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CAMP PENDLETON ---- A fast-moving fire on Camp Pendleton was forcing evacuations of homes, schools and businesses in the San Luis Rey "back gate" area in northeastern Oceanside. Residents in the area of Papagallo Drive and Vandegrift Boulevard were being evacuated at about 3:30 p.m., a North County emergency dispatcher said. Evacuees were being directed to El Camino High School on Mission Avenue in Oceanside, according to early reports. There were no early reports of injuries or structure losses, though several emergency officials said homes on the base and immediately outside the gates were under substantial threat. The nearly 100-acre...

(10-12) 23:25 PDT Angel Island -- A fast-moving brush fire atop Angel Island shot flames high in to the air and glowed so brightly Sunday night that it could be seen for miles around the San Francisco Bay by residents in several counties. "We are seeing a silhouette of the island in flames," said Jacqueline McCrath, who was watching the fire from Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. "It's been spreading really fast -- we saw a vigorous blaze at the top of the hill at first, and now it has spread across a lot of the island. It appeared very...

Hundreds of firefighters Saturday battled a fast-growing wildfire that threatened homes and wineries in Napa Valley. Fire officials said the blaze had burned at least 300 acres in the rugged hills just outside Deer Park, a community about four miles east of the wine country town of St. Helena. The fire was about 40 percent contained Saturday morning, with full containment expected by day's end. CalFire spokeswoman Nancy Carniglia said the fire had destroyed at least two structures and threatened 200 homes and several wineries. About 100 Deer Park residents along Crestmont Drive and the surrounding area left their homes...

Today Obama said there is a fire, and we've got to put it out. (Article posted in comments section of this post) Not every fire is conquered with the same method. Every cook knows not to throw water on a grease fire. A little snip of an article about different thype of fire extinguishers. I'm sure Freeper Firefighters could give better examples.The extinguisher's A designation means that it's rated to put out fires of ordinary combustibles such as wood and paper. The B designation means that it will extinguish blazes stemming from flammable liquids such as grease, oil and gasoline....

MILTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Twenty years ago, it was a cornfield. Then a man converted it into a small town flea market. The rest, as they say, is history. Some people say when tragedy hits, stay busy. That is certainly the business philosophy for the Milton Flea Market. Now, they hope to rebuild before the end of the month. It will not come soon enough for the hundreds of vendors that literally called it home. Truckload by truckload, the lay of the land is regaining its shape. Even though smoke is the only visitor today, the market's manager hopes in...

MILTON -- Milton Volunteer Fire Department assistant chief Steve Vititoe tells 13 News the fire at the Milton Flea Market has been contained. As of 1:45 p.m. a few hot spots remained as crews worked the scene. First responders say the Milton Flea Market is a total loss. Every fire department in Cabell County including the Huntington Fire Department responded after fire erupted at the flea market Wednesday about 11:15 a.m. Route 60 was closed in both directions and portions of Interstate 64 had been closed as well as fire fighters worked to contain the blaze. Crews were challenged by...

WITH fresh polls confirming Sarah Palin has thrust John McCain back into the presidential race, Barack Obama yesterday broke his silence on the omnipresent Republican vice-presidential candidate, directly attacking her for the first time. The Democrat, who has seen his lead over Senator McCain fall into a virtual dead-heat after last week's Republican national convention, condemned Ms Palin for accepting so-called earmarks - federal funds for often questionable local projects - while a mayor in Alaska but opposing them now. "I know the Governor of Alaska has been, you know, saying she is (supporting) change," Senator Obama said at a...

INDIA Orissa: six more churches set on fire, hundreds of homes destroyed More and more Christian villages are being plundered and set on fire as police remains idle. Death threats are made against Christians if they practice their faith. but according to the government of Orissa the situation is “under control”. Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – The anti-Christian pogrom in the state of Orissa shows no signs of a let-up. In the past three days six churches have been attacked, set on fire and destroyed; hundreds of Christian-owned houses have been devastated and then torched. The number of refugees and missing people...

