked vehicles and secured the site several blocks north of The Church at Rocky Peak. A huge excavator lifted the crushed vehicles out — even as a sewer pipeline that had been unburied by the sinkhole leaked sewage into the growing hole.

More rain is coming later this week.

Crews from the L.A. Department of Public Works are working to shore up the gaping section of Iverson Road several yards south of columns that hold up the nearby 118 Freeway. On Wednesday, the sinkhole was estimated to be roughly 40 feet deep.

Higher mortgage rates and concerns over the economy rattled buyers and sellers translated to the widely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller price index for 20 key metro areas fell 0.8% from September, the fourth consecutive monthly decline. The 20-city Case-Shiller index, which is a three-month moving average of activity, is off 4.6% since May but is still up 9.2% over 12 months.

Here’s how prices in the the 20 metros fared in the past four months, ranked by the size of their percentage drop …

San Francisco: Off 13% vs. the pricing peak but up 0.6% over 12 months.

Seattle: Off 12.2% vs. peak but up 4.5% over 12 months.

San Diego: Off 8.5% vs. peak but up 7.5% over 12 months.

Denver: Off 6.7% vs. peak but up 7.9% over 12 months.

Los Angeles-Orange County: Off 6.6% vs. peak but up 6.6% over 12 months.

Phoenix: Off 5.9% vs. peak but up 9.6% over 12 months.

Dallas: Off 5.6% vs. peak but up 13.5% over 12 months.

Las Vegas: Off 5.4% vs. peak but up 9.4% over 12 months.

Portland: Off 5.2% vs. peak but up 5.4% over 12 months.

Boston: Off 4.0% vs. peak but up 7.6% over 12 months.

Washington: Off 3.6% vs. peak but up 6.0% over 12 months.

Detroit: Off 2.9% vs. peak but up 7.0% over 12 months.

Minneapolis: Off 2.7% vs. peak but up 5.9% over 12 months.

Charlotte: Off 2.4% vs. peak but up 15.0% over 12 months.

Miami: Off 2.1% vs. peak but up 21.0% over 12 months.

Tampa: Off 2.1% vs. peak but up 20.5% over 12 months.

Atlanta: Off 1.9% vs. peak but up 14.9% over 12 months.

Cleveland: Off 1.8% vs. peak but up 8.7% over 12 months.

Chicago: Off 1.6% vs. peak but up 8.9% over 12 months.

New York: Off 1.5% vs. peak but up 9.3% over 12 months.

Rates for 30-year, fixed mortgages reached 7.08% in October — and again in November — though they have since retreated, Freddie Mac data show. With borrowing costs roughly double where they were at the start of the year, and inflation leaving less savings to put toward a down payment, homebuyers have pulled back. Sellers are also reluctant to list their properties, yet houses that are on the market are lingering and getting discounted as demand slumps.

“As the Federal Reserve continues to move interest rates higher, mortgage financing continues to be a headwind for home prices,” Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement Tuesday. “Given the continuing prospects for a challenging macroeconomic environment, prices may well continue to weaken.”

Bloomberg and the Southern California News Group’s Jonathan Lansner contributed to this report.

Wildlife experts confirmed the capture, and a resident posted photos of the tranquilized animal on social media, writing, “P22 was captured in our backyard. Some animal control guys told us ‘There’s a lion in your yard.’ They tranquilized him and took to LA Zoo for observation. Quite a day!”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service announced Thursday they planned to capture P-22 to evaluate his health and “determine the best next steps for the animal while also prioritizing the safety of surrounding communities.” .

The agencies stated that the cat “may be exhibiting signs of distress.”

“This is an unprecedented situation in which a mountain lion has continued to survive in such an urban setting,” according to the DFW statement. “As P-22 has aged, however, the challenges associated with living on an island of habitat seem to be increasing and scientists are noting a recent change in his behavior. This underscores the consequences of a lack of habitat connectivity for mountain lions and all wildlife.”

P-22 has made headlines in recent weeks for apparent attacks on a pair of dogs. The cat was blamed for killing a leashed dog in the Hollywood Hills and attacking another a week ago in the Silver Lake area.

