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| Australia: Death toll of Australia's wildfires rises to 65 - Arson suspected Posted: 07 Feb 2009 11:13 PM PST  Updated: 65 dead and toll rising in Australian firestorms, Reports of whole towns burned over... Wildfire Death toll of Australia's wildfires rises to 65 confirmed dead. Nine major fires Arson supected in a number of the fires. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite was captured on January 30. A large plume of smoke spreads southward from a fire (outlined in red) that appears to be burning in a small area of forest west of Churchill (a larger town near Boolara) in Victoria's Gippsland region. The forest is dark green in contrast to the surrounding grass or cropland.  Photo taken on Feb. 8 shows the aftermath of a bushfires which started in Victoria state in south Australia "trees exploding and skies raining ash as some of the hottest temperatures on record combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes." CANBERRA, Feb. 8 - The death toll from which have swept through southeastern Australia has climbed to 35, Australian Associated Press reported Sunday. Deputy police commissioner Kieran Walshe said Saturday that he believed arsonists were responsible for some of the nine major fires ripping across the Victoria state. "We suspect a number of the fires have been deliberately lit," he said.
 Aus-emaps is mapping the bushfires. The red fire markers indicate fires reported in the last 12 hours the yellow markers indicate fires reported 12-24 hours ago. Possibly 40 dead as fires ravage in south Australia
The latest bushfire started in East Kilmore, 80 kilometers north of Melbourne, and covered a huge area as it pushed 30 kilometers east to Kinglake through the small townships of Wandong, Strathewen and Clonbinane. Related Labels: Australia, bushfire, firetruck, wildfires Related post: Australia: Brushfires, Death toll of Australia's wildfires rises to 35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carlsbad Fire department: Station 2 shakes all over Posted: 07 Feb 2009 07:45 PM PST  The fire station at the corner of El Camino Real and Arenal Road in Carlsbad is wrapped in now-banned shake shingles. (Photo by John Raifsnider - for the North County Times) CARLSBAD: Fire station a curiosity of shake shingles CARLSBAD ---- When the story is destructive wildfire, the villain often is the shake shingle. The city of Carlsbad learned a tough lesson about the common wooden roofing material in the 1996 Harmony fire, when embers blew onto and under shakes, setting dozens of homes ablaze. No wonder, then, that firefighters at Station Two in La Costa say they have gotten used to wisecracks about their 1968 firehouse, which appears to celebrate the now-vilified material. While Carlsbad's own building code won't allow any new shake roofs, every side of the squat fire station boasts a facade rippling with brown cedar shingles. "We get comments and jokes from people who come to the station for tours," said Capt. Rich Vance, who heads a shift of firefighters at the building. "Especially after the big fires, when people are more aware of building materials. "We're as aware as the public that it's not the most fire-safe building covering," Vance continued. "We sense the irony of having that appearance on a fire station." Vance, 47, said he doesn't think a single shake has been replaced since he was a child, roaming about the station's grounds while his parents played tennis at the La Costa Resort and Spa next door. Carlsbad Fire Battalion Chief Mark Davis confirmed that. Except for new doors for the engine bays, the station's exterior has never been significantly remodeled. He said the city inherited the small station when it annexed the area in 1971. Like many other public buildings, he said the station was designed to match its surroundings ---- in this case, the Balboa and Cortez buildings at the La Costa Resort. Those two buildings are getting facelifts to update their retro-rustic veneer. Davis said the main reason the cramped, 2,500-square-foot building at Arenal Road and El Camino Real has never been replaced is that it still serves the public well. And replacing only the shakes with noncombustible siding is not a cheap alternative to a new station, he said. Though the shingles are primarily a decorative feature, they are attached to an extensive wooden structure underneath. Davis said that department leaders recently have discussed the need to overhaul or replace the station. But they are not making any short term plans, given a shrinking city budget. The veteran firefighter said he has put off redoing his own Carlsbad home's shake roof because of the cost. Since Station Two was built, California's fire season has gotten longer and more destructive, and newer, less-combustible building materials have become common. The firehouse sits in an area with a moderate to high risk of wildfire, according to maps generated by the state Office of the Fire Marshal. It is across the street from the Batiquitos Lagoon nature reserve, which can be susceptible to brush fire in dry conditions. Davis said it was "a stretch" to think an uncontrolled wind-whipped wildfire at the nature reserve would send embers across four-lane El Camino Real and destroy Station Two. However, he agreed that if the station is rebuilt, it should have fire-resistant siding. Carlsbad Fire Marshal Jim Weigand said that building codes do not apply retroactively, and that Fire Station Two conformed to the standards of its time. He added that the city's building code