Lancashire firefighters battle blaze at former Co-op bank building

by Active

Eight fire engines and police attended a huge fire at the former Co-operative bank building on High Street in Skelmersdale at around 7.30pm yesterday evening (September 15).

Lancashire Police closed a number of roads in the area and people were asked to avoid the scene and keep windows and doors shut.

Pictures from the scene show the building well alight and thick smoke rising into the sky as firefighters battled to bring the fire under control.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire Service said: “We have eight fire engines from Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside at a derelict building fire on High Street, Skelmersdale. We were called around 19:30 and crews are battling to bring the fire under control.

“Lancashire Police have closed a number of roads in the area and the public are advised to stay away from the scene. If you can see or smell the smoke, please keep your windows and doors shut.

The fire service confirmed at 12.20am today (September 16), the blaze was brought under control.

Firefighters have remained at the scene all night and the cause of the fire is currently unknown. A joint police and fire investigation is underway.

The site had been earmarked for a new Aldi after the discount retailer submitted an application in 2019.

That application is still pending and no decision has been made by West Lancashire Borough Council.

Winds fuel wildfires in California as blazes rage across US West

by Uncategorized

San Francisco has been left under an eerie orange glow as a result of the smoke from the fires blazing across the western United States.

Wildfires raged unchecked across large parts of the western United States on Wednesday in blazes unprecedented in their scale and ferocity, as Oregon warned of many deaths after blazes destroyed at least five small towns.

Winds gusting as high as 80km/h (50mph) fanned dozens of catastrophic fires across a large swathe of Oregon and neighbouring Washington state – places that rarely experience such intense fire activity because of the Pacific Northwest’s cool and wet climate.

Flames ravaged the towns of Detroit, Blue River, Vida, Phoenix and Talent, Oregon Governor Kate Brown said Wednesday.

The blazes, which also forced the evacuation of much of Medford in southern Oregon, could bring “the greatest loss in human lives and property due to wildfire in our state’s history”, Brown said at a news briefing.

In Washington state, a one year old boy was killed and his parents badly burned as tried to flee a fire, police said.

Nearly 100 fires are raging across the west of the US, with 28 in California, where nearly 930,800 hectares (2.3 million acres) have been burned and three people were on Wednesday confirmed dead. A massive cloud of smoke has enveloped much of the state leaving San Francisco beneath an eerie orange glow.

A 12-year-old boy and his grandmother died in a wildfire about 50 miles south of Portland, KOIN News reported. In Washington state a 1-year-old boy was killed and his parents severely burned as they tried to flee a fire in Okanogan County, police said.

Firefighters retreated from uncontrollable blazes in Oregon as officials gave residents “go now” orders to evacuate, meaning they had only minutes to leave their homes.

“It was like driving through hell,” Jody Evans told local television station NewsChannel21 after a midnight evacuation from Detroit, southwest of Portland.

Officials in the Pacific Northwest said they did not recall ever having to deal with so many destructive fires at once in the areas where they were burning.

In suburban Clackamas County, home to about 420,000 people who mostly work in nearby Oregon, four major fires were burning, with sheriff’s deputies travelling with chainsaws in patrol cars to remove fallen trees blocking roads.

“These winds are so incredible and are spreading so fast, we don’t have a lot of time,” said Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts.

Flames bear down on vehicles on Highway 162 in Oroville, north of Sacramento in California on September 9.

Fires were burning in seven Oregon counties, and rural and suburban homes miles away from Portland, Oregon’s largest city, were under preliminary orders to prepare for possible evacuations. Three prisons were evacuated late on Tuesday.

Brown saw no respite to the hot, windy weather and requested a federal emergency declaration for the state.

“Absolutely no area in the state is free from fire,” said Doug Graf, chief of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

The Pacific Northwest is no stranger to wildfires, but most of the biggest ones until now have been in the eastern or southern parts of the region – where the weather is considerably hotter and drier and the vegetation more fire-prone than it is on the western side of the region.

Fire crews continue to battle California’s Creek Fire

by Americas - Featured News

Firefighters in central California are currently searching for people stranded by a fast-moving fire that has already burned an estimated 45,000 acres. The Creek Fire started Friday evening and, fueled by timber and dry vegetation, quickly jumped the San Joaquin River and blocked evacuation routes.

More than 200 people were rescued overnight as military helicopters plucked the stranded from the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in Sierra National Forest, where they were asked to shelter in place after fire blocked the one road leading out of the area. Most of those rescued had minor or no injuries, but several were transported to local hospitals and at least two were “severely injured,” the Fresno Fire Department said early Sunday.

“We do believe that there are still other people out in the wilderness, and when daylight breaks, we will be continuing those rescue operations to go out and try to find them and get them to safety as well,” Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue told CNN on Sunday.