The lion, one of many Southland-area cats being tracked by National Park Service researchers, has gained fame locally for his persistence and durability, successfully managing to cross both the San Diego (405) and Hollywood (101) freeways to reach his current roaming grounds in the Griffith Park area.

Known as the “Hollywood Cat,” P-22 has been the face of the NPS’ lion-tracking effort. His exploits have been documented in various media accounts, particularly for some of his more notable exploits — crossing a pair of freeways, hiding out under a Los Feliz home in a standoff that drew widespread media attention and even being named a suspect in the killing of a koala at the Los Angeles Zoo.

He is believed to be about 11 years old, making him the oldest cat in the NPS’ study of Southland lions. He was initially captured and outfitted with a tracking collar in 2012. At the time of his last capture, he weighed 123 pounds.

The city of Los Angeles is currently reviewing detailed plans to create a wildlife district, aiming to reduce overdevelopment in the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains between Griffith Park and the 405 freeway, which is longtime mountain lion habitat including P-22’s.

P-22 recently attacked and killed a chihuahua on a leash with his owner, near the Hollywood reservoir.

Wildlife officials are worried about P-22’s behavior, the Southland’s most famous mountain lion, after his apparent attacks on dogs and his close encounters with their owners.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service say P-22 may be exhibiting signs of distress associated with living in an urban setting. P-22 is one of many Southland lions being tracked by Park Service researchers.

The so-called Hollywood Cat has gained considerable renown for managing to cross both the 405 and 101 freeways to reach his current roaming grounds in the Griffith Park area.

Wildlife officials are now planning to capture the big cat to evaluate its health.

In the most recent P-22 attack, resident Rene Astorga said he was taking his chihuahua named Taz for a walk late Friday night, about 15 to-20 feet from his front door when he saw an animal coming toward them, which he at first mistook for a large dog.

Then the animal took the dog by the neck in its powerful jaws.

“It was a huge mountain lion,” Astorga told ABC7. “I saw the collar. … At that point it was a fight-or-flight instinct. I started punching or kicking – never let go of the leash until finally I felt he was loose. I picked up my dog and ran inside the house.”

Taz the dog had to get multiple stitches for cuts and lacerations but is expected to recover.

Valerie Castaneda was inside the couple’s home and said of Astorga, “He’s my hero,” she said. “He saved our little puppy and fought P-22 and won.”

“We are heartbroken to share that animal care and veterinary staff made the difficult decision to euthanize” the gorilla, zoo officials announced on Twitter.

Evelyn was an L.A. native, having been born at the zoo in 1976.

While western lowland gorillas can live 30 to 40 years in the wild, the zoo attributed Evelyn’s longevity to “the incredible care provided to her by our animal care and veterinary teams.”

“We are all so deeply saddened over the loss of Evelyn,” Tania Prebble, one of the zoo’s animal keepers, said on the Twitter thread announcing the gorilla’s passing.

“Words cannot describe how much love and joy she gave everyone over her 46 years of her life. Personally, working with her these last 15 years has been a blessing.

“I will always cherish the one-on-one moments I had with her. She will never be forgotten by her gorilla family, human family, nor her adoring zoo family.”

Zoo officials said Evelyn was known for her red hair and “independent and charismatic personality.”

In addition, officials said, “she provided a watchful eye over the newest youngster, Angela, and had been a wonderful family member to Kelly, N’Djia and Rapunzel.”

Western lowland gorillas are an endangered subspecies of the larger western gorilla, and, in the wild, are native to forests and swamplands in central Africa.

Targeting the growing struggle for many to put food on the table, Riverside officials are teaming up with DoorDash to boost home meal deliveries in the Inland Empire’s largest city.

Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson announced at a Wednesday, Nov. 2, news conference a partnership with the online company to deliver food door to door. Leaders of community organizations and a company official joined her.

Lock Dawson said Riverside is the first city to partner with DoorDash on a company initiative called Project DASH that launched in 2018 and has delivered more than 50 million meals in the United States and Canada.

