Continue reading »]]> Mexico — Twenty-nine children were killed and more than 100 others were injured Friday when their day care center caught fire in the northwestern state of Sonora, a spokesman for the state’s governor said.

The victims were from 1 to 5 years old, said Jose Larrinaga, the spokesman.

The fire appeared to have started at 3 p.m. in a warehouse next door to the one-story concrete building that housed the state-run ABC Daycare and spread to the state-run institution, news reports said.

By then, many children had already been picked up by their parents from the one-story building. But others came after the blaze had been put out, with parents screaming their children’s names as others fainted.

In a message of condolence, President Felipe Calderon wished a quick recovery for the injured, who were taken to several area hospitals. He also called on the nation’s attorney general to investigate the fire.

Authorities dispatched 15 specialists in reconstruction and three air ambulances to the area along with respirators and specialized medicines, and a U.S. hospital will help treat some of the victims. Video Watch chaos in aftermath of tragedy »

Admissions will begin Saturday, said Catherine Curran, a spokeswoman for Shriners Hospitals for Children in Sacramento, California.

Shriners Hospitals is a health care system that gives children free treatment for burns, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic conditions, and cleft lip and palate, according to its Web site. It admits children under 18.

The first hospital opened in 1922. The system has burn units in Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati Ohio; and Sacramento, California.

29 children die in Mexico day care center fire

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Continue reading »]]> A twin-engine plane crashed in western Nevada Saturday afternoon, killing all five people on board, authorities said.

Witnesses saw the plane nosedive in the town of Gardnerville at about 4:10 p.m. (7:10 p.m. ET), but there was no fire, said Sgt. Jim Halsey of the Douglas County sheriff’s office.

Three of the passengers killed were identified as Paul Dallas, 43; Leia Denner, 40; and Brent Fahey, 30; all of Nevada. The fourth passenger and the pilot would not be named until their families were told, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities believe all five occupants died of blunt force trauma.

The six-seat plane had taken off from Minden-Tahoe Airport — about 5 miles south of Gardnerville, Halsey said.

Witnesses said they did not hear any mechanical distress noises from the plane, nor did they see any parts separate from the plane before the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials said the plane appeared to fly normally until it crashed about 10 minutes after takeoff.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. Teams will inspect the crash site Sunday

5 killed in Nevada plane crash

Continue reading »]]> Emergency teams on Sunday were assessing damage from deadly storms that devastated parts of Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia this weekend — even as the threat of more severe weather continued.

The storm that tore through Madison County, Kentucky, on Friday was a category EF-3 tornado, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

An EF-3 is the third-strongest category of tornado, with winds of 136 to 165 mph, strong enough to destroy large buildings and lift cars off the ground.

At least one person was killed by that storm, with several other serious injuries. A waste water treatment plant was destroyed, two fire departments sustained major roof damage and some manufacturing facilities were damaged, local authorities said.

Three people were killed in southern Missouri during high winds, thunderstorms and flash floods. A couple was killed when a tree fell on their car on a highway near Poplar Bluff. A man died of a heart attack near Springfield when winds tossed him and his wife into an open field, officials said.

A weekend of storming in West Virginia destroyed as many as 400 buildings and severely damaged an additional 1,000, said Rob Jelacic of the West Virginia Office of Emergency Services.

“We are in recovery mode,” Jelacic said Sunday.

There were no known deaths in West Virginia from the storms.

After the storms came floods. On Sunday, parts of the Meramec and Big rivers were rising feet above flood levels, causing residents already hit by the storms to seek higher ground.

Forecasters expected the Meramec to crest Monday 4 to 8 feet above flood state in St. Louis County. The big river was expected to crest a half-foot higher on Monday than it did Sunday.

Deadly storms rip through Midwest, South

Continue reading »]]> Fog and light winds were helping contain a wildfire that had ravaged parts of Southern California and scorched nearly 9,000 acres, authorities said late Saturday.

Mandatory evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings in some areas in Santa Barbara County and the blaze was 40 percent contained, officials said in a news release.

The fire, which started Tuesday, had destroyed or damaged about 80 homes and buildings. Nearly 50,000 people had been evacuated, and 18 firefighters had been injured, officials said.

Cool ocean breezes, increased humidity and lack of heavy winds helped tame the fire.