Most of those rescued were flown to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, where emergency responders had set up a triage center to prioritize treatment. At least six burn victims were admitted to Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Centre.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire, which is located near the San Joaquin River and the communities of Big Creek and Huntington Lake. Fire crews face steep, rugged terrain and high temperatures, which make extinguishing the fire difficult, Sierra National Forest authorities said.

As of Sunday, the fire was zero percent contained, according to Cal Fire, as giant plumes of smoke up to 50,000 feet tall were visible from the air. Several areas in Madera County were under mandatory evacuation orders.

Social media showed videos of people escaping the flames. Smoke from the fire spread throughout the region, filling nearby Yosemite National Park and coloring the sky an eerie orange.

The Creek Fire is just the latest blaze faced by California in a devastating fire season. More than 7,000 wildfires, many sparked by lightning strikes, had already burned over 1.4 million acres by the end of August, Gov. Gavin Newsom said last month.

Diesel train catches fire in Llangennech, Wales

by Active

Homes have been evacuated in south Wales after a large diesel train caught fire. British Transport police said crews were called to the blaze at Llangennech, near Llanelli, around 11.20pm on Wednesday 26th August.

Three carriages of the train were alight and an evacuation zone was put in place, according to Dyfed-Powys police.

Two employees were on board the freight train but no injuries have been reported, the British Transport Police said.

Gary Jones, a county Councillor in Carmarthenshire, wrote that “a major incident on the railway line has been declared.”

The transport police said: “Emergency services are currently dealing with an incident on the railway near Llangennech Wales. A large diesel freight train has caught fire.

“A cordon is in place, with roads closed and surrounding homes being evacuated. Please avoid the area.”

Dyfed-Powys police said officers were contacting people living in the evacuation area and asking them to leave their homes and convene at Bryn school.

Superintendent Ross Evans said: “This is a fast-moving situation, which has been declared a major incident.

“There are a significant number of emergency services personnel at the scene and an evacuation zone has been put in place.

“Officers are in contact with people within that area asking them to leave their homes, and we urge people to comply with officers’ requests to ensure a swift and efficient evacuation.”

California wildfires: ‘a major disaster’

by Americas - Featured News

Over 14,000 firefighters are battling 585 fires that have now burnt nearly one million acres (400,000 hectares) as President Trump has declared that wildfires burning through homes and devastating precious forestry in parts of California are a major disaster and has released federal aid.

Forecast high winds are threatening to drive flames into more populated areas as foul air blankets the state. At least six people have died and thousands have evacuated.

Most of the destruction has been caused by three large fire complexes in mountainous and wooded rural areas.

On Saturday 22nd August, California Governor Gavin Newsom said the SCU Lightning Complex fire south and east of San Francisco was the third-largest in the state’s history.

Video tweeted by the governor showed burnt tree stumps against the reddened fumes-filled sky and plumes of white smoke rising from ash-laden ground.

An evacuation order on Saturday extended to thousands of people in the Bay area near San Jose and warned others to be prepared to abandon their homes at short notice.

Exhausted firefighters continue to battle the flames, with some working 72-hour shifts in the dangerous, hot conditions, reports AP news agency. “They’re scrambling for bodies” to help fight the fires, an official in the city of Fresno told Reuters news agency.

In California’s oldest state park, flames scorched redwood trees that began their lives more than 2,000 years ago. The historic visitor centre of Big Basin State Park was burnt to the ground and officials say some trees, which tower as high as 330ft (100 metres), have fallen as the area was “extensively damaged”.

The state faces a more acute shortage of personnel than usual – the coronavirus pandemic has depleted a fire-fighting corps made up of prisoners, which has helped the state battle blazes since World War Two, due to early releases from jail.

At least 43 people including firefighters have been injured, and hundreds of buildings have burned down and thousands more are threatened.

After doubling in size on Friday, the fires continued to grow moderately on Saturday and firefighters made some progress in containing the flames.

More than 12,000 dry lightning strikes started the blazes last week during a historic heat wave in which thermometers in Death Valley National Park reached what could be the highest ever temperature reliably recorded.

The largest wildfire, called the LNU Lightning complex, is in the prominent wine-growing areas of Napa and Sonoma north of San Francisco and is just 15% contained, CalFire said on Saturday.

Further south in Santa Cruz county, 115 homes have been destroyed and some residents evacuated.

Firefighters dug a fireline around the University of California Santa Cruz campus as flames came within a mile of the buildings and surrounding area.

Gov Newsom has requested help from as far afield as Australia and Canada. Firefighters, engines and surveillance planes raced in from US states including Oregon, New Mexico and Texas.

