Free Republic

A former college professor has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison over a string of arson fires in Northern California in 2021 as fire crews were battling the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose, pleaded guilty in February to three arson counts in connection to fires in the Shasta National Forest and near the Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest. The Dixie Fire burned over 1,500 square miles after igniting on July 13 and destroyed over 1,000 homes. Maynard was accused of setting fires behind firefighters battling the...

The NSW Rural Fire Service is investigating after reports of an incident involving an aircraft in southern NSW. Contact was lost with a C130 waterbomber aircraft working in the Snowy Monaro area. Ground crews fighting fires in the region have reportedly indicated the aircraft may have crashed. A search is being conducted by helicopters in the area known as Peak View, northeast of Cooma.

Kim Jong-un speaks saying "the world will witness a new strategic weapon' from North Korea 'in the near future' more later on.... Part of the alert brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Kuwait tonight, some 750 US soldiers. More to follow in the coming days..... This after thousands of protesters in Iraq attacking and some entering the US Embassy grounds in Baghdad forcing US forces to disperse them with tear gas today. The protesters angered by the US air strikes in Iraq and Syria Sunday against an Iranian backed militia group.... Chelsea Manning, who gave Wikileaks documents on...

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley says that former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson actively worked to undermine President Trump and tried to enlist her...... Its Monday in Hong Kong with a general strike called by protester for democracy and police officers using live ammunition..... Bolivia's President Evo Morales resigned Sunday afternoon along with his Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera...... Spain's second election this year with the Socialists winners but a few seats under their performance earlier this year. The result is again a deadlock... Israeli politics and the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu...

Four grass and brush fires that broke out in Lago Vista Saturday afternoon are believed to have been caused by embers flying out of a barbecue pit being hauled by a truck, said an official with Travis County ESD No. 1. Firefighters managed to put out all of the fires that sprung up along Farm to Market 1431. They said three of them were minor but the fourth was fairly significant. With winds gusting at 20 miles per hour and humidity at just 20 percent, fire officials said these are very dangerous conditions and that the public needs to take...

Spark aimed at saving lives. Australia's peak science and research organisation today released a homegrown software tool to help emergency services predict the severity and spread of destructive bushfires. The CSIRO's Spark tool gathers geospatial data on topography, vegetation, humidity and wind patterns from Landsat satellites, and combines it with data provided by fire authorities to give an accurate prediction of fire behaviour. The organisation expects Spark will not only help emergency services save lives, but also reduce the financial burden of bushfires. Spark should also allow emergency services to better manage infrastructure planning, fire fighting resource allocation and deployment,...

Brush fire burning in mountains above Azusa Ca...

BAGHDAD – Australia is experiencing one of the worst firestorms in history, a disaster that has claimed more than 180 lives, destroyed four major towns, more than 900 homes and left more than 4,200 people homeless. In response to this horrendous disaster, Coalition forces held a service of remembrance, reflection and prayer commemorating the victims of the bushfires in Victoria, Australia at Hope Chapel on Camp Victory, Iraq Feb. 13. During the service, they prayed not just for the victims and their families of the bushfires, but the 4,000 first responders battling the flames during this life-altering tragedy. “Thousands of...

Victorian police have released a composite photo of a man wanted for questioning over the Australian brush fires that killed at least 181 people and which authorities suspect may have been started by arsonists. Police gave warning that the death toll from the fires that ravaged Victoria state last weekend could exceed 200 as fire fighters continue to battle 30 blazes across the state. The man in the composite photo, who police say is in his early 20s and has a dark complexion, is believed to have information about a suspicious fire at Ivanhoe East, in Melbourne's north-east.

CHANNEL Nine veteran Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree have been confirmed dead in the fires at Kinglake West, Sky News reports. Channel Nine had earlier said the newsreading legend, who lives in fire-ravaged Kinglake West, could not be accounted for. In a break in their normal programming, presenter Tony Jones reported that a body believed to be that of Moiree Naylor had been found close to the family's address. Eighty-four people are dead and at least 750 homes have been destroyed and 3733 people have registered with the Red Cross after evacuating their properties. The number left homeless is...

THE death toll from Victoria's bushfires has risen to 84, amid grave fears for towns in the state's northeast as fires continue to rage out of control. Five people died at Flowerdale, two people at Hazeldene and three at Taggerty, while two more people were confirmed dead at Kinglake and a further person died at St Andrews. A person from Yea died in hospital. The toll already surpasses the 28 in South Australia and the 47 Victorians that died in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, while the Black Friday blaze in 1939 claimed 71 lives. ...Hundreds of homes have already...

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 It is remarkable how many political "solutions" today are dealing with problems created by previous political "solutions." Three examples that come to mind immediately are the housing market crisis, the wildfires in southern California, and the water shortages in the west. Congress and the Bush administration are currently vying with each other to come up with a solution to the housing crisis, brought on by widespread defaults on home mortgage loans -- especially defaults by those who took out risky "subprime" loans. Why were borrowers taking out risky loans in the first place? And why were...

A 2003 FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that al-Qaeda had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating bushfires around the western US. The June 25 memo reported that an al-Qaeda detainee spoke of plans involving three or four people to set fires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. "The detainee believed that significant damage to the US economy would result and once it was realised that the fires were terrorist acts, US citizens would put pressure on the US government to change its policies," the memo said. In 2004, an Arabic-language jihad...

<p>As wildfires raged in Southern California this week, Richard Halsey's embrace of the local shrubland turned prickly.</p> <p>The founding director of the California Chaparral Institute, Mr. Halsey has spent four years defending the existence of chaparral, the term given to the wide varieties of shrubby plants, trees and bushes that dot the region's hilly landscape.</p>

Quebec sends planes to assist fighting Los Angeles brush firesCanadian Press October 02, 2005 MONTREAL (CP) - The Quebec government is lending a hand to help fight the brush fires on the edge of Los Angeles. The province's forest fire prevention agency has sent two CL-415 waterbombers to help combat the flames. The crew includes eight pilots and three technicians who might remain on site until the end of December depending on the situation. Quebec said it would be ready to send more help if the fires grow.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Tuesday, July 19, 2005 · Last updated 4:21 a.m. PT Squirrel fires regular occurrence in Canadian border town Squirrel fires regular occurrence in Canadian border town OSOYOOS, British Columbia -- Once again, a squirrel clambering onto a power line has been blamed for a brush fire in this border town north of Oroville, Wash. Firefighters were summoned Monday after a squirrel scrambled up a Fortis Inc. utility pole, got zapped and landed in flames on some dry brush outside a fruit packing business, Fire Chief Ross Driver said. By the time a pumper truck and a bush truck...