I can understand it on all the other matters, but a natural disaster?
"
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-- Your friends at Boston.com--Wildfire leaves five trapped near Los Angeles--"
Do you know how sick I am of clicking on a Globe story and seeing that?
I've marked with brackets the cuts of the web artcile I found that best captures what my printed article did.
"Wildfire makes menacing advance, traps 5
LOS ANGELES — A deadly wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry forest around Los Angeles made another menacing advance Monday, surging toward thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex while trapping five people inside a smoky canyon [and thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex grew dangerously close to being devoured by explosive, towering flames].
Well, those towers are going to melt pretty darn quickly then.
So WHY [CUT and REWRITE] THAT?
Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore: "What this says is, 'Listen, listen, listen.' Those people were told to get out two days ago, and now we are putting our people in danger to get them out."
Fire crews battling the blaze in the Angeles National Forest tried desperately to beat back the flames and prayed for weather conditions to ease. The fire was the largest of at least eight burning across California after days of triple-digit temperatures and low humidity.
The flames scorched 164 square miles of brush and threatened more than 12,000 homes, but the lack of wind kept them from driving explosively into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.
Columns of smoke billowed high into the air before dispersing into a gauzy white haze that burned eyes and prompted warnings of unhealthy air throughout the Los Angeles area. [Smoke could be seen billowing around the fabled Hollywood sign].
"It's burning everywhere," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dianne Cahir said. "When it gets into canyons that haven't burned in numerous years, it takes off. If you have any insight into the good Lord upstairs, put in a request."
Oh, so PRAYER is the SOLUTION now?
How about a NATIVE AMERICAN RAIN DANCE?
So WHAT do we need GOVERNMENT FOR anyway?
******************************
Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs. It is both a landmark for its historic discoveries and a thriving modern center for astronomy.
That's more of a concern to the elite papers than homes and people. That's the feeling I'm getting.
The fire about a half-mile away was expected to reach the mountaintop sometime Monday night, said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Whaling. If the flames hit the mountain, cell phone service and TV and radio transmissions would be disrupted, but the extent was unclear.
So what? THE YARD is ON FORE!!!!!!
Of course, I EXPECT THOSE TOWERS to MELT!
The blaze killed two firefighters, destroyed at least 21 homes and forced thousands of evacuations. The firefighters died when their truck drove off the side of a road with flames all around them.
The victims were fire Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 35, of Palmdale.
They get the mention after the observatory and media towers.
[They died fighting a fire that showed no signs of subsiding yesterday.] People who fled returned to find their homes gone.
Adi Ellad, who lost his home in Big Tujunga Canyon over the weekend: ".... I just want to drink tequila and forget.... I'm going to have to figure out a new philosophy: how to live without loving stuff," he said.
The blaze in the Los Angeles foothills is the biggest but not most destructive of California's wildfires. Northeast of Sacramento, a wind-driven fire destroyed 60 structures over the weekend, many of them homes in the town of Auburn.
The 275-acre blaze was 50 percent contained Monday afternoon and full containment was expected Tuesday. It wiped out an entire cul-de-sac, leaving only smoldering ruins, a handful of chimneys and burned cars.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the Auburn area, where only charred remnants of homes remained on Monday. At some houses, the only things left on the foundation are metal cabinets and washers and dryers.
"It was embers traveling in the wind, landing on the roofs, landing on attics, getting into that home and burning the home on fire," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
East of Los Angeles, a 1,000-acre fire threatened 2,000 homes and forced the evacuation of a scenic community of apple orchards in an oak-studded area of San Bernardino County. Brush in the area had not burned for a century, fire officials said.
That's where the Globe cut it. Here is what didn't make the cut:
Flames burning like huge candles erupted between rocky slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and the neat farmhouses below.
In Yosemite National Park, fire officials planned to start a backfire that would slow progress of a blaze that has consumed nearly 5,000 acres, or 7.8 square miles, since Wednesday....
The fire began when a prescribed burn near Foresta jumped the lines and whipped out of control....
"This is like 'The Ten Commandments,'" said Terry Crews, an actor promoting the new movie "Gamer" on KTLA-TV, referring to the movie. "You go, 'holy God, the end of the world.'"
--more--"
Related:
"As rain started falling yesterday morning, Mitch Williams of Orange County, Calif., waited at the airport to fly home from his vacation. “I know that it’s getting closer. . . . The hurricane can do a lot of damage if it hits at that strength,’’ he said.
--source--"
I've never heard of out of the water and into the fire, but.... pick your poison.
"Mexico evacuates thousands ahead of hurricane
LOS CABOS, Mexico – Heavy winds, battering waves and bands of intense rain pummeled residents and tourists in this vacation resort as Hurricane Jimena, one of the largest hurricanes this year, neared the coast on Tuesday.
The center of the roaring hurricane, which weakened to a still threatening Category 3, was on course to pass west of Los Cabos late Tuesday or early Wednesday, close enough to punish the picturesque beaches and fishing villages that fringe the harsh desert....