bans shake shingle roofs, but not shake siding. Oceanside fire Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence said that shake siding can be just as risky as a shake roof in a firestorm of embers. "The problem is there are so many little spaces the embers can get into," he said. "That's my unscientific opinion from watching the fire lines over the past 25 years and seeing what happens to all these different constructions." Clay Westling, a senior structural engineer with the county's Department of Planning and Land Use, said that county building codes ban shake shingle siding in areas with a high risk of wildfire. New buildings must use noncombustible materials such as stucco, masonry or fiberboard siding that looks like wood. Mark Berklite, another shift captain and veteran firefighter at Station Two, said it's a shame the city put off updating the building during more flush times. This week, he circled the station, pulling back the shakes to show how easily they came away from the rotting structure underneath. He called the station an "eyesore" that projects an unprofessional image and noted that it's too small to accommodate training. Taking a long look at Station Two from the front, Berklite marveled that anyone designed it that way in the first place. "I just don't know what they were thinking," he said. Source: NC Times - Link | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affirmative action news: Latino Group, Black Group and NAACP Backs White Firefighters Posted: 07 Feb 2009 01:02 PM PST Firefighter test as designed favored "fire buffs" who have spent their whole lives reading fire suppression manuals, and studied like maniacs for the exam. Incidentally, most firefighters matching that description happened to be white... Latino Group Backs White Firefightersby Melissa Bailey | February 6, 2009 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
The lawsuit, Ricci v. DeStefano, was filed in 2004 by 19 white and one Latino firefighter who claimed they were denied promotion on account of their race. The case, which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in April, has the potential to roll back affirmative action nationwide. Click here to read the suit; here and here for back stories. Seeing the Supreme Court's decision as a potential threat to affirmative action and racial equality in hiring, the local NAACP and the Firebirds, the black firefighters' group, have sided with the city against the New Haven 20. Meanwhile, the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association has chosen not to supports the Firebirds. Instead, Assistant Drillmaster Rene Cordova (pictured), president of the Latino group, said he supports the New Haven 20 in their fight against the city. He said there is no proof that the city threw the test out on account of race; and those who passed the test have the right to a promotion. At least one Firebird reported at an NAACP meeting that racial tensions over the lawsuit have spilled over into the firehouse. Sitting in the cafeteria of the fire academy, Cordova and a fellow executive member of his group discussed their stance. "You can't blame the New Haven 20 for being upset," said Cordova's colleague, who declined to be named. "Their idea that they should have been promoted is actually true." Cordova agreed. The pair contended that the real issue isn't about race: Instead, they argued that the way the test was designed favored "fire buffs" who have spent their whole lives reading fire suppression manuals, and studied like maniacs for the exam. Incidentally, most firefighters matching that description happened to be white, they said. Cordova, a 23-year veteran of the city's fire force, started the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association about seven years ago as a community outreach group. The group was formed as Latinos emerged as the fastest-growing racial minority on the force, which now has 372 sworn members. In 1987, there were only 10 Latino firefighters. Today, that number has multiplied to about 50, he said. Cordova was among the firefighters who took a written promotional exam in November 2003, with the hopes of becoming a captain or lieutenant. He recounted how his association was approached when the results came out — but declined to get involved. After the city crunched the numbers from the test, it determined that the top scorers were white — a result that would not help balance out the racial makeup of the fire force. Then-Chief Administrative Officer Karen Dubois-Walton called a meeting with the leaders of two minority firefighters groups. Cordova showed up to the meeting along with a representative from the New Haven Firebirds. "There is a problem," Dubois-Walton told them, according to Cordova: She warned them that "If we promote, it's not going to be fair because not enough minorities would be hired." Cordova characterized the meeting as a first step in a campaign to build up opposition to the test. He opted not to get involved. "There was a hook thrown," he said, "but we just swam by." The Hispanic association is not a political group. It's a community service group, Cordova explained. The organization is more focused on community outreach, like After much debate, in January 2004, the city Civil Service board voted to throw out the test results. In June of that year, the New Haven 20, including one Hispanic firefighter, filed suit, claiming they had been denied promotions, and opportunities for promotions, on account of their race. The fallout from the promotional test has sent a rift through