Excerpt - CAIRO (AFP)--Helicopters and fire trucks had to be called to the Egyptian senate on Tuesday when a blaze threatened to engulf the building and left 13 people requiring emergency medical help after inhaling the smoke. ~ snip ~

In my new job I have just been handed the task of putting together a disaster readiness plan that addresses everything from building evacuation, first aid, logistics, and everything else. I got the job because for my sins, I am the only veteran in the company, and I was just a squid. If anyone else out there has experience in this sort of thing, I would appreciate some help. I have to have something on paper by 0900 tomorrow morning. The good news is I have (within reason) a blank check as to how to put it together and purchasing...

Just minutes before 2:30 p.d.t. a fire broke out above Travel Town the train location of the park. Located half way up the mountain, the fire continues to grow as of this writing. It appears to have spread to several acres at this point, but I am unable to see it up close. Photos and video to follow...

7/25/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- Air Force and Army firefighters worked in the searing sun July 22 to contain a fire that engulfed six closely situated structures here. A call to the Joint Base Balad Fire Department at 12:30 p.m. set into motion an emergency-management response of firefighters and civilian volunteers. No one was seriously injured in the blaze, which caused approximately $1 million in damage, said Master Sgt. David Clifford, the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron assistant fire chief. However, three firefighters were treated at the Air Force Theater Hospital for heat stress-related symptoms and later...

The woman accused of killing two of her lover’s children in April by setting fire to their South Boston rowhouse was ordered held yesterday on $1 million bail. Nicole Chuminski, 26, of South Boston wept in Suffolk Superior Court as she pleaded not guilty to torching Anna Reisopoulos’ West Sixth Street home April 6, killing her two daughters, 14-year-old Acia and 3-year-old Sophia Johnson.

Students stabbed and set alight Two French research students found stabbed to death following a flat fire had been tied up and suffered horrific, excessive injuries, police have said. The bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found in a ground-floor flat in New Cross, south-east London, on Sunday night. They had suffered a total of 243 stab wounds to the head, neck and chest before being set alight. The biochemistry students had been studying at Imperial College, London. Det Ch Insp Mick Duthie said he had no idea why the students were killed. Fiancee's tribute Speaking...

DUBAI (AFP) - The UN atomic watchdog chief warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected any Israeli strike as "impossible." Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that he would not be able to continue in his role as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general if the Islamic republic were attacked. His stark comments came as Iran stressed yet again that it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment. "A military strike (against...

Police were appealing for witnesses today following the attempted murder of a man who was doused in petrol and set on fire in east London. The 20-year-old, who is fighting for his life in hospital, was torched as he sat in his car in Forest Gate. It is believed the Hindi victim, who suffered 65 per cent burns in the attack, was targeted because he was dating a Muslim girlfriend. He had just parked his car, a green Honda Prelude, in St George’s Road when he was approached by the suspect or suspects and had petrol poured over him before...

Vast Peat Fire May Burn for Months in North CarolinaWillie Drye for National Geographic NewsJune 13, 2008 About 450 firefighters are battling a 40,000-acre (16,000-hectare) blaze in northeastern North Carolina that could burn for months unless the drought-stricken region gets a downpour. The fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike on June 1, is currently the largest active wildfire in the United States. Containing and extinguishing the fire is posing a unique challenge, because it is burning in highly flammable peatland. Peat is partially decomposed plant matter formed in wetlands that can be harvested as fuel. It can be...

Fire at Heritage Foundation building in Washington DC... Developing...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Arson is suspected in the fire that struck the historic Texas Governor's Mansion early today, causing damage that state officials described as "bordering on catastrophic," the state fire marshal said. No one was inside the 152-year-old mansion at the time, said Robert Black, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. The mansion had been undergoing a $10 million renovation, and Perry and his wife, Anita, had moved out last fall. "We have some evidence that indicates that we do have an intentionally set fire," said state Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado. "So we believe that we may be looking...

Black day of 1780 caused by distant wildfires, MU experts sayCOLUMBIA, Mo. – At noon, it was black as night. It was May 19, 1780 and some people in New England thought judgment day was at hand. Accounts of that day, which became known as 'New England's Dark Day,' include mentions of midday meals by candlelight, night birds coming out to sing, flowers folding their petals,and strange behavior from animals. The mystery of this day has been solved by researchers at the University of Missouri who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive wildfires as the likely cause, one of...

