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In The
News
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1. Home? Not yet
Whether
they rebuild or move, fire victims' ordeal lingers long after the smoke
clears.
December 11, 2005
By Ann Perry, Special to The Times
FOR some Southern Californians, the notion of being home for the holidays
is a particularly poignant wish — the same one they had last year. Although the
ashes from the disastrous wildfires that swept from San Bernardino to San Diego
counties two years ago have long turned cold, many fire victims are still trying
to put their lives back together.
Those who lose homes face a tough choice: Rebuild and manage a daunting
construction project while making do in temporary quarters, or move on and start
anew?
[more
HERE]
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2. Forest fundint
Tree removal gets a
boost
Dec 25, 2005
The red pine needles may be mostly gone, but the
lingering fire threat in the San Bernardino National Forest and to surrounding
mountain communities is not.
Hundreds of thousands of dead and dying trees, stricken by drought and
bark beetles, remain two years after the Old Fire burned down a thousand homes.
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3. Summit on emergencies, preparedness opens
dialogue
Joe Nelson, SB Sun Staff Writer
Dec 2, 2005
COLTON - Earthquakes. Fires.
Floods.
Residents of San Bernardino County probably already know how
vulnerable the area is to all three.
The 7.3 magnitude Landers trembler in 1992, the Old Fire in October 2002
[sic] and the subsequent Christmas Day Flood two months later in Waterman
Canyon, which killed 16 people, proved it.
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4. Feds pooling wildfire resources
West won't be
shortchanged for air tankers, officials say
Arthur H. Rotstein, The
Associated Press
Jan 13, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. -- There will be sufficient air tankers, helicopters and
other firefighting resources to battle what could be a severe wildfire season in
the West, federal officials say.
Fewer single-engine air tankers will be reserved for full-time
firefighting use, but more will be called up on an as-needed basis, a top
Agriculture Department official said.
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Press Enterprise has an entire series on Wildfires in Inland
Empire
Scroll to bottom to read stories and "Re-live the firestorms through slide
shows, photo galleries, reproductions of Press-Enterprise front pages, stories
and a Flash animation."
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5. Better planning could cut fire
danger
PREVENTION: With millions of dead trees still in the
forest, zoning should be more strict, experts say.
07:06 AM PST on Friday, January 13, 2006
By BEN GOAD / The Press-Enterprise
Better recognition of the Inland area's vulnerability is needed among the
region's planners and builders to prevent a repeat of the devastating 2003
firestorms, participants of a three-day fire-prevention summit concluded.
Dozens of firefighters, forest managers and community leaders from
Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties discussed their findings at the
culmination of Living with Fire in Chaparral Ecosystems, a conference held in
Riverside.
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6. Residents say they won't flee from
fires
CONFERENCE: Officials express concern that some mountain
residents plan to "shelter-in-place."
07:40 AM PST on Thursday, January 12, 2006
By BEN GOAD and JENNIFER BOWLES / The Press-Enterprise
Judy Ritter thought the evacuations called during the Old Fire in 2003 came
too early and lasted too long. The fire, she said, never even came close to her
Angelus Oaks home.
Next time, she said, she and her husband will probably stay put, or as some
call it "shelter-in-place," an emerging notion that people can survive an
encroaching fire if their yards and homes are properly prepared to prevent
flames from licking the home.
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7. Fire officials map preparedness plan
STRATEGY:
The campaign for statewide uniform training and equipment faces fiscal hurdles.
12:33 AM PST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By DUANE W. GANG / The Press-Enterprise
SAN DIEGO - To better respond to major wildfires, California should
standardize firefighter training and encourage local fire departments to
consolidate and create regional agencies, the state's top fire officials told a
legislative committee Tuesday.
With the state's extensive system of mutual aid, uniform training and
better communication will allow firefighters to more quickly and aggressively
tackle blazes, said Dale Geldert, director of the California Department of
Forestry and Fire Prevention.
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8. City plans new crisis center
HEMET: A new
emergency operations command post should be in place within months, authorities
say.
12:15 AM PST on Friday, December 2, 2005
By HERBERT ATIENZA / The Press-Enterprise
HEMET - In a major emergency such as an earthquake, flood or rioting, Hemet
officials will direct security, relief and recovery operations from a central
emergency operations center.
At a time when every second counts, however, getting the center up and
running could take up to three hours, as crews haul out equipment from disparate
locations, including a rooftop storage room where phone, data and power lines
are staged.
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9. A Place for Pets in Disaster Planning
Local
governments are starting to consider the need to evacuate animals during
catastrophes.
By Lynn Doan, LA Times Staff Writer
December 27, 2005
During January's torrential rains, a group of South Pasadena horse owners
and volunteers huddled together in Chemin Shapiro's living room late one night
and pondered an evacuation plan.
The walls shook as the group peered through a window and watched a hillside
collapse onto two houses across the nearby Arroyo Seco.