DoorDash plans to share delivery data with the city to help identify areas of need, a news release states. Also, the city is working to connect DoorDash with local nonprofit groups that help those who are hungry.

“Food insecurity is all too real an issue here in Inland Southern California,” Lock Dawson said, and the partnership will help ensure that many families have enough to eat.

“This program creates a more dignified pantry experience by reducing the stigma of seeking a helping hand, by increasing food security and by eliminating transportation barriers,” she said.

Riverside is part of a sprawling region where many families are considered to be food insecure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines that as being unable to put adequate healthy food on the table at times for all the members of a household.

Data from 2019 estimate that more than 13% of residents of Riverside and San Bernardino counties were food insecure. That compares to national and statewide averages of about 10%.

The recent soaring inflation has put more pressure on families.

In July, the two-county region recorded the second-highest inflation rate – 9.2% – among the nation’s metropolitan areas. Food prices rose even faster year over year, by about 11% overall and by as high as 18% for bread.

At the same time, parts of the region – and Riverside – are classified as food deserts because people live more than a mile from a grocery store. In some areas, stores are miles apart.

Amid the growing financial pressure, organizations have reported surges in the number of people seeking food.

The news conference was at the Community Settlement Association’s food distribution center on the city’s Eastside.

Ninfa Delgado, of the association, called the DoorDash-city pact an “innovative tool” for addressing nutritional needs.

“This partnership has been a game changer,” Delgado said.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, she said, the organization focused on providing food for pickup at its distribution center.

In April 2020, the association introduced deliveries for older people who needed to reduce their exposure to the virus, Delgado said. Through the DoorDash arrangement, the association has multiplied deliveries to the elderly, she said.

Delgado said the group also now is offering a home-delivery option to other clients, as an alternative to standing in line on hot days or in chilly, rainy weather to pick up food at the center.

Donna Sautia, CEO of Lighthouse of Hope Foundation in Riverside, said the partnership has helped her organization reach more people, too.

Sautia said she founded the group during the early part of the pandemic, in 2020.

Sautia said the organization distributes groceries through its food pantry three days a week.

“Now with this new partnership we have been able to do so much more,” she said.

Lighthouse of Hope is offering food delivery to families who live within 10 miles, Sautia said.

In the past five weeks, she said, the group has delivered more than 500 bags of groceries.

“The need is great,” she said.

Caitlin Gillis, who directs strategy and operations for DoorDash, said food banks and food pantries “have always played a vital role in our society. And that was really heightened during the pandemic.”

Gillis said combining that role with DoorDash’s logistical expertise is a “transformational solution” that allows people to receive food “in a safe, reliable, dignified and convenient way.”

Southern Californians may one day be able to take a train to the Palm Springs area to attend music and date festivals, roll the dice at casinos, tour museums, ride a tram or dine at restaurants.

And Riverside County desert dwellers could be riding west to catch the Dodgers or Lakers, visit Disneyland, Los Angeles art and history museums or even the Mission Inn’s annual Festival of Lights in Riverside.

All could take advantage of a passenger rail service that would run 144 miles from Los Angeles Union Station to the Coachella Valley, through L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Aaron Hake, deputy executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, which is leading the effort to create the service, said the vision is to offer a competitive travel option for people headed to the Coachella Valley – and desert residents headed to the west.

The construction price tag would be at least $1 billion, he said.

“Right now there is no alternative to driving I-10,” Hake said of the 10 Freeway. “That’s it. And when there is an accident or a festival in the desert, you’re stuck with the 10.”

It could be 10 years before Coachella Valley Rail service begins.

“We would like it to happen much quicker than that,” Hake said. “There is a need today for the service.”

There’s a lot of work to do, however, to make the vision a reality.

Coachella Valley Rail is one of several area train projects in the works.

Arrow, a 9-mile passenger line built by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, is scheduled to begin service later this month. There are plans to build a high-speed rail line to ferry gamblers between Rancho Cucamonga and Las Vegas, which would enable people from all over Southern California to reach the Nevada entertainment capital by train. And a study would open a way for air travelers to reach Ontario International Airport by train.

