California Fire News - Updates in your mail box
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| Earthquake - Magnitude 3.0 - Borrego Springs Posted: 09 Apr 2009 01:57 PM PDT 
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| Corning House Fire - Owner facing federal charges of child molestation Posted: 09 Apr 2009 12:21 PM PDT  Molestation suspect's house burns TuesdayThe Richfield home of a Corning man facing federal charges of child molestation was heavily damaged by fire Tuesday. "As I was on my way to Red Bluff, I received a call from Jayne (Endicott) who was at work ... saying my dad's house was on fire," said Bert Endicott, the adopted son of Thomas Endicott. Jayne Endicott is the ex-wife of Bert Endicott. Thomas Endicott was arrested March 30 in Red Bluff. The 71-year-old former owner of Endicott Trucking is being held without bail in Sacramento. He faces federal charges of transporting a child across state lines for the intent of engaging in sexual activity. Bert Endicott said when he arrived at the 6496 Monterey Ave. home, the garage was fully engulfed and part of the home was on fire. "When I got here no one was here, so I called 911," he said. Firefighters arrived within minutes after dispatch got the call around 11:20 a.m. and were able to stop the flames from burning the south end of the home. "The garage is completely destroyed, as is the roof and attic area," Cal Fire Operations Chief Jack Lefort said. "We have downed power lines, and it looks like about three-quarters of the structure is either destroyed or damaged." PG&E arrived and disconnected the power lines as firefighters continued fighting the blaze. "We cannot determine at this time how the fire started, but we can say it appears to have started in the garage. What the cause is will remain unknown for possibly two to three days as we sift through the debris in the garage area," said Lefort. "At this time we cannot rule anything out, whether it is suspicious circumstances or not." According to Bert Endicott, there was nothing in the garage except a few tools and an air compressor. No one has lived in the home since Thomas Endicott was arrested. "I have been coming over here almost every day to feed the horses," Bert Endicott said. "I hadn't seen anything suspicious, so I don't know how this started." As of Tuesday afternoon, Bert Endicott said he had not yet contacted his father to tell him about the fire. "He's not doing very well so I don't know how this is going to affect him," he said. Thomas Endicott was arrested after a federal grand jury indicted him in March for incidents involving four of the five alleged victims in a prior case when Endicott was arrested in 2006 by the Tehama County Sheriff's Department on suspicion of sexually abusing children. Following a monthlong trial in 2007 that included the testimony of the five alleged victims, a jury acquitted him of 14 felony sex abuse counts and deadlocked on 11 others. If convicted on the federal charges, Endicott faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a life term of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento. Source: www.corning-observer.com - Link  | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 911 Service Down in Three Counties - Sabotage suspected Posted: 09 Apr 2009 06:59 PM PDT Major outage affecting most telephone communications, Cell phones may or may not be working. Emergency communications: Anyone facing an emergency situation is instructed to try calling 911 on their phone. If there is no service, try a cell phone, If there is no service, officials are urging people to go to their nearest fire or police department or local hospital or flag down an emergency vehicle. Authorities say that residents with an emergency who can't reach 911 should use a cell phone if possible to call the police dispatch numbers for help. The numbers are: Gilroy (408) 846-0350; Morgan Hill: (408) 779-2101; unincorporated areas: (408) 299-2311 Santa Clara County officials have declared a local emergency: The Santa Clara County Emergency Operations Center has been activated; the Santa Clara County Fire Department has moved more firefighters to south county fire stations; the county sheriff has increasing staffing and patrols; and additional ambulances have been positioned in the area. Search and rescue crews have set up the following locations to respond to residents reporting locations: Uvas and Watsonville roads, near Gilroy; McKean and Bailey roads, near South San Jose and Morgan Hill; Oak Glen and Edmonson roads, near Morgan Hill; Watsonville Road and Highway 152, near Gilroy; New and Church avenues, near San Martin; and Maple and Foothill avenues, near San Martin. Gilroy police called in eight officers to help patrol the city, more the doubling the force of seven officers on the streets on a typical day, according to Gillio. He said residents should flag down an officer if they need help. The city of Gilroy is also sending out emergency notifications on cable channel 17 and 1610 a.m. radio and setting up freeway signs directing people to the cable and radio