Free Republic

Anger and anxiety filled a packed town hall Tuesday as hundreds of Altadena residents pushed back against proposals that could transform single-family neighborhoods devastated by the Eaton Fire. Nearly 450 people attended the meeting, where residents learned that 49% of properties sold in the burn zone since the wildfire have been purchased by developers, a revelation that drew an audible gasp from the crowd. The debate centers on California housing laws, including SB 9 and SB 1123, which can allow developers to build up to 10 housing units, as high as three stories, on a single residential lot. Residents warned...

Firefighters responded to a fire Wednesday afternoon at a commercial building in Boyle Heights that sent a large smoke plume over the area near downtown Los Angeles. The fire was reported at about 2:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of South Los Palos Street on the roof of the single-story Lineage cold food storage facility. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Smoke rising from the building's roof, which is covered in solar panels, could be seen for miles around. At one point, firefighters were called off the roof, but video from NewsChopper4 showed LAFD personnel on top of the...

Beacon Hill homes burned as a fast-moving blaze raced through trees and into the Northwood neighborhood near Spokane Valley on Tuesday. The wildfire torched over 250 acres with no containment as strong winds continued to push it east during the afternoon. Spokane County Fire District 9 Chief Matthew Vinci said 12,000 residents were under evacuation orders and 2,300 structures were threatened. He did not have an estimate for how many buildings were lost. No injuries were reported. Malek Chreiki stood in the grass at the Pasadena Park Church of the Nazarene, watching the smoke plume from above the trees. “I...

Spencer Pratt has claimed he is “teaming up” with Karen Bass’s brother after they both launched lawsuits against the city she runs over the fire that burnt their homes down. The former reality TV star, who lost his bid to become the next LA mayor last week, slammed her “reckless negligence” that he claims allowed to Palisades Fires to rage. “I’m proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass’s brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes,” Pratt wrote on X Sunday while resharing an ABC7 segment. “I hope their Thanksgiving...

A massive fire at a Tracy warehouse complex was burning out of control Thursday afternoon and sending a huge plume of black smoke into the air. The fire broke out at a little before 1 p.m. at the Medline Distribution Center, a medical supply warehouse in the 5700 block of Promontory Parkway just south of Interstate Highway 205 and west of the downtown area, according to Tracy Police Department spokesperson Kaylin Heefner. So far, no injuries have been reported, but the roughly 1 million square foot warehouse is fully engulfed in flames, according to the South San Joaquin County Fire...

As an Oregon man is set to be arraigned on domestic terrorism charges, KATU has learned more about the alleged motive behind the fires. Ethan Noble Burlingame emailed a "declaration of war" against the U.S. and expressed an intent to "cause suffering, destruction and terror" and "burn down the empire," according to prosecutors. According to the arrest warrant filed by Wheeler County District Attorney Gretchen Ladd, Burlingame emailed his intent to a Florida resident under the username Rottenheart in the early morning hours of June 1. Later that morning, a fire destroyed an unoccupied building in Fossil, near Burlingame's home...

Ash was discovered in a South African cave, and this indicates that humans were cooking with fire one million years ago. This is the earliest use of fire but experts say that more proof is needed to conclude that humans were cooking with fire regularly. Francesco Berna, an archaeologist, at Boston University in Massachusetts, and his team found ash that was composed of burnt grass, leaves, brush, and bone fragments in sediments 30 meters deep inside Wonderwerk Cave, in Northern Cape, South Africa. This cave is one of the oldest known sites of human habitation and shows traces of having...

A team of archaeologists in Spain has applied a new dating technique to more precisely determine the intervals between hearth fires from the Paleolithic Age.This research, published in the journal Nature, reveals that the hearths at El Salt, a Paleolithic site, were used over 200 years with intervals of decades between uses. This suggests that Neanderthals returned to this site over multiple generations, challenging previous assumptions about their mobility and settlement patterns...a novel combination of archaeomagnetic and archaeostratigraphic analyses... leverages the magnetic properties of minerals in the fire pits to record the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at the...

A 125,000-year-old site in Germany known as Neumark-Nord reveals the earliest evidence of one of our hominin relatives, Neanderthals, leaving a lasting mark on their landscape. Located about 22 miles east of Leipzig, Neumark-Nord was dotted with small lakes during an era 130,000 to 115,000 years ago when glaciers had retreated from Europe. Archaeological evidence suggests Neanderthals, who hunted and gathered, moved into the area to capitalize on the milder climate during that time, and altered their landscape through increased use. These hominins hunted and butchered animals, produced tools, collected firewood and built campfires in the Neumark-Nord region for about...