The Coachella Valley train project recently reached a milestone.

The Riverside County Transportation Commission, Federal Railroad Administration and Caltrans studied ways to expand travel choices between Los Angeles and the Coachella Valley for six years. In June, Riverside County commissioners certified an environmental study that centered on the idea of operating trains daily in the corridor.

Plans call for running at least two trains back and forth daily, possibly five, Hake said.

“And hopefully there is demand for more,” he said.

Another study is needed, one that examines in depth the environmental impacts that would be created by construction, which would involve building about 77 miles of track and five train stations, Hake said.

There would be nine train stations in all, he said. The project would rely on existing stations in downtown L.A., Fullerton, Riverside and Palm Springs.

New stations would be built in the Loma Linda-Redlands area, the Calimesa-Beaumont-Banning area, somewhere in the middle of the Coachella Valley, Indio, and the city of Coachella, Hake said.

The new tracks would be added between Colton and Coachella, he said.

The next, more detailed environmental study is expected to cost $60 million, Hake said, and the agency will apply by December for a $20 million federal grant to help cover the expense and start the analysis.

Otis Greer, director of legislative and public affairs for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, said the authority welcomes “all efforts to increase transit options” in the Inland Empire.

“We have raised a number of questions and look forward to working with them as they advance the environmental work for the project,” Greer wrote in an email.

Preliminary estimates peg the construction cost in the $1 billion to $1.5 billion range, Hake said.

“It’s going to be expensive,” said Riverside City Council Member Chuck Conder, who represents his city on the Riverside County commission.

But as costly as it will be, Conder said building an extra set of tracks is going to be crucial for the rail line to succeed.

Freight trains run on existing tracks between Colton and Coachella and have the right of way, he said.

“If you’re going to get a passenger train stuck behind a freight train, people are not going to use it,” Conder said, saying the service has to run at high speeds on a separate track.

The goal, Hake said, is to make train rides competitive with trips by car.

There are no plans to add track west of Colton, where there is adequate rail capacity, Hake said.

Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel, who also sits on the commission, said the project will ease congestion on the 10 Freeway and create a new way to reach entertainment events and venues in the Coachella Valley.

The area is known for its Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens and other events and attractions.

The project also would expand travel options for desert residents.

V. Manuel Perez, the transportation commission chair and Riverside County supervisor from the Coachella Valley, said in a statement that “CV Rail will be a massive boost for the Coachella Valley.”

The train will connect the valley with employment and education opportunities, Perez said, while bolstering the entire region’s economy and cleaning the air.

Hake called the project “a huge economic development opportunity to make the Coachella Valley more accessible to everybody in Southern California.”

CoreLogic calculated that 0.6% of California’s mortgages in the second quarter were larger than the value of the home backing the loan. Nationally, 1.8% of home loans are what industry insiders call underwater mortgages. Studies show borrowers in these situations are more likely to default on a loan in tough financial times.

Helping to lower these potentially worrisome loans was California’s growth in home equity in the past year. The amount of home value above the typical California mortgage’s outstanding balance grew by $117,000 over 12 months. That’s a gain topped only by Hawaii’s $129,800 and was followed by Florida’s $100,000. Nationally, equity rose by $60,000 in a year.

Here are 36 reasons why California’s so darn expensive

Rising homeowner equity creates a buffer for borrowers against financial hardships such as job loss. And it can give homeowners financial flexibility to borrow against their equity to finance large purchases, such as home improvement projects, or pay off high-interest debt — a powerful tool as interest rates climb on revolving debt like credit cards.

That works out to $3.6 trillion in equity gained by U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, which represents about 63% of all homes, the Irvine-based real estate data company said.

Average homeowner equity jumped 25% from the second quarter of last year and rose 6.6% from the first three months of this year. That’s a smaller year-over-year and quarterly increase than in the first three months of 2022, reflecting a more moderate pace of home price growth as the housing market has cooled amid sharply higher mortgage rates.