outlets, according to city spokesman Joe Kline. The city also sent fliers to the schools with information about how to report an emergency. Children were asked to bring the fliers home to their parents. Crews are repairing cut wires located underground on Monterey Road just north of the Blossom Hill Road exit in South San Jose. As of 2 p.m. one of the cables had been repaired and some service had been restored, Britton said. Update: 04-09-09 PM - AT&T is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the sabotage. Santa Clara County officials have declared a local emergency after they said someone intentionally cut an underground fiber optic cable in south San Jose, causing a widespread phone service outage in southern Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties today that included disruption to 911 emergency phone service. John Britton, a spokesman for AT&T, said it appears somebody opened a manhole in South San Jose, climbed down eight to 10 feet and cut four or five fiber-optic cables.Britton also said there was a report of underground cables being cut in San Carlos. Update: 11:00 AM Service is expected to be restored at around 6 p.m. today.Speculation: Domestic Terrorism - Phone company expired contract connection? John Britton, a spokesman for AT&T, said it appears somebody opened a manhole in South San Jose, climbed down 8 to 10 feet and cut four or five fiber-optic cables. AT&T's contract with the Communication Workers of America expired at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, but Britton said "we have a really good relationship with the union" and that negotiations continue with the union. Update: 10:00 AM - No estimate when cables will be fixed, Sabotage maybe more extensive than originally thought, report of multiple cable cuts in the Bay Area. From comment section Mercury News: "To back this up... I work for an ISP in the Bay Area. There are several cuts. All appear to be caused by vandalism in manholes. It appears to be the result of someone cutting through several providers fiber with a hack saw. One of the cuts is in Burlingame and the other cut is on Monterey Highway in south SJ." -Link Update: Amateur Radio Hams are staffing fire stations to provide backup communications. Update: 2:30 AM - Severed Fiber optic cable has impacted cellular, ATM, landline in south Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz county, and also impacted San Benito County. Scanners: Mutual aid channels (such as: 154.920 ; 155.475 and others) Google Map: - Link View 911 Service Down in Three Counties in a larger map Police are investigating whether sabotage to a underground fiber optic cable in south San Jose caused a widespread phone service outage in southern Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties this morning that included disruption to 911 emergency phone service, according to law enforcement officials. The outage is affecting cell phones, land lines and Internet access for Verizon customers in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin and Santa Cruz County, according to Zachary DeVine, a Santa Clara County spokesman. A county fire dispatcher reported areas of San Benito may also be affected but DeVine had not confirmed that report. Police and repair crews are at Monterey and Blossom Hill roads in south San Jose where authorities believe someone lifted a manhole cover and went underground to cut the cable, according to police spokesman Ronnie Lopez. "Verizon is completely down; other carriers are intermittent at best," DeVine said mid-morning. As of 9:30 a.m., repair crews were in the process of repairing a damaged fiber optic line that caused the widespread outage, DeVine said. The fiber optic line owned is by AT&T and leased to Verizon, DeVine said. There is no timetable for the service to return. The problem was first reported around 2 a.m. when police in Morgan Hill and Gilroy contacted Santa Clara county dispatchers to report their phones were down. That began a chain of reactions as Santa Clara County officials responded immediately, DeVine said. The county has held over fire crews and has sent additional sheriff's deputies to Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Police and fire radios remain operational, meaning field officers are able to get calls from dispatchers and communicate with one another to coordinate aid for anyone reporting to a local fire or police station, DeVine said.  | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia College: Officially opens its new Public Safety Center Posted: 09 Apr 2009 01:44 PM PDT  Columbia College will officially opens its new Public Safety Center on Friday.A ribbon cutting for the Public Safety Center is set for 10 a.m. Friday. The new Public Safety Center, Columbia College's first Measure E-funded building project, is nearly complete. A ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. will celebrate its official opening. The public is invited to attend the ceremony at the college's main campus off Sawmill Flat Road in Sonora and to tour the new facility. The center is at the college's main campus 11600 Columbia College Drive Sonora, California This is the first major project at Columbia College completed with funding from Measure E, the $326 million bond approved by voters in 2004. The new fire station and training facility will enhance the college's fire science program, which already has a strong reputation. Columbia has an advantage with its location. Students are training in hillside terrain that resembles the areas where many of California's most challenging fires occur. The campus fire station and operations of the Public Safety Center are conducted as a partnership of the YCCD/Columbia College, Cal Fire and the Tuolumne County Fire Department. . The station responds to about 350 calls per year. The new facility — a $2.8 million project — is more than twice the size of the old one and consolidates the fire station with campus security and emergency services. It has dormitory space, a living area with a kitchen and a weight- training room and backup generator. Columbia College has had fire science classes since soon after its founding in 1968, and has offered an associate of science degree since 1982-83. But in recent years it has become a popular training option for people who hope to work for Cal Fire or the Forest Service. Many of the graduates already have permanent or seasonal jobs lined up. The construction: Last year's groundbreaking on June 16 marked the start of the $2.8 million building project, which consolidates the existing campus emergency services into a single location. The original structure that housed the Columbia College Fire Station #79 was expanded so that the campus security and emergency dispatch services could be combined with the fire protection services into one Public Safety Center. As such, the 2,900 sq. ft. fire house has doubled in floor space with the construction of an adjoining 3,000 sq. ft. addition. The newly-finished structure contains a residential facility with separate quarters for men and women fire science students. The living area includes a commercial-sized kitchen and a weight training room. A 13' x 32' apparatus bay increases the total amount of space to 1,312 sq. ft. available for storage of department equipment. In the event of a power outage, an emergency backup generator will allow the facility to maintain critical functions. An off-street parking area is available within the facility site for use by visitors. This project is funded by Measure E, which was passed by voters in the area served by the Yosemite Community College District (YCCD), of which Columbia College is a part. Among them are residents of Tuolumne and southern Calaveras Counties. The facility architecture was designed by Lionakis of Sacramento and the general contractor was Robert E. Boyer Construction of Twain Harte. Project management was handled by Kitchell, CEM of Modesto. ------------------------- Related links: Columbia College - Link Campus construction map - Link Press release - Link Attached: Artist color rendering of  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Highway 156 - Big Rig vs. Passenger Car Head-on Collision Posted: 09 Apr 2009 11:20 AM PDT  According to the California Highway Patrol and reporter, an 18-wheeler and Ford Focus crashed at 8 a.m. in a head-on collision on Highway 156 in Prunedale, about one-half mile from Highway 101, and multiple other big rigs nearby spun out and blocked the road. (View map at bottom of this article)Both directions of Highway 156 remain blocked as of 9:09 a.m., with CHP staff turning vehicles away at multiple roads including Cathedral Oak, Oak Hills, Highway 101 and others. A woman was trapped in the wreckage of her Ford Focus about 15 feet down an embankment for most of an hour before North Monterey County fire crews could extricate her. A helicopter ambulance responded, landing on the highway and waiting until she was removed and stabilized before taking her to a San Jose trauma center. The woman required "major extrication" due to the near total destruction of her vehicle, which has Arizona license plates. The CHP reported at 8 a.m. that one tractor trailer, which had its cab down the opposite embankment, was sending up smoke. Passersby put out the flames, the CHP reported. Other big rigs were reported blocking both lanes of traffic at Meridian Road at Oak Hill. A long-term closure for Highway 156 was declared at 8:09 a.m., and the California Department of Transportation was called to the scene. As of 8:23 a.m., sand was requested to deal with 70 feet of oil spreading across the roadway. At least one other big rig was damaged in the crash. Traffic is slowly being routed away from the scene of the crash.View Big rigs crash in a larger map Source: The Californian.com Photo by: Richard Green/The Salinas Californian 10:15am UPDATE Information in an article from the Contra Costa Times indicates that the crash occurred after the female driver in a Ford Focus reached down for her cell phone and drifted into the path of the oncoming truck carrying construction debris.  |
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