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sábado, 26 de maio de 2012

Wildfire burns nearly 20,000 acres in Michigan

Eyewitness NewsNEWBERRY, Mich. -- A fast-moving wildfire fed by dry conditions in Michigan's Upper Peninsula continued to burn Friday, consuming nearly 20,000 acres and prompting evacuations of homes and sections of a state park, officials said.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said the blaze it's calling the Duck Lake Fire was in an area of Luce County north of Newberry that includes Lake Superior State Forest land. It was detected Wednesday after a lightning strike and intensified Thursday, scorching the tops of jack pine trees as flames hurtled northward.

The fire nearly doubled in size overnight and reached Lake Superior's southern shore Friday, said Ed Golder, DNR spokesman. It was being compared to the Sleeper Lake Fire of 2007, which burned more than 18,000 acres in the same area.

"The whole sky is just smoke," said Beverly Holmes, Newberry village manager, who was driving on a highway east of town. "It's like a heavy fog."

No injuries were reported. Golder said more than 40 structures were threatened and six had been lost. It wasn't immediately clear whether they were homes or outbuildings.

Homes were evacuated in the Pike Lake area, but it wasn't immediately clear how many. Sections of Tahquamenon Falls State Park also were evacuated, including a campground and trail with views of a 50-foot-high waterfall that is one of the Upper Peninsula's most popular tourist attractions. The DNR urged visitors to avoid the area during the Memorial Day weekend.

Authorities warned motorists to use caution as heavy smoke blew across roads.

Crews also have been fighting a second fire at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in neighboring Schoolcraft County that was started Sunday by a lightning strike. The Seney fire, located west of the Duck Lake Fire, had burned about 3,400 acres, or roughly 5 square miles, as of Friday.

At the Duck Lake Fire, crews used tractor plows, bulldozers, fire engines and other vehicles. In addition to dozens of DNR firefighters, crews from several departments in the area were sent to help. Aircraft were scooping up water from inland lakes to drop on the flames, Holmes said.

"The wind has been the problem," she said. "Every time it picks up and changes direction, it changes where the fire is headed."

People evacuated from the Duck Lake Fire were sent to a shelter at a youth center in Newberry. Nearly 40 had checked in, said Jeff Selesky, emergency services program manager for the U.P. chapter of the American Red Cross, which provided food and other assistance.

"Some of them are a little disoriented and confused," Selesky said. "They have images of possibly losing their property, their homes."

Amy Witherspoon, 41, said firefighters knocked on her door Thursday and ordered her family to leave their Pike Lake cabin. She got out safely with her 71-year-old father and her 19-year-old daughter, grabbing clothing, medicine and a few other belongings.

"There's a lot of sentimental things there," Witherspoon said of the cabin, which has been in her family for about 50 years. "We wish we had grabbed the pictures off the wall."

Witherspoon, who lives in the Lower Peninsula community of Lakeview, about 40 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, didn't know Friday morning whether the cabin had been damaged.

Area motels were full, and Selesky said many of those evacuated were staying with friends and relatives.

At the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, manager Mark Vaniman said the fire was about 70 percent contained. Some of the 95,000-acre refuge's roads and trails were closed, although Vaniman said a couple might reopen Saturday.

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quinta-feira, 17 de maio de 2012

Arizona wildfire nearly triples in size

Eyewitness NewsCROWN KING, Ariz. -- Fueled by high winds, a wildfire that has prompted the evacuation of a historic mining town in northern Arizona nearly tripled in size.

The fire in the Prescott National Forest grew to an estimated 5,400 acres, or nearly 8 1/2 square miles, Wednesday night - up from about 2,000 acres a day earlier.

High winds have helped fan the flames, and fire officials were expecting much of the same conditions for the next couple of days.

Most of Crown King's 350 residents had already evacuated their homes before Taryn Denyce finally left earlier Wednesday, feeling she had no other choice.

She didn't fear for her life, nor for the bed and breakfast she took over from her parents a few years ago that was being powered by a generator.