For example, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in August for the seventh month in a row, according to the National Association of Realtors. Home prices, which surged around 20% earlier this year, have been rising more slowly. The national median home price rose 7.7% in August from a year earlier to $389,500, according to the NAR.

Home price growth is likely to continue to slow. CoreLogic forecasts that home prices will increase by 5% over the next year.

“This slowdown in price growth will slow home equity gains,” said Molly Boesel, an economist at CoreLogic.

Associated Press and Jonathan Lansner of the Southern California News Group contributed to this report.

Los Angeles might look to be all blue skies, palm trees, ocean spray, orange groves, and movie stars, but there was (and still is) an underbelly of American Nazis living and thriving in the sunshine. In the 1930s and 1940s, Southern California had its share of ordinary folks — who also just happened to be members of groups like German American Bund, America First, the Silver Shirts, the Copperheads, and the Ku Klux Klan — all dedicated to a fascist takeover of the United States. They were your neighbors, shopkeepers, teachers, and police officers — and all in plain sight.

My journey with the history of Nazism in America starts at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2017, when my husband, a Jim Henson Company puppeteer, was performing as Sweetums in “The Muppets Take the Hollywood Bowl.” At the time, neither of us had any idea that the Hollywood Bowl had been used for aviator and Nazi political darling Charles Lindbergh’s rally on June 20, 1941 — railing against intervening in Hitler’s takeover of Europe and the East. But it was, and at LAX, on the way back to New York City, my husband picked up a copy of Steven Ross’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Hitler in Los Angeles,” which details the history of the rise of Nazism in Southern California — including the America First rally at the Hollywood Bowl — as a gift for me.

Sounds crazy, right? (Also: Were there no Dodger T-shirts? Was the See’s Candies kiosk closed?) But for me, a historical novelist writing about World War II, the book was the perfect gift: the catalyst for writing two books. The first, “The Hollywood Spy,” was part of my Maggie Hope series. But haunted by parallels to the rise of authoritarianism and White supremacy in the U.S. today, I was unable to let the idea of the Los Angeles Nazis go. Supported by my agent and publishing company, I embarked on writing my first stand-alone novel, about a real-life mother and daughter team, Grace and Silvia Comfort, who went undercover in L.A. in 1940, to infiltrate dangerous Nazi organizations. I loved the idea of two ordinary women committing to do such an extraordinary thing. How did a mother and daughter decide to embark on infiltrating Nazi cells? What was it like? What were the challenges, the payoffs? What was their day-to-day life like?

The front plate of Ross’s book has a wonderfully detailed map of both Nazi and anti-Nazi sites in Los Angeles, which I referred to constantly as I began writing. Despite spending significant time in L.A. over the years (on various Muppet-related trips), I’d never heard of these local places’ history of Naziism and White supremacy — and the spymasters and secret agents who fought against them. I took two research trips to Los Angeles, specifically to visit many of the places my characters lived and worked, many places I’d visited, but now with Ross’s book and its revelations in mind.

I was able to visit the soaring atrium of the office of Leon Lewis, a reserved lawyer and the hero of Ross’s “Hitler in Los Angeles.” Lewis worked in Naval Intelligence during the First World War, settled in L.A., and helped found the Anti-Defamation League. The Nazis (both German and American) called him “the most dangerous Jew in Los Angeles.” He founded a spy organization, as the LAPD and FBI were too focused on the Communist threat to be bothered with fascists. With his spies, including Sylvia and Grace Comfort, Lewis stopped Joseph Goebbels’s intense efforts to spread Nazi ideology in the United States, exposed fifth column saboteurs inside the Douglas aircraft plant among others, and thwarted the plotted lynchings of prominent outspoken anti-Nazis, such as Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Charlie Chaplin, Samuel Goldwyn, and Louis B. Mayer, among others.

