Fire!

[filly]

The State of Texas executed a man, Cameron Todd Willingham, on junk arson science. Rick Perry couldn't be bothered to read the report by actual arson experts.

Frontline did a show on it: https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-death-by-fire/

[johnpcapitalist]

I just watched "Fire Starter" on Scary People (HLN). It is an in depth documentary about a California arsonist who was a firefighter.

John Orr wasn't just a firefighter, he was a senior arson investigator. Among the estimated thousands of fires he set in his "career" was the 1990 College Hills fire in Glendale, where he was the head of the arson team. Several families I grew up with lost their homes in that conflagration, which destroyed 56 homes, damaged tons more, and burned 100 acres.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... k-anymore/

Duncan is executive secretary of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a group formed in 2019 by current and former federal wildland firefighters to push for better pay and comprehensive health coverage for firefighters, and for changes in the way public lands are cared for.

One of their key proposals is to rethink the use of full-time federal firefighters. Traditionally, these workers divided the year between fire prevention — tasks that include managing planned fires in cooler months to clean the forest floor of dead and dried branches and leaves — and then suppression during the warmer months. The problem is that with fires burning year-round, Duncan’s group says, it makes more sense to hire more full-time firefighters, with some dedicated to prevention and others to suppression.

This two-front approach would make it easier to tame overgrown forests and, with that, give fires less “fuel,” as vegetation is known in the business, to burn.

Homeowners also have to do their part. With more and more Americans building houses close to fire-prone wildlands, it’s unrealistic to expect firefighters to save structures when lives are at stake. Those of us who live on the edges of forests can help by building vegetation-free zones between the wildlands and our homes. But the essential thing is to be ready to flee and leave it all behind when a wildfire is barreling your way. That’s necessary to save your own life and to save firefighters from risking their lives to rescue you.

[AndyinPA]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ill ... s-78268049

ROCKTON, Ill. -- An explosion at a chemical plant in northern Illinois sparked massive fires that sent flames and huge plumes of thick black smoke high into the air Monday morning, prompting evacuations.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene of the 7:30 a.m. fire near Rockton, northwest of Chicago, at Chemtool Inc., a company that manufactures lubricants, grease products and other fluids.

At 8:46 a.m., the Rockton Police Department posted an alert, warning that fire officials had ordered a mandatory evacuation for the area south of the plant. It told people to evacuate homes and businesses, and to await further instructions.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Maybenaut]

Holy Crap!

The ocean caught on fire in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday. Not really, but it looked like it. Apparently fire was from a gas pipeline. They put it out in about five hours. Video at the CNN link.

[jcolvin2]

People were apparently calling it the “Godzilla Fire” on Twitter.

[Estiveo]

Estiveoshot_20210703_113641.jpg

[RTH10260]

Video shows fireworks explosion in Maryland that led to 4th of July show cancellations
Workers were beginning to set up on the beach for one of Ocean City’s two holiday firework displays when the explosives were unintentionally discharged.

July 4, 2021, 8:48 PM CEST
By Doha Madani

Fourth of July fireworks shows are cancelled in Ocean City, Maryland, after some of the pyrotechnics were accidentally fired on Sunday morning, and the unplanned explosions were caught on video.

What was initially called in as a vehicle fire at about 10:30 a.m. was determined to actually be an accidental fireworks discharge, the Ocean City Fire Department said.

Workers were beginning to set up on the beach for one of the city’s two holiday firework displays when the explosives were unintentionally set off, the fire department said.

Employees with the fireworks company had minor injuries but refused transport to the hospital, and no bystanders reported any injuries, the fire department said.




https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vi ... s-n1273077

[Phoenix520]

I’m glad no one was injured, but I bet there are a lot of disappointed people in Ocean City tonight.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

California wildfire grows explosively, prompts evacuations
Officials were considering closing Highway 395, a route popular with summer tourists.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ca ... s-n1273601

The Beckwourth Complex Fire on federal land near the town of Beckwourth prompted evacuations, a closure of part of the Plumas National Forest and presented serious danger for area campgrounds, National Forest Service officials said.



Containment was limited to 9 percent Friday, and 38,056 acres had burned. A singular complex fire was declared July 4 after the Dotta Fire, which started June 30, and the Sugar Fire, which began July 2, combined. Both were sparked by lightning strikes, federal officials said.

The complex fire nearly doubled by Friday, adding 10,000 acres to its footprint, forest officials reported. Then it added another 14,871 acres by evening, they said.

The weather outlook was bleak. The National Weather Service reported lightning strikes on the east flank of the blaze.

North of Lake Tahoe.

[Estiveo]

Damn feds haven't been raking their forests again.

[RTH10260]

note: further related links on YT of this video

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

The west is on fire.

The Bootleg Fire in Oregon is among more than 60 wildfires in the U.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/us/o ... dates.html

The Bootleg Fire, a fast-moving wildfire in southern Oregon, has burned more than 200,000 acres, making it the largest of dozens of blazes across the United States, officials said Tuesday.

The Bootleg Fire, which began more than a week ago and remains zero percent contained, has set off a wave of evacuations and prompted more than 130 engines to respond, according to fire officials.

The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for areas in southwest Oregon, indicating critical fire weather conditions, through 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The wildfires in the West have been fueled by extreme drought conditions, single digit humidity and high temperatures.

The Bootleg Fire has already destroyed several homes in Klamath County, where officials ordered evacuations.

[Volkonski]

[Estiveo]

My friends, Greg & Cindi, had an uncomfortably close view of a branch of the River Fire (between Mariposa & Oakhurst) from their back yard Monday afternoon through yesterday morning. Luckily, the wind shifted it back on itself, and away from them.

Estiveoshot_20210714_131511.jpg

Estiveoshot_20210714_131604.jpg

[RTH10260]

BREXIT where are the truck drivers?

[Volkonski]

[jemcanada2]

An historic hotel that was associated with the Underground Railroad burned to the ground in my city last week. The city was trying to get the hotel designated as a heritage building against the current owner’s wishes. It was pretty dilapidated now after years of neglect but had once been a fancy hotel with spring baths. Grace Kelly had even stayed there when she came to watch her brother row at the Henley Regatta.



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton ... -1.6099638

https://globalnews.ca/news/8020566/st-c ... use-hotel/

[Volkonski]

[AndyinPA]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/20/weather/ ... index.html

CNN —

As hot, dry weather conditions continue to fuel wildfires across much of the United States, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon has become so intense that it is creating its own weather.

The Bootleg Fire has scorched 537 square miles – an area larger than Los Angeles and about half the size of Rhode Island. It grew to nearly 364,113 acres Monday and is 30% contained, Oregon Department of Forestry spokesperson Marcus Kauffman told CNN.

It’s one of at least eight large fires burning in Oregon and one of at least 80 burning across 13 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The climate crisis has made deadlier and more destructive wildfires the new normal.

We would be having lovely clear skies today. Instead, we have an amber alert. Our skies are overcast from the fires out West.

[Volkonski]