Instead, authorities mistakenly told her she could be arrested if she didn't leave, even if she was on her own property, Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said. When a sheriff's official showed up at her door in downtown Crown King and offered to help pack her truck, she reluctantly left.

"I felt I had no choice. I was raised a Catholic girl," said the 48-year-old retired nurse. "I follow the rules, and if he's telling me 'it's time to go Taryn,' it's time to go."

The winds were pushing the blaze away from the community of mostly summer homes about 85 miles north of Phoenix. But fire incident spokeswoman Michelle Fidler said winds could shift and push the fire back into the community where it started and possibly threaten some communications towers in the area.

Road access also is a concern. Fewer than 10 residents remain in their homes, D'Evelyn said, and they could become trapped if the flames cross or block access roads.

Firefighters also would be pulled out if that happens, Fidler said.

Most of the 350 residents initially chose to stay in the town that's popular for all-terrain vehicles because of its numerous hills and gorges. But D'Evelyn said sheriff's officials persuaded about 20 of the 30 residents still left early Wednesday morning to go - including Denyce.

"Most people have come down from the hill," he said. "We want them all down. We don't want to have to worry about anyone who doesn't need to be up there."

The fire has destroyed two homes and a trailer, and prompted an evacuation order on Sunday. The fire started at an occupied home, but fire investigators have yet to determine the cause. It remained 5 percent contained Wednesday.

Denyce gathered what she could from her home in 20 minutes and is now staying with a friend in Glendale. She said she would rather be protecting her property and trying to keep her business viable but now is prohibited from returning, as are other residents who have left.

"I have my daughter and my animals and I'm just happy we're out, but I don't think I was in imminent danger," she said.

Smoke from a larger fire that began Saturday south of Payson drifted into Phoenix over the weekend. U.S. Forest Service officials said the 12,500-acre blaze was burning in the high wilderness area of the Tonto National Forest and was 10 percent contained. No structures were threatened.

Another wildfire in the Tonto National Forest northeast of Young was at about 1,900 acres Wednesday but 15 percent contained. That fire was believed to be lightning-caused and wasn't threatening any structures.

The fires follow a warning from Arizona land managers that hot temperatures and dry vegetation have created a very high fire risk in some parts of the state.

In northern Colorado, 200 firefighters were battling a 1,000-acre blaze that is 5 percent contained. Two groups of residents have been told to prepare for evacuations, but no one has had to leave. The fire was within a quarter-mile of some homes.

The U.S. Forest Service says the fire was caused by humans. The investigation into how it started is continuing.

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sexta-feira, 15 de julho de 2011

Metrodome roof up again, nearly ready for Vikings

By DAVE CAMPBELLMINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings have a roof over their helmets once again.

Seven months after the Metrodome's Teflon-coated fiberglass ceiling collapsed in a snowstorm, forcing the Vikings to play their final two home games last season elsewhere, the new roof has been raised in plenty of time for the first preseason game.

Stadium officials and construction workers inflated the roof Wednesday morning as a test. No problems popped up, so the roof of the 29-year-old stadium will stay up while the finishing touches are put on a rebuilding project that began in March.

"There doesn't seem to be any issues whatsoever," said Ted Mondale, the chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the agency that operates the facility officially known as Mall of America Field.

The new roof sits a little lower than before, to better withstand strong winds and help prevent snow from piling up in drifts. But it still sports the puffy, muffin-top look that frames the east side of the downtown Minneapolis skyline. The 10-acre surface, just one-16th of an inch thick, is held up by several 100-horsepower fans.

MSFC director of facilities and engineering Steve Maki sat in the football press box as the roof was quietly and steadily lifted to full height in about 45 minutes. Workers with poles watched from the upper deck to make sure the inner lining didn't snag on the way up. Five others kept watch on top, casting silhouettes in the morning sun as they walked back and forth.

Most of the construction work should be done by Aug. 1, which will trigger a $500,000 bonus for Amherst, N.Y.-based contractor Birdair Inc., the company that also designed and installed the original roof. The project cost $22.7 million, including $18 million for the roof itself, and it's covered by the MSFC's insurance.

The artificial turf was also damaged when the roof broke open and snow poured in, and that might have to be replaced, too, but Maki said that work, if necessary, would be done by Aug. 18. The surface, installed just last summer, has been covered in plywood during the project. Bids are in, and Maki said a decision on whether new turf is needed will be made by the end of next week.

The Vikings are scheduled to play their first home preseason game on Aug. 27, assuming the NFL lockout is over. Vikings vice president for public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley said the team is appreciative of the work.

"We're going to get our home-field advantage back," Bagley said.

The roof collapsed after a storm that brought 17 inches of snow in a 24-hour span and high winds that prevented stadium workers from clearing the roof. No one was hurt, but the Vikings were forced to shift home games to Detroit's Ford Field and then to the University of Minnesota, losing both times.

It was the fourth roof collapse at the facility, but the first since 1983.

Enough damage was done that the entire roof needed to be replaced, rather than just the damaged diamond-shaped panels. Under the new roof, some of the dinginess is gone and the inner lining is smaller, allowing more sunlight. New acoustical panels were also hung from the roof to improve the stadium's sound quality.

Mondale credited Maki for his leadership of the project.

Workers, who endured 100-degree-plus heat on the roof plus plenty of rain and wind over the last four months, appeared to enjoy themselves. A paper airplane was even spotted flying through one of the vent holes.

The Vikings don't plan to play under their new roof for long, though.

They're in the final year of their lease at the Metrodome, actively seeking a new stadium in Arden Hills, a suburb north of downtown. That effort has been stymied in part by the state's budget deficit and government shutdown, an impasse between Gov.

Mark Dayton, a Democrat, and the Republican-majority Legislature.

"We're going to need to raise revenue to do this, and there really hasn't been a lot of synergy on how that would happen at this point," Mondale said. "So we're waiting. But we're working.

We're being creative, and we're being solution-focused. I think there's still a pretty good shot that we'll have a good proposal ready for the elected leaders to take a look at - and hopefully in the right timeframe. I know the governor wants to get this done. He wants to get this done this year."

The Vikings have been waiting for a budget deal to be struck first.

"Once that comes together, we're confident that we'll be ready and be in position to have a good discussion about a stadium solution," Bagley said.

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sábado, 2 de julho de 2011

Girl nearly loses leg in shark attack in NC

Mindy Bloom, Eyewitness NewsNORTH CAROLINA (WABC) -- Just in time for one of the busiest beach weekends of the year, there was a terrifying shark attack in North Carolina.

10-year-old Cassidy Cartwright survived a vicious encounter with a shark last weekend.

Cassidy and her parents were swimming in about three and a half feet of murky water, when the little girl felt something bump up against her.

"I felt something pulling on my leg, it didn't hurt at first, it pulled me down and it hurt," Cassidy said.

"When he pulled her out of the water, her leg was just wide open, and it was just a lot of blood," said Carolyn Cartwright, Cassidy's mother.

Fortunately, doctors were able to save Cassidy's leg.

As a memento of her ordeal, she saved a piece of the shark's tooth which was found buried in her leg.

child injured, u.s. & world news

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quinta-feira, 19 de maio de 2011

Citi awards CEO bonus plan worth nearly $23.4M

In this Nov. 25, 2008 file photo, a customer exits a Citibank branch in New York. The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 reported the U.S. government could wind up holding as much as a 40 percent stake in Citigroup by converting preferred stock it has purchased in the bank in recent months into common stock. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, file)

NEW YORK -- Citigroup Inc. says it is awarding CEO Vikram Pandit a multi-year bonus package that could be worth $23.4 million if the bank meets a series of performance objectives.

First, the New York bank says Pandit was granted deferred stock valued at $10 million. He will receive the stock in three equal installments at the end of 2013, 2104 and 2015, if the goals are met.

Second, Pandit will receive up to $6.7 million in cash as part of a profit sharing plan, as long as the bank earns $12 billion for 2011 and 2012 combined.

Finally, he will get a total of 500,000 stock options with a fair value up to $6.5 million.

Pandit received a $1 salary and no bonus or stock awards in 2010.

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