the firefighting force. The union membership voted to take the city to court over its choice to throw out the test. The lawsuit, New Haven Firefighters Local 825 v. City of New Haven (2005), was dismissed. Gary Tinney, the president of the New Haven Firebirds, has publicly charged that the union's actions regarding the test favored whites over minorities. Tinney made that charge in the preamble to an employment-related lawsuit he has filed against the union. Tinney called the union's lawsuit against the city "an attempt to discriminatorily and exclusively represent the interest of its majority Caucasian" firefighters. (The matter isn't central to Tinney's legal battle; He used the example to try to build a case that blacks were being discriminated against.) The controversy over the test "was unfortunate," said Cordova, "because it pitted everyone against each other. It strained relations; that's what it did." "It's now practically an all-out brawl," added his colleague. Cordova said he and his fellow firefighters have sought to stay out of, and rise above, the conflict. "Everybody has a grudge" against someone, he said. "But what happens in the past is in the past. If you're mature, you overcome the grudges" and move on. Instead of focusing on the race question, Cordova and his board member were more concerned about creating a better test. The last one, they said, was drawn from material that included passages that weren't relevant to New Haven firefighting. It included a variety of books, including one from a New York City-based author that didn't seem germane to their territory. They said the performance differential stemmed not from race, but from studying habits. Those who aced the test were nerds who read fire-fighting books just for fun, said Cordova's cohort. "These kids will get together" and pay famous authors, like text prep manual writer Norman Hall, to come to New Haven to speak. "They think he's superman." He said those firemen aced the test by memorizing all the books — including passages that others overlooked because they didn't find them pertinent. While he said he believes the test wasn't well-suited to the city force, the firefighter argued that those who devoted the time and energy to passing the exam deserve the reward of doing well on it. "They should've all been promoted," he said. "It's a travesty." Source: newhavenindependent.org - Link This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LA ambulance carrying crash victim also crashes Posted: 07 Feb 2009 12:43 PM PST LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles authorities say four people were injured in a crash on a rainy downtown freeway—and an ambulance carrying one victim also crashed. A California Highway Patrol report says a driver apparently under the influence of drugs and alcohol lost control and crashed at around 12:40 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 101. The car landed upside down, trapping two passengers. Authorities freed them. A 26-year-old Long Beach woman suffered major head injuries and was in cardiac arrest but she was revived. However, a Fire Department spokesman says her hospital trip was interrupted when the ambulance crashed on a rain-slick street. She finally was hospitalized in extremely critical condition. The other victims, two men and a woman, were hospitalized with pain or cuts. They included the driver, who was arrested for driving under the influence. The CHP says he was going too fast for the wet conditions. Source: AP - Link | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Report: Speed caused deadly Calif. tunnel inferno Posted: 07 Feb 2009 10:03 AM PST A report by the California Highway Patrol provides the most detailed account yet of what led to a fiery tangle of more than two dozen vehicles on Interstate 5 — the major West Coast route between Mexico and Canada. The pileup closed the busy highway for two days and cost $17 million to clean up and repair. The report concluded that the double-trailer truck with a faulty brake was traveling more than 65 mph when it jackknifed shortly after passing through a curving, dimly lighted bypass tunnel on Oct. 12, 2007. Despite the bad brake, the report said the accident was caused primarily by the truck's excessive speed on a rainy night as it descended the mountain pass on the edge of Los Angeles. The driver, Jose Reyes, survived. The report said the stormy weather also contributed to the crash. Several vehicles behind Reyes' truck managed to stop safely, but as others approached, a succession of collisions occurred, leaving wreckage over a half mile. Thirty-three trucks and a car were involved, and 26 were destroyed by fire. Saia Inc., which owned Reyes' truck, said in a statement that the report "failed to give appropriate consideration to a number of critically important factors," including what it called a poorly designed and maintained tunnel. "The report fails to give adequate weight to the fact that at least 13 drivers in the tunnel were speeding and failing to maintain legally required following distances, or to the fact that four of those drivers were operating in violation of hours of service regulations," the company said. "The Saia truck did not come into contact with any other vehicles, either before, during or after its single-vehicle accident." CHP Officer Miguel Luevano said the agency had no comment on the report, which echoed preliminary findings released last year. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Reyes. The report could figure in a number of legal claims that have been filed in connection with the accident. An Associated Press investigation last year found that more than a decade before the deadly pileup, authorities warned that the stretch of freeway was dangerous and that steps should be taken to improve safety. Highway officials cut grooves into the pavement to improve traction, but a state police request to routinely close the road in stormy weather was rejected and the state later raised the speed limit in the tunnel from 45 mph to 55 mph. Officials at the state Transportation Department did not immediately return phone calls or e-mails Friday. Most state offices were shut down Friday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ease a budget crisis. State officials have previously defended the safety of the stretch of highway. The pileup sent motorists running for their lives from the 1,400-degree fire. Among the three victims was a 6-year-old boy, Isaiah Matthew Rodriguez, who was riding in his father's truck. Source: AP - Link | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorities Find Missing California Mom Who They Feared Would Kill Her Kids, Herself Posted: 07 Feb 2009 09:50 AM PST  ALTADENA, Calif. — Authorities who feared a woman might kill herself and her two young children said the family was found safe Friday night in Mexico.The Los Angeles Angeles County Sheriff's Department was notified at about 11 p.m. Friday that Lisa Ruelas, 38, and her sons had been found in Ixtapa, Deputy Byron Ward said. Gabriel, 10, and Evan, 5, were "safe and sound" and Ruelas was taken into custody, he said. He did not immediately have other details and said it was unclear when the family would be returned to California. Ixtapa is about 190 miles southwest of Mexico City. A statewide Amber Alert had been issued for Ruelas' minivan. Ruelas and her children were last seen at around 3 p.m. Thursday at their Altadena home. Sheriff's officials said Ruelas left behind a note expressing plans to kill her children and then commit suicide. Ruelas' husband died about 18 months ago and she could be depressed, sheriff's Lt. Greg Sisneros told KABC-TV. He said authorities began searching for the family after friends found the home empty and the note inside. Source | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia: Hotter than hell, Fires and Floods and Arson Posted: 07 Feb 2009 12:36 PM PST 
Most of the fires burning early Saturday were contained within firebreaks by thousands of volunteer firefighters manning hoses and building firebreaks at the edges. Tens of thousands more were standing by, along with water-bombing planes and helicopters, said New South Wales Rural Fire Service chief Shane Fitzsimmons. At least 40 fires were blazing in New South Wales state, and more burned in Victoria and South Australia early today. Most were in parks and bush land away from residential areas. Fourteen people are confirmed dead but as many as 40 are feared to have died as bushfires swept across Victoria yesterday and continued to burn through the night.Australia Wildfire / Brush fire map "Homes are still under threat,'' "The homes are under ember attack and residents in that area are asked to take direction from firefighters and to be aware of any embers that land on their property from the fire.'' Arson: Conditions perfect for arson caused inferno Adding to the wild fire fear is the knowledge that many of Australia's wildfires are lit by arsonists.Police are hunting fire starters believed to have sparked last week's fire that destroyed nearly 30 homes in Victoria state. Meanwhile, residents of a vast patch of the Outback in northeastern Australia that is underwater after weeks of heavy rain continued mop-up operations or simply stayed inside waiting for the floodwaters to subside. Several small towns near Ingham in Queensland state, where rain was measured as falling at a rate of 100 millimeters a single hour on Friday, were cut off by flooded roads on Saturday. Scores of people have been moved from inundated homes to emergency shelters. There have been no reported injuries. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FLASH FLOODING AND DEBRIS FLOWS POSSIBLE Posted: 07 Feb 2009 08:31 AM PST  THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OXNARD HAS ISSUED AN * URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR... LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA... * UNTIL 1045 AM PST * AT 751 AM PST... A NEARLY STATIONARY STORM ABOUT 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF LOS BEACH...OR 4 MILES SOUTH OF COMPTON IS PRODUCING MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER THE AREA. STREET AND ROADWAY FLOODING IS POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY IN LOW-LYING AREAS AND WHERE DRAINAGES MAY BE BLOCKED WITH DEBRIS. EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE ELEVATED LEVELS ON SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS... AND PONDING OF WATER IN URBAN AREAS... HIGHWAYS... STREETS AND UNDERPASSES AS WELL AS OTHER POOR DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.Instructions: MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. FLOOD WATERS ARE USUALLY DEEPER THAN THEY APPEAR. JUST ONE FOOT OF FLOWING WATER IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO SWEEP VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD. WHEN ENCOUNTERING FLOODED ROADS MAKE THE SMART CHOICE...TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FLOOD WATERS. ONLY A FEW INCHES OF RAPIDLY FLOWING WATER CAN QUICKLY CARRY AWAY YOUR VEHICLE
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