February 28, 2008
Argentina Wildfire, The News Spread Like, Well...
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Labels: 2008 Fire Season, International
February 26, 2008
Texas Burning, Evacuations & Firefighter Injuries
From Fox News:"Fire officials were waiting for daylight Tuesday to assess the scope of one massive wildfire stretching across Sterling, Reagan and Irion counties in Central Texas that could be as large as 500,000 acres, said David Abernathy, an incident commander with the forest service. Airplanes will fly over the fire during daylight Tuesday to obtain more accurate mapping data, he said.
At one point the blaze moved so quickly — fueled by 50 mph winds — that flames were consuming an area the size of "a football field every minute," Abernathy said.
Three firefighters were injured in Archer County when two fire trucks collided head on after one swerved around a car that pulled out into the road, Abernathy said. One of the firefighters was airlifted to an area hospital, an Archer County dispatcher said. He survived but his condition was unknown.
Abernathy said he was aware of at least two dozen separate fires across the state and expected there were "many, many more that we won't know about" until local fire departments report in."
Texas is getting hammered in early 08, wildfires have burned about 100,000 acres and destroyed about 60 homes and other structures in the past month . Two years ago, numerous outbreaks scorched 2.25 million acres statewide and killed 20 people. read more here!
Labels: 2008 Fire Season
February 18, 2008
Bird Flu, The Simmering Pandemic?
I know, the title is a little over the top but is it really? Fox News provides details of a 22 year old man who died from avian or 'bird flu' in Jianghua County of Hunan's Yongzhou City China.
More than 225 people have died worldwide from the virus, according to the World Health Organization reports Fox.
I have posted on this subject in the past and my chief concern, aside from the potential threat to my family and friends is the effect a pandemic, or even an outbreak would pose to first responders.
Bird flu, or H5N1 is not going away any time soon. When you read the strain is centering on poultry and then consider everyone in rural China or Indonesia raises chickens it seems inevitable a mutated form of the virus will take hold.
More on the virus from Wikipedia.
February 14, 2008
Oklahoma Wildfires, It's Starting Early
Starting early this year!
Hobbyist Builds Lego Firefighter
February 12, 2008
Wildfires Burn In Virginia and Carolinas
"Investigators went to work Monday trying to figure out what ignited hundreds of weekend wildfires that chased some residents from churches and led others to seek them out for sanctuary.
The wind that had fanned the flames in the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia had died down Monday. The earliest rain in the forecast for South Carolina was Tuesday.
Because of the high wind and wildfires, both Democratic presidential hopefuls — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama — canceled appearances scheduled in Roanoke, Va. Virginia's presidential primaries are on Tuesday. Thousands of customers in the region still had no electricity because of damage caused by the fires and wind.
About 60 homes in Conway were briefly evacuated Sunday when a fire sent smoke billowing above the city of about 11,000 people, about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.
Lewis Cooper fled the flames — one of South Carolina's 111 forest fires — with his wife, and said the heat was intense from hundreds of feet away....."
Local blog coverage.
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Labels: 2008 Fire Season, East Coast
February 10, 2008
Blue Angels -- Simply Amazing
In the meantime, enjoy this.
Labels: Off Topic