Although California is used to wildfire, the governor called the fires unlike anything the state had seen before. “If you don’t believe in climate change, come to California,” he tweeted on Saturday.

With more than 650,000 coronavirus cases, California also has the highest number of infections in the US, and some evacuees have said they are afraid to go to emergency shelters.

US agencies have updated disaster preparedness and evacuation guidance in light of Covid-19. People who may be required to flee have been to told to carry at least two face masks per person, as well as hand sanitiser, soap and disinfectant wipes.

Emergency shelters are enforcing social distancing rules and mask wearing, and have even given individual tents to families to self-isolate. Some counties are seeking to set up separate shelters for sick evacuees or anyone who is found to have a high temperature.

Natanz nuclear facility fire ‘caused by sabotage,’ says Iranian official

by Middle East - Featured News Archives

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation has said an explosion last month that damaged the country’s Natanz nuclear facility was the result of “sabotage.”

“Security investigations confirm this was sabotage and what is certain is that an explosion took place in Natanz,” spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Sunday, 23rd August.

“But how this explosion took place and with what materials … will be announced by security officials in due course,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The Natanz uranium enrichment site, much of which is underground, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran’s top security body said after the blast on July 2 that the cause had been determined but would be announced later “for security reasons”. Officials said the incident had caused significant damage that could slow the development of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.

Some Iranian officials have previously said the explosion may have been the result of cyber-sabotage, warning that Tehran would retaliate against any country carrying out such attacks.

An article by Iran’s state news agency IRNA in July addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.

Israeli officials declined to comment on Sunday.

Natanz is the centrepiece of Iran’s enrichment programme, which Tehran says is only for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe it had a coordinated, clandestine nuclear arms programme that it halted in 2003.

Tehran denies ever seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of most international sanctions in a deal reached between Tehran and six world powers in 2015.

But Tehran has gradually reduced its commitments to the accord since US President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed and intensified sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy.

The deal only allows Iran to enrich uranium at Natanz facility, with just over 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges.

On Monday, IAEA head Rafael Mariano Grossi will visit Iran for the first time since taking up the role in December last year.

The IAEA said in a statement Grossi will address Iran’s cooperation with the agency, particularly access for its inspectors to certain sites.

“My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access,” Grossi said.

“I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian government which will be valuable now and in the future.”

Beirut explosion: Lebanon faces humanitarian emergency

by Middle East - Featured News Archives

The explosion in Beirut is further straining the health system and food supplies, as well as risking the country’s COVID-19 response. 

Lebanon faces a humanitarian emergency following the explosion on Aug 4, 2020, of more than 2000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port that has added severe strain to a health system already buckling under an economic crisis, civil unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the hosting of some 1.5 million refugees in a country of about 6 million people.

The blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6,000, and left 300 000 homeless. On Aug 10, soon after rejecting an international inquiry into the explosion’s cause, the government resigned amid rising anger and protests demanding the removal of the political elite and an end to corruption, bad governance, and mismanagement.

International donors pledged 253 million euros in aid at a summit arranged by France on Aug 9, but they also called on the Lebanese Government to listen to demands for reform made by protesters.

WHO said three hospitals were non-functional and another two suffered substantial damage. In addition, 17 containers with essential medical supplies and a recently delivered shipment of personal protective equipment to tackle COVID-19 were destroyed at the port.

“WHO is deeply concerned about the hospital and health workforce capacity, supplies of medicine, and chemical fumes which might have a harmful impact on the health of people with underlying conditions”, the agency said in a donor alert issued on Aug 6.

Officials estimate that the explosion caused up to US$15 billion of damage. Damage to the port was expected to exacerbate the economic and food security situation because the port was a major entry point for aid, and Lebanon imports 80–85% of its food. According to the UN World Food Programme, even before the explosion, 50% of Lebanese people surveyed said that they were worried about not having enough to eat.

“It’s a catastrophe, it’s incomprehensible. Everyone is traumatised and there is a big mental health impact”, Iman Nuwayhid, dean of the faculty of health sciences at the American University of Beirut (Beirut, Lebanon).

Lebanon reportedly has enough doctors and nurses but is facing shortages of medical supplies, even before the blast, because of an economic crisis over the past few months, according to Karam Karam, a clinical professor of medicine at the American University of Beirut. A devaluation of about 80% in the Lebanese pound and bank controls on foreign currency meant that imports of medicines and equipment had become much more costly. “People are dying because they don’t have shelter or money to pay for health care”, he said. “Everyone blames the criminal and corrupt junta that rules us.”

Before the explosion, 75% of Lebanese people were in need of aid, 33% had lost their jobs, and 1 million people were living below the poverty line, and these numbers were considered likely to rise.