Set of photographs of stone lamp experiment. Credit: Medina-Alcaide et al, 2021, PLOS ONEA recreation of three common types of Paleolithic lighting systems (torches, grease lamps, and fireplaces) illuminates how Paleolithic cave dwellers might have traveled, lived, and created in the depths of their caves, according to a study published June 16, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mª Ángeles Medina-Alcaide from the University of Cantabria, Spain, and colleagues. Humans need light to access the deepest areas of caves—and these visits also depend on the type of light available, as light intensity and duration, area of illumination, and...

A shelter-in-place order has been issued as crews with the Los Angeles County Fire Department battle a large two-alarm fire in an industrial building in South Gate Sunday. The fire was first reported around 2 p.m., with units arriving in the 18000 block of Industrial Avenue to find a one-story building fully engulfed in flames. Heavy smoke prompted crews to take a defensive approach to the blaze. Officials with the South Gate Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order for residents and businesses around Garfield Avenue and Imperial Highway.

A fire at a Staten Island dockyard sparked a massive explosion that left 16 people — including 13 firefighters and two emergency medics — hospitalized on Friday, according to the FDNY. The blaze ignited in the basement of a metal building at the rear of the coastal facility in Mariners Harbor around 3:30 p.m., fire officials said. Just over 50 minutes later — well after the inferno at the Richmond Terrace dockyard near Andros Ave. had risen to a two-alarm fire — the building was suddenly rocked by an explosion that fire officials described as “major.” One civilian and two...

The NYU Executive Committee of the Student Government Assembly expressed “profound disappointment” that their graduation speaker was to be internationally renowned social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. In a Statement on All-University Commencement, the committee asked the administration to “reconsider.” “The pivot from figures of universal inspiration,” NYU students complained, “to an individual who has been accused of making homophobic remarks in a class and public misconceptions about transgender identity, and has promoted disturbing rhetoric around antiracism, social justice, and diversity, equity and inclusion, claiming that the abolition of DEI may be the only way out of the Leftist ideological capture of...

Authorities are investigating after a fiery explosion Friday at a lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine. Officials have not yet released the number of injuries or fatalities. Camden Fire & Rescue confirmed it has a crew providing assistance. "Our thoughts are with the injured, medical professionals providing care and first responders working to control the situation," the department wrote in a statement on Facebook. "We anticipate having personnel committed to helping for several days." Ben Hamel, the mill's purchasing manager, told the Bangor Daily News that the fire started in an area where wood shavings are packaged. The fire then spread...

In a refreshing display of backbone, Tennessee House speaker Cameron Sexton delivered a clear message to the Democrat caucus: Political terrorism will not be tolerated in the Volunteer State. As Sean Davis of The Federalist reported Tuesday, every single member of the House Democratic Caucus has been stripped of all standing committee and subcommittee assignments following their disgraceful conduct during last week’s special session on congressional redistricting. The offenses? Coordinated disruptions inside the Capitol, including setting fires, attacking law enforcement officers, and turning the legislative chamber into a circus. Tennessee Republicans, wielding their well earned supermajority, moved swiftly after the...

Two bodies were discovered inside a burning underground utility vault beneath a Fresno overpass Monday morning after firefighters navigated a hazardous confined space packed with live electrics. The deadly blaze sparked a massive technical rescue response after smoke was seen rising from the bunker, which investigators say had been converted into a makeshift homeless encampment that may have existed for months.

Archaeologists uncovered the 11,000-year-old site near Saskatchewan in western Canada, saying it confirms that highly organized societies existed in the region far earlier than previously believed. Excavations uncovered stone tools, fire pits and toolmaking materials, suggesting the area was a long-term settlement rather than a temporary hunting camp. Charcoal layers also indicate that early Indigenous inhabitants practiced controlled fire management, aligning with longstanding oral traditions. The team also uncovered remains of the extinct Bison antiquus, a massive species that weighed up to 4,400lb and likely served as a key hunting target for the ancient civilization. Dr Glenn Stuart of the...

San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain caught fire as it was being disassembled on Wednesday morning, sending plumes of smoke into the sky as flames licked the sculpture’s 10-ton cantilevered arms. The news comes just a couple of weeks after the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department announced it was preparing to take apart the controversial landmark ahead of a $40 million renovation of the Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park. “Today, during torch cutting activity, debris inside the tubes ignited,” Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission, which owns the fountain, told SFGATE in an email. “The...

California Rep Kevin Kiley says they have learned the $100 million dollar pacific palisades Fire Aid concert money was laundered to nonprofits “What we have learned is absolutely beyond belief — Tens of thousands of people donated raising a hundred million dollars for what they was were told was direct relief for the victims. But now we've learned that this money didn't go to the victims at all. Instead, it went to nonprofits” Here are some examples - CA Native Vote Project: $100,000 for voter participation for Native Americans - Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE): $250,000 for programs prioritizing undocumented...

This is absolutely mind blowing! When Karin Bass was in Ghana as Los Angeles burned, the deputy mayor she left in charge was at home on house arrest. For phoning in a bomb threat. We are indeed governed by criminals. From @spencerpratt on @joerogan