I was able to visit Leon Lewis’s office at the Roosevelt building downtown (now home to luxury condos), as well as the enormous Trinity Auditorium (then part of the Embassy Hotel), home of Nazi rallies and a theatrical trial to “impeach” President Roosevelt. Dusty La Crescenta (formerly Hindenburg) Park was the site of Nazi picnics, drills, and rallies. I also paid a visit to the now-destroyed sites of Deutsches Haus, the Continental Theater, and the spot where Lewis and his journalist partner Joseph Roos ran the News Research Service, a propaganda arm of their fight against Nazism. It’s now anonymous modern offices, condos, and parking lots.

Because I was writing a novel, I also imagined where my characters would go and went there as well. I visited Canter’s Deli — both the former Boyle Heights location, for the history, and also the later incarnation, on Fairfax, for the matzo-ball soup (which was delicious, by the way). I went to Cole’s for their famous French dip sandwiches and had cocktails at the bar of the Biltmore Hotel. I tried to view Los Angeles from the observation deck of City Hall as my characters do, but alas, it was closed due to COVID. I also visited other landmarks of 1940s Los Angeles: the Georgian Hotel, Angels Flight, the Gaylord Apartments, and the remains of the Murphy Ranch.

The Murphy Ranch, if you don’t know — I didn’t and none of the Angelenos I spoke to did either — was a complex being built in the Santa Monica Mountains’ Rustic Canyon in the late ’30s and early ’40s as a base for Nazi sympathizers and American anti-interventionist activities. It was self-sustaining, with its own water tank, farms, fuel tank, bomb shelter, and bunker, plus plans for 22 bedrooms and meeting rooms. Murphy Ranch, commissioned by Silver Shirts Winona and Norman Stephens, was also envisioned as ultimately a compound and headquarters for Hitler in Los Angeles. Yes, it sounds crazy, but yes, it’s true. Murphy Ranch was built as the place for Hitler to stay and receive American Nazi and Japanese dignitaries after winning the war.

Susan Elia MacNeal is the New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope mysteries. MacNeal won the Barry Award and has been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, Agatha, Left Coast Crime, Dilys, and ITW Thriller awards. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son. “Mother Daughter Traitor Spy” is her first standalone novel.

Now, elite firefighting pilots wear them, too.

A handful of firefighting pilots in California, in fact, have used new night goggle technology to combat the destructive Fairview Fire near Hemet and the vast Mosquito fire in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The new, yet dangerous-to-use goggles, allow pilots to get closer to wildfires at night, spot new flareups and gather other crucial information.

The state-of-the-art goggles and Cal Fire’s modified Blackhawk helicopter are being used, for the first time, to fight wildfires at night.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has 12 modified Blackhawk helicopters that are about 33% faster than the reliable Huey aircraft and carry far more water. But only a few of these new Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopters carry the night goggle technology — and pilots must be specially trained, because it’s difficult to master.

The goggle-trained firefighting pilots have attacked vast fires at night in Northern and Southern California, playing a role in the Fairview fire that killed two and blackened 28,000 acres in the Inland Empire. A modified Blackhawk has pulled 1,000 gallons of water at a time from Diamond Valley Lake to drop on the Fairview fire.

The night-vision goggles use technology that works on a subatomic level, converting photons into electrons and then multiplying them. Tiny flashes from the electrons brighten the image the user sees through the goggles.

The new night technology makes firefighter pilots “ready for extended attack,” a Cal Fire spokesman said in an interview with Fox Channel 40 Sacramento, which is covering the Mosquito fire. The Mosquito fire is the largest in California, blackening more than 69,000 acres and destroying at least 25 homes.

Only a handful of pilots are trained to use the night vision goggles, whose technology makes flying far more challenging, according to Cal Fire.

Normally, a firefighting pilot has a 200-degree field of view. But when wearing the night goggles, their field of vision is far narrower — 40 degrees.

For years, attempts to attack wildfires at night were seen as dangerous, and Cal Fire limited its efforts to daylight hours.

But now, thanks to intensive training of pilots who use the advanced aviation technology, night flying operations are expected to expand.

That will give firefighters another tool to fight deadly and destructive wildfires — a tool once reserved for spies and SEALs.

Staff writer Jeff Goertzen contributed to this report.