A cloud-to-ground ligtning strike from a severe thunderstom hit a large gasoline storage tank at the Magellan Petroleum tank farm in Kansas City, igniting 2 million plus gallons of unleaded gasoline, rapidly growing into a huge inferno of flame belching over 200 feet in the air. Local authorities have elected to let the fire burn itself out, which is anticipated to take a day or more. The fire is presently contained to the burning tank. Authorites and company officials feel confident the fire poses no danger to other large storage tanks nearby. Video from local news helicopters shows tank walls...

Lithium-ion batteries are both a blessing and a curse when it comes to mobile electronics The topic of exploding lithium-ion batteries has been debated to death in the wake of massive battery recalls over the last couple of years. Amidst the deft public relations maneuvering and finger-pointing, however, the question as to why they explode in the first place is still shrouded in mystery for many. The most important thing to understand here is that lithium-ion technology is considerably more volatile compared to other forms of rechargeable battery technologies. Defects in the insulating membrane can result in a mini-explosion that...

Terry Lynn Barton has been released from prison after serving a six-year term for starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history. Barton, 44, pleaded guilty to arson charges stemming from the 2002 Hayman Fire, which blackened 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate. She was a fire spotter for the U.S. Forest Service at the time

Low water pressure hampered efforts today to fight a fire that raged through the Universal Studios backlot in Universal City, destroying a soundstage, the theme park's King Kong attraction, a video vault and sets such as the Courthouse Square seen in "Back to the Future" and the New York street scape from "Bruce Almighty." As the equivalent of two city blocks burned -- firefighters were still dousing hot spots 10 hours after the blaze began in predawn darkness -- a mushroom-like cloud of smoke drifted over surrounding neighborhoods, raising some health concerns. A large explosion near the video storage building...

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — A massive fire raged on a back lot at Universal Studios early Sunday, devouring several movie sets, including mock New York and New England streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Daryl Jacobs said at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed. Though the fire was contained, it was still raging, Jacobs said. "The facades are constructed of heavy timber and they tend to burn quite freely," he said. The blaze broke out just before dawn on a sound stage,...

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Firefighters are fighting a massive blaze that broke out on a lot at Universal Studios Sunday morning, that has left at least one firefighter injured. Los Angeles fire Capt. Frank Reynoso told FOXNews that over 100 city and county firefighters have been called to battle the fire, which was reported just before dawn Sunday on a sound stage on a back lot. "We are using a 3rd alarm assignment," said Reynoso, who said at least one explosion was reported during filming, which was going on at the time. Thick columns of smoke have been seen rising...

BOSTON - More than 80 years ago, the Hook brothers started trucking their catch of lobsters from Maine and Canada to Boston's fish piers, selling them directly to the city's top restaurants. Ever since, four generations of Hooks have kept their seafood wholesale business in a squat wooden building with a corrugated steel roof, resisting multiple offers from developers as luxury hotels, gleaming office towers and the Big Dig highway project dwarfed and surrounded them. On Friday, a seven-alarm fire gutted their landmark waterfront location, causing $5 million in damage that included the loss of 60,000 pounds of lobster, but...

A recent fire has led to an outpouring of generosity for a struggling synagogue that lost its Torah in the blaze. A Broward County woman who wants to honor her dead parents, and a couple who commute between Miami and New York, are donating new Torahs to a beleaguered Jewish congregation in Miami Beach whose synagogue was ravaged in a recent fire. ''These show people that we're going to come back stronger after a tragedy,'' said an appreciative Rabbi Zev Katz, the head of Miami Beach's Chabad Shul, part of Judaism's Orthodox Hasidic movement. Miami Beach police and fire officials...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One sailor was treated for first-degree burns and 23 others for heat stress after a fire on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier burned for hours, the Navy said Friday. The U.S. Navy described a fire as "serious" aboard the USS George Washington. There were no fatalities on the ship.

Ryan Boughen was terrified when the Regina-bound Compass Airlines Flight he was on had to make an emergency landing on May 7. Now the Regina resident is angry that one of the plane's flight attendants has been charged with setting a fire in the plane's rear bathroom. "It's pretty upsetting to learn that the people that you put your trust in when you get on that airplane is the guy who (allegedly) caused the fire in the first place -- it makes you look at everybody in a different light," Boughen said Friday.... Late on Wednesday night, FBI agents from...

