World News

The ‘extraordinary’ growth of Park fire raises alarms

Published

1 month ago

July 27, 2024

Just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, as temperatures in Butte County simmered around 106 degrees, a man pushed a burning car down a gully in Chico in what authorities say was an act of arson.

Within minutes, the flaming vehicle ignited tall grasses that had sprung up in the wake of a wet winter but dried out in recent weeks. Soon, live oak trees and grapevine were burning, and wind-driven embers were shooting down canyons and the along ridges of the Lassen foothills, catching new vegetation as they touched down.

By nightfall, the Park fire had grown to 6,000 acres, and by the following morning its size had expanded sevenfold. As of Saturday, the fire had surpassed 307,000 acres — the largest so far this year in California — with no containment and few signs of slowing down.

Experts say the fire’s explosive growth is due to a perfect storm of hot, dry conditions, combustible vegetation and a landscape that hasn’t burned in decades. The remote terrain has made it challenging for crews to gain access to the blaze’s swelling perimeter, and the firefight could be long and arduous as they struggle to gain a foothold.

“This is really the first fire in the past several years in California that I would call extraordinary — and that’s not a good thing,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA, said in a briefing. “This fire is a big deal, and it has done some pretty incredible things.”

Indeed, the fire and its massive smoke plume have already exhibited rare and erratic behavior, including “super-cell thunderstorm-like characteristics” replete with large-scale rotations, Swain said. On Thursday, footage captured by AlertCalifornia wildfire cameras appeared to show the blaze spewing tornado-like vortices, sometimes referred to as fire-whirls or firenados.

“At this point the fire is kind of creating its own weather, and that can be pretty unpredictable,” said Courtney Carpenter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “Really big, explosive wildfires can create thunderstorms; they can make whirling fire plumes that can mimic tornadoes.”

The Park fire’s thunderstorm characteristics haven’t yet sparked lightning — though Carpenter said that’s still possible given its “explosive fire growth” and extreme behaviors. She noted that smoke from the blaze has already reached Oregon.

Fortunately, the fire’s rapid rate of spread has so far marched it north and east — stretching across northern Butte County and a growing portion of Tehama County — into a relatively remote mixture of grass, brush and timber and away from the threatened communities of Cohasset and Forest Ranch. But Swain said it is almost certain to become several times larger than it currently is, and will probably be a several-hundred-thousand-acre fire before it is contained.

“This is a fire we’re going to have with us for weeks, if not months,” he said. “This may be one of those fires that starts in midsummer and burns into mid-autumn … and it could end up posing more of a threat to communities later on.”

The fire has already carved a path of destruction. Chief Garrett Sjolund, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Butte County unit, said “numerous structures” have been burned, including 134 buildings destroyed and an additional 4,000 under threat.

Ignited within Chico’s city limits, the fire has had an overwhelming favorable path, experts said— pushed by dry, southerly winds that moved it away from the city center.

However, officials have been worried about the community of Cohasset, where they initially feared a repeat of the 2018 Camp fire, which razed the nearby community of Paradise and killed 85 people — the deadliest wildfire on record in California. During that blaze, dozens of people were trapped on the area’s limited roadways while trying to escape.

“Cohasset was particularly concerning to us because … there is really only one way out and that is a narrow, windy road,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea. “It is hard to traverse, so we wanted to get those warnings out as quickly as we could.”

About 4,000 residents have been evacuated from Cohasset, Forest Ranch and parts of northeast Chico, along with several rural areas in southern Tehama County.

While the dry winds that drive fire weather conditions in the area typically come from the north, a less frequent pattern brought them from the south this week and sucked up all the Bay Area moisture they usually carry with them, said Carpenter, the weather service meteorologist.

“Things have been really dry for the last month — and hot — and that’s why we’re seeing those critical fire conditions,” she said.

The area was been under a red flag warning, signaling dangerous weather that supports rapid fire grow, both Thursday and Friday.

That pattern has pushed flames into wilderness that has been untouched by fire for decades, if not longer — making it ripe with thicker vegetation and dead and dying brush, which ignites easily and fast.

“There’s tremendous amounts of live and dead fuels,” said Dan Collins, a spokesperson for Cal Fire’s Butte Unit. He added that the Ishi Wilderness area and some parts of Cohasset “have zero to little fire history” on record.

The region’s rugged topography is hampering firefighting efforts, with steep cliffs, expansive canyons and few roadways throughout the national forest.

“That’s one of the big challenges, just getting folks [to the fire lines] due to the remote area,” Collins said.

The blaze isn’t the only Western wildfire of concern. Cal Fire is battling more than 20 active fires in the state, while crews in Canada are combating an 89,000-acre blaze in the Alberta province that has already leveled portions of the historic resort town of Jasper. Experts say many of the fires have been fueled by the persistent, record-setting heat wave that has blanketed the West for weeks.

Residents from the Chico area are watching the Park fire’s movements with anxiety.

“It’s been a pretty restless time for us,” said Don Hankins, a professor of geography and planning at Cal State Chico who is also on the Butte County Fire Safe Council.

The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve where he conducts much of his research has already burned, with cameras indicating that nearly all of its infrastructure has been lost, including an 1870s-era barn, Hankins said.

Though the blaze has some echoes of the Camp fire, the community of Cohasset has prepared in recent years for a potential fire, Hankins said, including fuel-reduction projects and prescribed burns to help clear some of the combustible material that lies between the town and the wildland.

“But unfortunately, with the wind on this, and the scale of these projects, it’s not necessarily enough to make a difference” if the fire continues to burn out of control, he said.

The days and weeks ahead are likely to see more acreage added to the fire as crews contend with rugged, volcanic topography and persistent hot and dry conditions.

“The outlook is that it’s not going to be easily contained,” Hankins said. “We’ve got a long season ahead of us before the rainy season comes, and that’s really going to be the ultimate thing to curtail any of these fires that are happening across the West right now.”

Sjolund, the fire chief in Butte County, said he’s hopeful an expected drop in temperatures and increase in humidity this weekend could assist in fighting the Park fire — and others across the region.

“It’s kind of a moving target with the way the weather patterns are coming in,” he said. “This fire is moving very rapidly and very quickly.”

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Indiana pair arrested for allegedly stealing bronze veteran burial markers from headstones

Published

4 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Landon Mion

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Two people are facing charges in Indiana in connection with a series of thefts of bronze veteran markers from headstones from various veteran burial locations in the Hoosier State.

Terry Wood, 53, and Breanna Puentez, 25, were taken into custody Friday after at least 15 grave markers from six different cemeteries in La Porte County last month were reported stolen while another was reportedly damaged, the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Both suspects are facing several felony counts of theft and cemetery mischief.

The sheriff’s office publicly announced the investigation into the stolen grave markers on Aug. 28 and urged residents to visit the grave sites of deceased veterans. The next day, the agency said investigators received credible information identifying a suspect.

FORMER INDIANA SHERIFF PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES OF SPENDING FUNDS ON TRAVEL, GIFTS, CARS

Terry Wood, 53, and Breanna Puentez, 25, are facing felony counts of theft and cemetery mischief. (La Porte County Sheriff’s Office)

Detective Jake Koch, a veteran himself, led the investigation, which revealed that the grave markers were taken from cemeteries in Union Mills, Rolling Prairie, Carmel, Pinola, Greenwood and St. Stan’s.

Investigators presented evidence to the La Porte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and later to La Porte County Circuit Court, where probable cause was found for Wood’s arrest.

The “Justice, Peace, and Salute” operation was executed Friday in the 400 block of Andrew Avenue in La Porte, where Wood was arrested, and additional evidence was collected.

The investigation revealed that the grave markers were taken from cemeteries in Union Mills, Rolling Prairie, Carmel, Pinola, Greenwood and St. Stan’s. (iStock)

Later that day, Puentez was taken into custody and charged in connection with the thefts.

“This type of criminal behavior is disgusting, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated in La Porte County! It is the hope of the entire Sheriff’s Office that because of the diligent and thorough investigation by Detectives Koch and Banic, justice will be served to both accused subjects. Hopefully, US Veterans, both deceased and living, can find peace and comfort with these arrests, and with that, we salute them for their service,” Capt. Derek J. Allen said in a statement.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED AFTER STABBING OF TEEN GIRL AT INDIANA BASEBALL GAME: POLICE

Both suspects were booked into the La Porte County Jail. (iStock)

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Both suspects were booked into the La Porte County Jail.

Wood is being held on a $15,005 cash-only bond, while Puentez is not eligible for bond because she was out on bond.

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World News

Wordle Answer for Today, September 10, 2024

Published

5 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Emily Long

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for September 10, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for September 10, Wordle #1,179! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

There are four common letters from our mnemonic today. The fifth letter is fairly common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

As a noun, a person in opposition, with or without a cause.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There is one repeated letter today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel, used twice.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with R.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with L.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is REBEL.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, followed by PYLON to eliminate likely consonants. This left a few possible solutions, of which REBEL was the most common word.

Wordle 1,179 4/6

🟩⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was easier. The hint was “a type of card you carry in your wallet” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was DEBIT.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)
Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

CRANE
TRACE
SLANT
CRATE
CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

SALET
REAST
TRACE
CRATE
SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another
Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.
Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.
Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.
Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

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World News

Israeli strikes kill 40 in Khan Younis, Hamas-run authorities say

Published

8 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Rushdi Abu Alouf

At least 40 people have been killed in southern Gaza and dozens more injured in Israeli strikes on a designated humanitarian zone, the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority said.

The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked an operations centre in Khan Younis belonging to Hamas fighters, and that it had taken steps to mitigate risk of harming civilians.

Local residents said three strikes targeted tents housing displaced people in the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, west of the city of Khan Younis, causing huge craters.

“Forty people were killed and more than 60 injured, while many are still under the rubble,” the operations director of Hamas’s civil defence authority told the BBC.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC large explosions rocked the al-Mawasi area shortly after midnight and flames could be seen rising into the sky.

Khaled Mahmoud, a volunteer for a charity who lives near the site of the strikes, said he and other volunteers rushed to help but were stunned by the scale of the disaster.

“The strikes created three craters seven metres deep and buried more than 20 tents,” Mr Mahmoud said.

Unverified videos showed civilians digging through the sand with their hands in an attempt to rescue Palestinians from a deep hole caused by the airstrikes.

Posting on Telegram, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said it had attacked “key terrorists of the terrorist organisation Hamas who were operating in a command and control complex disguised in the humanitarian area in Khan Younis”.

“Prior to the attack, many measures were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, air strikes and additional intelligence information,” the spokesperson added.

“This is another example of the systematic use by the terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip of the population and civilian infrastructure, including the humanitarian space, for the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts against the State of Israel and the IDF forces.”

Hamas rejected the Israeli military’s claims that there were Hamas fighters present in the area, calling it a “blatant” lie.

“The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or using these places for military purposes.”

Thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to Khan Younis since Israel launched its military campaign in the territory last October.

The ground operation was launched in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 40,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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