Do you know how sick of rewrites I am?--more--"
So what is he heading back to, huh?
Firefighters worked to contain a blaze yesterday outside Los Angeles. Even though winds have been mostly calm, the flames have spread over 190 square miles of forest in a week. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
I'd rather take my chances with the water.
"Inferno could mean dangerous fall season in Calif.; Autumn winds typically stoke largest blazes" by Greg Risling, Associated Press | September 2, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Firefighters reported some progress yesterday against a gigantic blaze on the edge of Los Angeles, but warned that this one might be just a preview of even greater dangers ahead: The peak Southern California fire season hasn’t even started yet.
Related: California Fires Getting Out of Control
The worst fires typically flare up in the fall, when ferocious Santa Ana winds can drive fires out of wilderness areas and into suburbs. As a result, Southern California could be in for a long wildfire season....
The Santa Anas are so devastating when they carry fire because they sweep down from the north and reach withering speeds as they squeeze through wilderness canyons and passes and plunge into developed areas. Even though winds have been mostly calm since the blaze began along the northern fringe of Los Angeles and its suburbs, the flames have spread over 190 square miles of forest in a week. Some 12,000 homes remained threatened as 3,600 firefighters and aircraft battled the blaze across a 50-mile line.
But it was not the only significant blaze in Southern California. In the inland region east of Los Angeles, 2,000 homes were being threatened by a fire of more than 1.5 square miles in the San Bernardino County community of Oak Glen, and a nearby 1.3-square-mile blaze was putting 900 homes at risk in Yucaipa.
“There’s action everywhere,’’ Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said as a helicopter interrupted his comments at a news conference in San Bernardino County. The big fire, known as the Station Fire, was just 5 percent surrounded, but US Forest Service incident commander Mike Dietrich said that figure could double by the end of the day, and he was pleased with progress.
“There’s a lot more work to be done,’’ Dietrich said. “It’s still a very treacherous situation. It could still turn around.’’
Weather was more humid, which helps brush resist burning, but the downside was a possibility of dry lightning. Some sprinkles were reported, but no significant rain. Officials were worried about the threat to a historic observatory on Mount Wilson northeast of Los Angeles.
But the flames near the facility appeared much tamer yesterday than the infernos that boiled up out of the mountain range in previous days. Authorities could not immediately ascertain whether the fire at the top of Mount Wilson was the result of the overall advance of the blaze or backfires set by fire crews. From a helicopter above the 5,700-foot peak, small flames could be seen creeping under trees.
Firefighters had doused the peak with flame retardant before withdrawing when the fire appeared to be too dangerous. Mount Wilson is home not only to the observatory but numerous television, radio, and cellphone antennas serving the metropolitan area....
The fire is one of hundreds of wildfires in a season that usually does not gather steam until October, when the Santa Ana winds arrive.
--more--"
Hey, it could be worse in Orange County.
"Tiny insects cause big headaches for California fruit growers; 10,000 traps in place to try to protect citrus" by Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times | September 2, 2009
LOS ANGELES - .... Officials might start a ground-based pesticide spraying program in some areas but not before informing the public. During the 1990s, a campaign to eradicate the Medfly by spraying malathion from helicopters triggered complaints and demonstrations....
Why?
The tiny Asian bug - which can carry a tree-killing disease that poses a threat to California’s $1.6-billion citrus industry - is the latest enemy in the battle against crop pests. It has devastated groves in Florida and eradicated much of the citrus production in China, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Brazil.
Findings this year in San Diego, Orange County and, most recently, Los Angeles have officials on high alert, although none of the bugs found carried the disease that causes citrus greening, which ruins the taste of fruit before killing the plants. Despite today’s technology, detecting the psyllids still comes down to a yellow cardboard flytrap lined with a sticky substance.
Although sex scents and feeding wells are effective at luring other well-known pests (including the Medfly and the Mexican fruit fly), the psyllids are more attracted to their trap’s yellow color, which mimics new leaves. Bracing for 95-degree weather, Velazquez hit the streets in sunglasses and a khaki shirt, his state-issued Chevy Silverado stocked with a grid listing trap locations and colorful fliers that ask in bright letters: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS REALLY TINY BUG?
Since a trapper discovered a psyllid in the area last week, the neighborhood has been flooded with sticky traps - 100 per square mile from where the bug was found and 50 more per square mile in an 8-square-mile area surrounding the original detection site. They hang inconspicuously off lemon, orange, tangerine, and calamondin trees, often attracting a mix of dust, gnats, flying ants, and ladybugs.
About a dozen trappers, including a few from Fresno, where much of the nation’s food is grown, circle Velazquez’s area inspecting each trap with magnifying glasses and keen eyes. About $1 million in state money and $5 million in federal funds have gone toward combating the psyllid, with $50 million earmarked in total. Allowing the infestation to get a foothold in California could imperil the citrus industry....
ANOTHER BENEFIT of GLOBALISM, I see.
--more--"
Will the poisonous chemicals put out the fires?
