Continuing our top stories of 2020 are three stories with a big effect on the environment and wildlife. Several fires west of the Morongo Basin blanketed our area with smoke for days. The Apple Fire started July 31, caused by burning carbon from a diesel truck’s exhaust off of Oak Glen Road in Cherry Valley. The fire burned more than 33,000 acres and threatened evacuations of Morongo Valley and Pioneertown. The Dome Fire in the Mojave Preserve burned 43,000 acres of thick Joshua tree forests; it was started by lightning August 15. Closer to home, lightning sparked a small wildfire in Sunfair Dry Lake in Joshua Tree August 18, and burned 160 acres. The El Dorado fire started September 5 by a gender-reveal smoke-bomb near Yucaipa. It burned almost 23,000 acres. Both the Apple and El Dorado fires were not declared 100 percent contained until November 18.