COVID-19 is posing a further burden – more than 6,000 cases and 78 deaths had been recorded by the health ministry as of Aug 8. There could be a spike in cases because many health and rescue workers responding to the explosion, as well as protesters, have not observed social distancing or worn masks.

While the resources of many hospitals were being directed towards the casualties of the explosion, the capacity to deal with COVID-19 should not be lost, urged Firass Abiad, the general manager of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital (the main Lebanese Government hospital charged with managing the epidemic), in a tweet on Aug 6.

There was also concern about the impact on health caused by the chemicals released by the explosion. “The main long-term hazard is from combustion products such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic”, Roy Harrison, Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Birmingham. More immediately, the main health hazard was from the formation of particulate matter that causes reductions in lung function and symptom exacerbation in people with asthma, he said.

Helicopter pilot killed in California wildfires

by Americas - Breaking News

A helicopter pilot involved in fighting fires in California died yesterday (19th August) when the aircraft crashed near Coalinga, authorities said.

According to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Ian Gregory, the Bell UH-1 helicopter was helping to fight the Hills Fire when it crashed around 10 a.m., about 11 miles south of New Coalinga Municipal Airport, the Fresno Bee reported.

In a statement, Cal Fire said the helicopter crashed while it was on a water-dropping mission on the Hills Fire in western Fresno County. The blaze has been burning in the area since Saturday and has consumed 1,500 acres and is 35% contained, KGO reported. Winds of 26 mph have been clocked in the area, with gusts to 35 mph.

The impact of the helicopter crash ignited a new brush fire, Gregory told reporters.

The pilot, who was not identified, was the only person aboard the helicopter, according to Cal Fire officials.

“There was one person on board, they did not survive,” Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant told the Los Angeles Times.

Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Botti said the department’s search and rescue team assisted in the search for survivors, the Bee reported.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB in charge of determining the probable cause of the crash, the newspaper reported.

According to fire officials, 50 structures have burned down in Vacaville, with another 50 damaged by the fire.

“We are experiencing fires the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years,” Governor Newsom told reporters.

The blazes are thought to have been sparked by a heatwave combined with nearly 11,000 lightning strikes which have hit the state over the last three days.

Earlier this week, one of the highest ever temperatures on Earth was recorded in California’s Death Valley. Across the US western states on Wednesday, nearly 45 million people were living in areas under some form of excessive heat warning or heat advisory.

Mr Newsom said 367 known fires have been recorded so far, but noted that “the prospect of that going up is very real”.

“As those lightning strikes spark, as you have a lot of smoke, you have a difficult time determining total number of fires until certain things clear and we have the opportunity to go to more remote parts of the state,” he added.

The group of fires in the San Francisco Bay Area was driven by winds throughout Tuesday night and has now grown to 46,000 uncontained acres.

The fire, which is larger than city of Washington DC, has injured four people and threatens about 2,000 buildings in Vacaville, authorities say.

At least 100 killed and 4,000 injured in Beirut explosion

by Middle East - Breaking News

The head of Lebanon’s Red Cross, George Kettaneh, said at least 100 people were killed and more than 4,000 were wounded in the Beirut explosion yesterday (4th August), adding the toll could rise further.

Video footage shows the moment a building exploded, sending a huge shockwave across the city that was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus – more than 125 miles (200km) away.

Lebanon’s prime minister has called for a day of mourning today (5th August), saying that his country was experiencing “a real catastrophe” and said those responsible would pay the price.

He tweeted that Tuesday’s blast was caused by more than 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left unsecured at a warehouse near the city’s port for six years.

Cars are upturned and streets covered in shattered glass and twisted metal, with homes and businesses reduced to rubble.

Lebanon’s internal security chief, Abbas Ibrahim, also said the blast may have been caused by explosive material confiscated from a ship and stored at the port.

California ‘Apple Fire’ forces thousands to evacuate

by Americas - Featured News

California fire services are currently battling a massive wildfire that has forced thousands of people from their homes east of Los Angeles.

More than 1,300 firefighters, backed by helicopters and water-dumping planes, have been tackling the blaze dubbed the Apple Fire which started on Friday 31st July.

Parts of the fire are on steep, rugged hillsides, making it hard for fire engines to reach.

Around 7,800 residents have been told to evacuate the area.

Images show flumes of smoke filling the sky over the mountainous region. In a tweet, the National Weather Service said some smoke had blown east to Phoenix, Arizona – nearly 300 miles (482km) away.

The wildfire began as two adjacent blazes in Cherry Valley, an area near the city of Beaumont.

It has since stretched out to 20,516 acres (8,302 hectares), San Bernadino National Forest said in a tweet on Sunday 2nd August.