“All of those together really gave us the opportunity to get in there and make a difference,” according to Fire Chief Tom Davis of Santa Barbara County, who said he thought more progress would be made by Sunday morning.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

The blaze comes about six months after another wildfire — the Tea Fire — destroyed about 200 homes in the area.

Weather helps fight against California fire – CNN.com

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This video is a series of shots of the Jesucita Fire in Santa Barbara, California on May 6, 2009. All of this footage was shot from downtown Santa Barbara only a few blocks from State Street and within walking distance to the ocean.- Scubaman5000

Continue reading »]]> Firefighters wary of unpredictable “sundowner” winds fought on Thursday to keep a wildfire that destroyed dozens of multimillion-dollar homes from burning through the city of Santa Barbara.

Although there were no further reports on Thursday of houses lost in the foothills above Santa Barbara, crews were on alert because the hot, dry winds notoriously pick up speed at sunset. Officials said about 3,500 homes remained threatened.

Some 15,000 people have been driven from their homes by the so-called Jesusita fire. It has also injured 10 firefighters and blackened at least 1,300 acres surrounding the picturesque seaside community since it ignited on Tuesday.

Calmer winds late Thursday afternoon gave firefighters the chance to make headway against the blaze, which was edging toward the more populated downtown area.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has spent recent days promoting wildfire safety throughout the state, visited the site of the first major fire of the year and said dozens of homes have been destroyed.

STUDENTS TRAPPED IN BACK-COUNTRY

“I didn’t want to lose my home. It’s that simple,” homeowner Albert Lindemann told KTLA-TV news, adding that his house ultimately was saved by firefighters who arrived just in time.

“I thought we were going to die,” he said. “Until I started seeing those firemen coming in there, I didn’t think any human being could be out there.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that search and rescue teams saved a group of middle-school students who had been camping in the backcountry and found themselves cut off by the fire.

Authorities said rugged terrain, thick brush and gale-force winds made it difficult to control the blaze. Winds died down overnight, allowing an aerial assault by water-dropping helicopters to continue round-the-clock.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County on Wednesday, a move that frees up additional funds and equipment. The firefighting force also was beefed up overnight, growing from more than 900 personnel to about 1,400, with additional helicopters and airplanes joining the battle.

Three firefighters whose engine was overrun by flames on Wednesday while they struggled to save a home were reported to be in serious condition at a Los Angeles burn center but were expected to recover.

In southern Arizona, fire teams said they were working to contain a blaze that torched three homes and burned 4,000 acres of mountainous grass and woodlands southeast of Tucson in recent days.

“The fire is not advancing,” Jonetta Holt, a spokeswoman for the incident management team said of the blaze near the city of Sierra Vista. “We have a line around it and we are working to secure it.”

In November, more than 200 homes were destroyed in Santa Barbara and the surrounding communities in a brush fire that was blamed on a bonfire started by local students.

Videos

• Jesucita Fire in Santa Barbara
• California WildFire May 2009

California wildfire unchecked as night falls

Continue reading »]]> A U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter, designed to be the world’s top air-superiority aircraft, crashed Wednesday near Edwards Air Force Base, California, while on a test mission, an Air Force official said.

The Lockheed Martin Corp -built F-22 went down about 10 a.m. Central Time about 35 miles northeast of Edwards, where it had been based, said Maj. Michelle Coghill, a spokeswoman for the Air Combat Command.

“It was a test mission,” she said, citing preliminary information. She said the condition of the lone pilot was not immediately known. An investigation would take place, Coghill said.

Lockheed F-22 fighter crashes in California

Continue reading »]]> An Alaskan volcano 100 miles (160km) south-west of the state’s largest city, Anchorage, erupted overnight, sending a plume of smoke up to 15,000 metres (50,000ft) into the air.

Mount Redoubt experienced four large explosions late on Sunday and early today, according to geologists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The observatory has issued a red alert, meaning eruption is imminent or under way, with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere likely.

The current wind patterns are taking the ash cloud away from Anchorage and instead heading toward Willow and Talkneetna, two communities near Mount McKinley, North America’s largest mountain in Denali national park.

Geophysicist John Power said no cities have yet reported any ash-fall from the volcano, but noted that it was still early.