Arsonists like to pick on Brevard County more than almost any area of Florida. So far this decade, the county ranks second statewide in the amount of brush land and woods intentionally set ablaze by firebugs, state records show. Police suspect that at least one arsonist ignited the south Brevard blazes this week. Authorities were questioning a Palm Bay man Wednesday but did not charge him. They warned that others could have started fires. "It's not uncommon for them to be a firefighter or a police officer," he said. One such case was Henry Schook III, 30, a Brevard County...

Relentless wildfires burned Tuesday morning across Florida's Atlantic coast, taxing firefighters and overwhelming residents trying to save their homes with garden hoses. Firefighters in Brevard County were working for a third day trying to stop flames that have destroyed four homes and damaged about 70. The state's largest blaze has charred about 3,800 acres, or nearly 6 square miles, in the neighboring towns of Palm Bay and Malabar. "Every time I turn around another house is on fire. We don't have enough resources on our own to do a job like this," said Palm Bay spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez. Officials expressed...

Sana Elbaz, the daughter of a Bedouin family from Tel Sheva who lit a celebratory torch at Israel's 60th anniversary ceremony in Jerusalem, saw her car set ablaze by unknown persons outside of her house on Thursday night. A molotov cocktail was also thrown at her door, but her house remained undamaged. Elbaz was watching TV late on Thursday when she heard the sound of glass breaking outside of her home. She alerted her neighbors, who helped to put out her blazing car, and called the police and her husband. "The first thing that had crossed my mind when I...

[Peshawar] Unidentified attackers set fire to a girls’ high school and planted bombs in its science laboratory in the Charbagh area of the conflict-ridden Swat district in North West Pakistan. School watchman, Toti Gul, said that 40-50 men entered the school at midnight and used gasoline to set ablaze nine rooms of the only girls’ high school in the area. “The faces of the armed men were covered and they were chanting slogans. They directed me to take away all the copies of the Holy Quran from the school building. When I did that they set the school on fire...

'It was the most destructive thing I've ever seen' . A day later, the sickly sweet smell of fire hung in the air. Tendrils of smoke rose from smoldering piles as the people of this small town got their first clear picture of the fury wrought by a leapfrogging blaze that consumed or heavily damaged two dozen buildings and left two firefighters dead. Greg Korinek stood in silence Wednesday at the corner of Arkansas Avenue and Second Street, staring at a pile of ash and metal - the remnants of the mobile home where he had lived. He had rushed...

This video was arranged by o7jimmy and the song is, Hallelujah and sung by: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama. The animated video pictures are of a Merlin falcon.

4/15/2008 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Airmen from the Ali Base fire department and provost marshal's office responded to a structure fire in the Romanian coalition force camp here April 11 here. The 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters and military police Airmen from the 407th Provost Marshal's office immediately responded to the scene after a wooden building in the camp caught fire only minutes beforehand. There were no casualties. To combat the fire, the fire department deployed every available truck to "safeguard our Romanian brothers," said Master Sgt. Jay Watts, the 407th ECES assistant fire chief deployed from...

Dozens of homes have been evacuated and a 5-mile stretch of Colorado 82 in western Colorado has been closed due to heavy smoke from a brush fire. The 100-acre brush fire is burning at 1265 County Road 100, and is threatening several homes and a school, said Tanny McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff's Office. She said a horse farm and a private school have been evacuated. Two buildings have been damaged and one person has been transported with injuries... Firefighters from Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood are at the scene.

Fire officials are investigating an early morning fire that destroyed Senator Hillary Clinton's Terre Haute Campaign Headquarters. The fire broke out just after 12:30 Friday morning at the Westaff office building on 3rd Street. "When they arrived on the scene, flames were shooting out the tops of it, and the vehicle in front was also involved in the fire," Terre Haute Fire Department Public Information Officer John Gardner said. Gardner said two women were inside Clinton's headquarters when the fire started. They got out safely, but one of the women's cars caught fire. "It was really burning. The front part...

YouTube clip of one of the most incredible wrecks, ever. Crash into the wall, flip eight times, fire!

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military says a B-1 bomber has crashed at an American Air Force base in the Middle East. A military official says that details remain sketchy but the bomber crashed in the nation of Qatar at al-Udeid Air Base, the headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East.

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak of Lake Oswego was once again in the middle of a campaign flap Wednesday when Hillary Clinton's campaign questioned his role as an adviser to Barack Obama because of his views on Israel. McPeak, known for his sharp tongue, stood by his position that U.S. policy in the Mideast is influenced by pro-Israeli voters, but he did apologize for last week's comment accusing former President Clinton of McCarthyism. An Obama spokesman said the senator disagrees with McPeak's comments on Israel but continues to stand behind him as a military adviser and co-chairman of...

BAGHDAD — Eerily quiet best described the streets in central Baghdad Saturday. The curfew imposed during recent fighting in Baghdad and Basra reduced traffic, but young airmen of the Air Force 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, who police the International Zone police, still conduct patrols, even under the heightened security measures. Immediately following an attack, the IZ Police respond and assess the damage. They disseminate information to the control center and take pictures, getting on and off the site as quickly as possible. Since March 23, there have been more than 80 indirect fire attacks in the IZ. Capt. Thomas...

A 19-YEAR-OLD woman set fire to her own paper-wrapped faeces in revenge for having her boyfriend stolen, a court heard. The woman defecated in a piece of newspaper and put it on the front porch of a house belonging to a woman who she found out had a brief affair with her partner. The Supreme Court in Hobart heard the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ignited the paper but it failed to catch alight. She then lit another piece of paper on fire and slid it through the front door. The blaze caught on to the curtains...

Darvaz: The Door to Hell Category: Funny, History, Photos | This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no...

Barton Gets 15 Years Probation, Community Service. A woman who admitted to starting the Hayman Fire will not do any time in Colorado for sparking the largest wildfire in the state's history... "I feel good. It's done," Terry Barton said, looking relaxed at the hearing. Barton is currently serving a six-year sentence in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas and will be released in June. The state wanted her to also serve time in state prison, but Barton's original state sentence of 12 years in prison was overturned by the Colorado Appeals Court. "Your honor, I'm not asking for...

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 AP March 26: A firefighter inspects the scene where explosions blew the manhole covers off an underground electrical vault in Los Angeles. March 26: A firefighter inspects the scene where explosions blew the manhole covers off an underground electrical vault in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES — A hospital spokeswoman says a Los Angeles firefighter has died of injuries from a series of explosions that blew the manhole covers off the top of an underground vault. Deborah Ettinger says the firefighter was pronounced dead after being taken to Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon. Another firefighter...

NEW BEDFORD, Mass.—A New Bedford man who lived a modest life even after winning a $5 million lottery jackpot has died in a fire. Authorities say 85-year-old John Gonsalves Sr. died Thursday after being overcome by smoke in his home. The fire was determined to be accidental, most likely caused by smoking materials. Gonsalves won a $5.1 million Megabucks jackpot in 1994, yet he didn't let the fortune change his life. His son, John Junior, says his father enjoyed the freedom the money gave him, and liked to buy nice clothes and jewelry, yet he wasn't frivolous and remained the...

BOONEVILLE, Ark. - A meat packing plant exploded Sunday afternoon, injuring an unknown number of people and forcing homes to be evacuated because ammonia gas leaked into the air, state officials said. Flames poured out of the Cargill Meat Solutions plant just after 2 p.m., witnesses said. It wasn't immediately known how many homes were evacuated in the western Arkansas town of 4,000, emergency management spokeswoman Renee Preslar said. A hazardous materials team from Sebastian County was heading to Booneville, Preslar said Meredith Voges, 22, of Connecticut, said she heard the explosion while staying at a hotel just behind the...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A commission created after a Lake Tahoe blaze destroyed more than 250 homes voted unanimously Friday to seek state and federal emergency declarations to combat what it says is an imminent threat of catastrophic wildfire. A commission report said thinning overgrown forests around communities should be completed within five years and within a decade throughout the entire Tahoe basin, which straddles the two states.