Using radar and satellite technology, the National Weather Service (NWS) is predicting ash to start falling later today .

Dave Stricklan, a hydrometeorogical technician with the NWS, said he expected very fine ash: “Just kind of a light dusting”. He said the significant amount of ash probably dropped immediately, right down the side of the volcano.

“The heavier stuff drops out very quickly, and then the other stuff filters out. There’s going to be a very fine amount of it that’s going to be suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time, but nothing to really affect anything such as aviation travel.”

Redoubt is a steep-sided cone-shaped volcano, about 6 miles in diameter, which last erupted nearly 20 years ago.

Observatory geologists monitored the eruption and posted updates in real-time last night. At 10.35pm, they reported: “At these heightened levels of seismicity, there could be a quick escalation to eruptive activity.”

Three minutes later, the first explosion took place, followed by a second about 20 minutes later. The third occurred 15 minutes after midnight and the final explosion was registered at 1.39am.

Geologists noted an increase in seismic activity at the volcano last week. Last Monday they reported a small explosion and “plume of gas and ash that rose to about 15,000ft above sea level” did not herald a significant eruption in the short term, but added: “Conditions may evolve rapidly.”

Alaskan volcano Mount Redoubt erupts

Continue reading »]]> BUTTE, Mont. — A small plane — possibly carrying children on a ski trip — crashed Sunday as it approached the Butte airport, killing 14 to 17 people aboard, a federal official said. The single engine turboprop nose-dived into a cemetery 500 feet from its destination.

The aircraft crashed and burned while attempting to land, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus. The plane crashed in Holy Cross Cemetery.

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board offered few details at a press conference in Butte Sunday night. No cause of the crash was given.

“We are just beginning our investigation,” said Kristi Dunks. “We don’t have a lot of information at this time.

“Certain family members were contacted,” she said. “At this point, I don’t have an exact number.”

The aircraft had departed from Oroville, Calif., and the pilot had filed a flight plan showing a destination of Bozeman, about 85 miles southeast of Butte. But the pilot canceled his flight plan at some point and headed for Butte, Fergus said.

Preliminary reports indicate the dead include numerous children, he said. There were no known fatalities on the ground, he added.

“We think that it was probably a ski trip for the kids,” Fergus said.

Martha and Steve Guidoni, who were at a gas station across from the cemetery, told the Standard that the plane “just nose-dived into the ground.”

“My husband went over there to see if he could do anything,” Martha Guidoni said.

Fergus said the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft was manufactured in 2001. Such planes are certified to carry 12 people.

The plane was registered to Eagle Cap Leasing Inc. in Enterprise, Ore., Fergus said. He didn’t know who was operating the plane.

I. Felkamp is listed in Oregon corporate records as Eagle Cap’s president. Attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful.

The flight originated at Brown Field Municipal airport in San Diego on Saturday evening and flew to Redlands, Calif., where it left Sunday morning for Vacaville, Calif., according to Flight Aware, a Web site that tracks air traffic. From there it flew to Oroville, Calif., and then to Butte. The NTSB could not confirm that information.

“We are still gathering the information of the aircraft, it’s purpose, what they were doing and where they were going,” Dunks said.

In California, Tom Hagler said he saw a group of about a dozen children and four adults Sunday morning at the Oroville Municipal Airport, about 70 miles north of Sacramento.

Hagler, owner of Table Mountain Aviation, described the children as ranging from about 6- to 10 year olds. He let the children into his building to use the restroom.

“There were a lot of kids in the group,” he said. “A lot of really cute kids.”

Hagler said he showed the pilot where he could fuel his plane, and the pilot said he expected his flight to take two-and-a-half hours. The pilot didn’t file a flight plan at the Oroville airport.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said its investigators were expected to arrive in Butte late Sunday or early Monday.

The crash is the fourth major plane accident in the U.S. in slightly more than three months.

On Dec. 20, Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at Denver International Airport, injuring 37 people. No one was killed. In January, a US Airways jetliner landed in New York’s Hudson River after a flock of geese disabled both its engines. All 155 people onboard survived. Last month, commuter plane fell on a house in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 passengers and a man in the home.

Before the Buffalo crash there hadn’t been an accident involving a commercial airliner in the U.S. in which there were fatalities in more than two years.

The Associated Press: