Jessie A. Nelson, 45, of 405 Juniper St.; and Heather Michelle Dickens, 34, of Marley Drive; were charged Tuesday morning by sheriffs deputies with methamphetamine possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Deputies went about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday to the 1900 block of Brittontown Road in Afton to assist a stranded driver. Nelson said the vehicle ran out of gas the night before. A records check showed Nelson and passenger Dickens both had active arrest warrants issued in Greene County, Deputy Andrew Long said in a report An inventory before the vehicle was towed turned up a clear plastic bag containing suspected methamphetamine in the middle console accessible by both parties, the report said. Another plastic bag containing suspected meth was found on the passenger side floorboard. A plastic bag in Dickens purse contained syringes and a glass pipe. Nelson had a cut straw in his pocket. Nelson and Dickens were held without bond pending a first scheduled appearance Wednesday in court.

Michael T. Stanliand, 57, of 870 Sinking Springs Road, was charged Tuesday afternoon by sheriffs deputies with domestic assault. Deputies responded to a disturbance call at the Midway address and spoke with Staniland, who said he and a relative had gotten into a dispute. Stanliand had physical contact in a manner that caused the alleged victim to fear for his safety, Deputy Joe Harness said in a report. Staniland was held without bond pending a first scheduled appearance Wednesday in court.

Two necklaces and a pistol were stolen between Monday and Wednesday from a house in the 100 block of Keller Road in Afton, sheriffs Deputy Eric Cutshall said in a report. The victim told deputies that two suspects named in the report was staying with his family when the jewelry and gun went missing. A car described in the report was seen leaving the driveway Monday morning and a bedroom window was open. The silver and gold necklaces have a combined value of $280. The .22 caliber pistol is valued at $166.

A catalytic converter was stolen from a van between Saturday and Tuesday from the parking lot of Ragon Wholesale Warehouse, 4765 E. Andrew Johnson Highway, sheriffs Deputy Joe Harness said in a report. The victim told deputies that when he started the van Tuesday morning, the exhaust sound was excessively loud. An inspection of the exhaust system showed the catalytic converter was missing. A camera security system had notified the victim there was motion detected about 1:30 a.m. Monday on the property and after looking at video footage saw a man and woman acting in a suspicious manner, the report said. The catalytic converter was apparently cut from the exhaust system with a power tool. It is valued at at $350.

Water lines at a Springbrook Park property were vandalized, Greeneville police were told Tuesday by a contractor doing work on the property. Workers cleaning the property at the address bulldozed four mobile homes but left the water lines intact, the crew supervisor said. He told police an unknown suspect is coming onto the property after they leave and is busting the water lines, Officer Derek Casteel said in a report. Broken water lines have flooded the property and workers cant get any equipment on it to continue cleanup work, the report said. Repairs and equipment rentals had cost $2,500 as of Wednesday.

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It Happened Here | It Happened Here | greenevillesun.com - Greeneville Sun

By Stefanie Jackson An Alabama professor of architecture introduced a different way of thinking about what makes housing affordable when he spoke at the Eastern Shore Regional Housing Coalitions second annual housing summit held online Sept. 25.

Rusty Smith, of Auburn University in east Alabama, is a director of the Rural Studio program for college students studying architecture, who design and build practical but attractive, affordable homes and community buildings.

Students leave campus for at least one semester and up to two years to live and work in rural, west Alabama, building everything from single-family homes to a church and a fire station.

Their work is done in the U.S. southern Black Belt that is troubled by persistent poverty, a federal designation meaning 20% or more of the population has lived in poverty for 30 years or more.

The Rural Studio program was founded on three ideas: learning by doing, working together to solve problems, and access to safe, decent housing as an inalienable human right whether or not one can afford it, Smith said.

The students donate their time and efforts to people who in no circumstances, would ever be able to provide housing for themselves, Smith said.

The program is funded by donations from individuals and private foundations, as well as regional, state, and federal grants and research contracts.

Funding partners include the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy, financial institutions like Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo, and faith-based organizations like Habitat for Humanity.

Living in poverty looks different than it did nearly 30 years ago when Rural Studio was founded. Tar-paper shacks have been replaced by decades-old mobile homes.

The students, who range in age from 19 to 22, work to design and build better, safer, more durable homes for their clients, who are housing providers and homeowners.

All the work is real real clients with real budgets, real sites with real context and hopefully with real impacts, Smith said.

In Rural Studios nearly 30-year history, students have designed and built more than 200 projects in a five-county area.

In that time, Rural Studio has learned the four basic elements of a good housing project. The home must be buildable, weatherproof, durable, and secure, Smith said.

If the house is not designed with these four characteristics in mind, you may be doing good things, but youre probably not addressing housing affordability, Smith said.

Those elements are the foundation of a good home, but the house also should be well-crafted from locally available materials, accommodate the occupants needs, promote health and wellness, have a presence, and foster the surrounding community.

Rural Studios Front Porch Initiative seeks to widen the impact of the programs applied research and help more housing providers deliver high-performance, dignified homes in their own service area.

Rural Studio offers four basic home designs, each around 500 square feet, which are extraordinarily efficient.

It seeks to provide technical assistance on topics including building codes, zoning, universal design standards, lending and insurability requirements, industry-standard construction, energy performance, and indoor air quality.

Rural Studio also emphasizes the total cost of owning a home. Factors to consider when designing and building a house that is truly affordable housing include efficiency, resiliency, wellness, and community.

Our homeowners dont lose their houses because they cant afford their mortgage, Smith said.

Its an unexpected expense that usually causes a rural, low-income Alabama homeowner to have a personal financial crisis and lose a home.

Typical unexpected expenses include high energy bills (monthly energy bills in the area can vary widely from $50 to $350), home repairs needed due to hurricane or tropical storm damage, major healthcare issues, or disruptions in a familys community network (if, for example, people are working part time and sharing resources like shelter, food, transportation, childcare, or elder care.)

Acknowledging these issues gives Rural Studio a different perspective on what affordable housing means.

For example, a Habitat for Humanity house built to conventional standards might have a mortgage payment of $250, a $150 energy bill, and a $60 insurance payment, for a monthly homeownership cost of $460, Smith said.

By building the same house to high-performance standards, the mortgage payment was increased to $343, making the house unaffordable to the buyer.

But those high-performance standards resulted in a more efficient, durable home that brought the energy bill down to $35 and reduced the insurance bill to $48, for a total monthly cost of $426, a savings of $34 a month.

Smith left his listeners to consider this question: Which home is more affordable? The home that costs less to build, or the home that costs more to build?

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Eastern Shore Gets New Perspective on Affordable Housing - easternshorepost.com

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The Sandusky County Sheriff's Office and Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office are investigating Wednesday's fire at Keegan Enterprises on Ohio 101. Firefighters from 17 departments were called in to contain the blaze.(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

TOWNSEND TOWNSHIP - Russ Zimmerman has been involved with firefighting for 52 years.

The Lindsey Volunteer Fire Department chief said he's never seen anything like Wednesday's fire at Keegan Enterprises on Ohio 101, with billowing black smoke that could seen for miles across Sandusky and Erie counties.

"That looked like an oil refinery fire in Texas," Zimmerman said.

Firefighters from 17 local departments, including Lindsey's,were called to put out Wednesday's fire at Keegan Enterprises on Ohio 101.

Now, the state fire marshal's office has joined the investigation, Sheriff Chris Hilton said.

"We're kind of looking into it jointly," Hilton said Thursday.

Hilton saidthe fire broke out at Keegan Enterprises, in the 7400 block of Ohio 101, around 4 p.m.

Firefighters from 17 local departments battled a pallet fire at Keegan Enterprises Wednesday. Police closed off Ohio 101 for several hours as firefighters attempted to contain the blaze.(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

He said two people left the business around 3:30 p.m. and then the fire started 25 to 30 minutes later.

Neighbors said the blaze started toward the back of the business' property and quickly accelerated.

Hilton said wood and plastic pellets, as well as cardboard, went up in flames as black smoke filled the air.

Zimmerman said the property's plastic materials generated the ominous black smoke from the fire.

He said it was about 8 p.m. before the fire was what he considered "manageable."

"It took three or four hours before the guys could take a breath," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said there was some damage to a field just east of the Keegan property, but the fire did not spread to any of the adjacent mobile homes.

Pallets and cardboard at Keegan Enterprises on Ohio 101 caught on fire Wednesday, causing extensive damage to the property and sending black smoke into the air.(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

The Ohio Highway Patrol closed off Ohio 101 near the Keegan property for several hours to allow fire trucks to access the site and drop off water for fire crews battling the blaze.

By around 10 p.m. Wednesday, the fire was contained with no threat of spreading to neighboring properties, Hilton said.

He said the fire wasn't completely put out until Thursday morning.

Motorists driving west on Ohio 101 in Erie County and past the Keegan property Thursday around 9 a.m. could still see black smoke in the sky left over from the fire.

Hilton said there were was one minor injury to a firefighter who strained his back.

The sheriff said he did not have an estimate on how much property damage there was at the Keegan Enterprises site.

He praised the collaboration between departments in containing the fire.

"It was awesome to see them work together and get it done," Hilton said.

Firefighters from 17 departments helped to battle a towering fire at Keegan Enterprises Wednesday near the intersection of Ohio 101 and Ohio 412. The fire was finally put out Thursday morning, according to Sandusky County Sheriff Chris Hilton.(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

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State fire marshal's office joins investigation into Ohio 101 fire - The News-Messenger

TALENT, Ore. Late morning on Sept. 8, forest scientist Dominick DellaSala sat at the desk in his home office to do a final edit on a newspaper opinion piece. The topic: The need to better prepare for catastrophic wildfires or "black swan events" that can rampage through neighborhoods.

His computer screen went dark. The power had gone out.

He went outside to investigate the outage. Looking south, he spotted a dense cloud of smoke.

"This was totally black. It was huge. And it was heading in our direction," DellaSala recalls.

DellaSala spent the next few hours up on his roof, cleaning out gutters and hosing down the asphalt shingles before evacuating. His home was spared as the fire veered away from his street, but more than 2,800 structures and three people were killed in one of the most destructive wildfires in Northwest history.

This one had nothing to do the management of thickly forested Northwest mountain slopes. It started in a patch of grass by a dog park in the north end of Ashland on a hot day with fierce, dry winds. The fire raced through a county greenway park, chewed through roadside brush and jumped into the heart of two communities Talent and Phoenix, with a combined population of more than 10,000. Then houses, trailers and commercial buildings became the fuel that fed its relentless advance.

In the immediate aftermath of the historic early September fires, people here and in other ravaged Pacific Northwest towns such as Malden, in Eastern Washington, are primarily focused on the need to find short-term shelter for those suddenly without homes. But already, amid a warming climate when wildfire is forecast to be a greater force, an urgent question arises: How to rebuild in a way that is more resistant to the flames.

"Thinning trees in the backcountry, that won't make the difference. We need to spend the money to fire-harden our communities," says DellaSala, who is chief scientist for Wild Heritage, a forest conservation project of the Earth Island Institute, an environmental nonprofit.

In Talent and Phoenix, the post-fire challenges include building a new generation of affordable and safer housing for those who lived in trailer parks decimated by the fire.

Many of these residents are lower-wage workers who pick fruit in nearby orchards, tend to vineyards and labor in service and other industries. Long before the fire, they struggled to find shelter in a southwest Oregon region that faced a severe housing crisis as prosperous retirees and other newer arrivals pushed up real estate prices.

Manufactured and mobile homes are often aging and sometimes rundown but have offered affordable alternatives to renting or owning a place in nearby Ashland, site of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a big tourist destination.

With entire mobile home parks leveled by fire, developers could try to move in and build upscale residences on that land. But there is plenty of support for helping lower-income residents find a way to return.

In Talent, city officials say they are considering a new ordinance to ensure that the mobile home and trailer parks are not replaced by high-priced housing. "Those are the most vulnerable communities, and we need to make sure that development doesn't displace them," said Zac Moody, Talent's community development director.

In a region of Oregon with plenty of out-of-the-box thinkers, some are working to develop a broader vision for rebuilding communities. A Southwest Oregon coalition group, My Valley, My Home, proposes to work with government agencies, foundations, builders and others to design more sustainable housing. The group also wants to find a way for more people to take an ownership stake in their homes and also provide more dwellings for the southwest Oregon's homeless.

"Just like COVID, this is shining a bright spotlight on existing inequities. So, this is a moment where we could potentially do something different," said Charlie Bauer, a Southern Oregon Education Service District employee who works with migrant children and has participated in some of the group's meetings.

Most of Talent and Phoenix did not burn. But the fire struck hard in downtown corridors of both towns. Those returning to see what's left of their homes found painfully few remains in neighborhoods that looked like they were bombed into oblivion.

Renee Durgin said she spent 32 years scrubbing floors in a nursing home to pay for her 1979 two-bedroom trailer that she found on her first return Sept. 18 to be reduced to ashes and twisted metal roofing.

"I lost everything," Durgin said as she searched for a pair of treasured earrings among the wreckage.

Julio Flores, a mobile automotive mechanic, said even his tools and stockpile of vehicle parts were wrecked by the fire, along with the cash savings he kept in his fire-destroyed trailer home in Phoenix.

"I have no insurance. And there is nothing left," said Flores, who has been able to resume some work with the aid of donated tools.

In such firestorms, many buildings are doomed by embers, which may be lofted for hundreds of yards then fall like snowflakes. These burning bits of debris find ways to penetrate interiors, which are typically filled with furniture, rugs, paneling and other volatile materials.

"Embers will exploit any vulnerability in a home and once they get inside and ignite, it is very unlikely to survive," said Kelly Pohl, a researcher at Headwater Economics, who co-authored a 2018 paper on fire-resistant homes.

California fire codes put into place in 2008 are designed to protect buildings from such assault. And a McClatchy News analysis of homes lost to the 2018 fire in Paradise, California, indicates such codes can make a big difference.

The analysis found that 51% of the 350 single-family homes built after 2008 in the path of the Camp fire were undamaged, according to Cal Fire data and Butte County property records. Only 18% of the 12,100 built before 2008 survived.

Other communities in the Northwest also are developing tougher codes to construct more fire-resistant homes.

In Southwest Oregon, Medford has adapted new standards, Ashland this fall is expected to update construction standards, and a push to enact similar measures is expected in Talent, Phoenix and other communities.

In Washington, east-of-the-Cascades Kittitas County has fire-resistant codes in place for new construction. Legislation passed in 2018 has set the stage for changes in building standards in other parts of the state. The law called on the Department of Natural Resources to map areas where homes and other development are built near or within lands at greater risk of wildfire. In those zones, which cover more than a third of the state's residences, local governments must now adapt building standards that require more fire-resistant roofs, siding and decks, and driveways able to accommodate emergency vehicles.

"We just completed the map this past month and have published it," said Ashley Blazina, who serves as community wildfire preparedness coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources.

The Almeda fire offers stark evidence of how flames can completely consume entire blocks of urban homes. But a walk through the Talent burn zone also offers clues on what can be done to protect buildings from fire.

A recently erected church, for example, emerged largely unscathed. Built on a concrete slab, it had a metal roof to fend off the embers, fiber-cement siding that can resist flames, and metal doors. There were double-paned, tempered windows less likely to shatter in the heat, and narrow recessed vents outfitted with fine mesh screens to keep out ash.

The church's architect, Ray Kistler, said it was one of three buildings designed in similar fashion that ended up in the path of the fire and did not burn. Kistler said they were built more with the goal of long-term durability than fire survival. Yet he was pleased with how they fared. One mistake, he said, was using bark chips in the landscaping, which smoldered the day after the fire as he drove by the church for an inspection.

"Flames were starting to lick up the walls, and I just happened to be there," Kistler said. "So, I drug my boots along the ground and put the fire out."

Trees also told a fire story.

When planted close to houses, they are typically viewed as a fire hazard. And some volatile pines and other trees did indeed get torched in the Almeda blaze. But some that were green and leafy survived. A few appeared to take the brunt of fiery embers, and thus helped shield nearby structures.

A child's treehouse, nestled inside a lush maple, was intact even as the homes around it were leveled. And an old wood-sided house shielded from oncoming flames by a scraggly border of deciduous trees made it through the fire.

"This house had every opportunity to burn, and it did not burn. I saw the fire go up these trees, and just disappear," said Scott Balcom, a builder who stayed in the burn zone for much of Sept. 8 in a losing effort to save his own home a short distance to the south.

The Almeda fire was caused by humans, but who started it and whether they did so intentionally or inadvertently remains under investigation, according to Ashland Police Chief Tighe O'Meara. The destruction was boosted by a second fire started later that day in Phoenix, and a suspect in that fire, 41-year-old Michael Jarrod Bakkela, has been charged with two counts of arson, 15 counts of criminal mischief and 14 counts of reckless endangerment.

The main fire's route passed through portions of a 20-mile-long greenway and bike path that follows the tree-lined course of Bear Creek.

This year, the fire risk in the greenway had both county fire and law enforcement officials on edge. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with space in short supply at homeless shelters, some 150 people were asked to remain sheltering in place in the greenway, where handwashing stations and bathrooms were set up. Earlier this year, dozens of small fires had to be put out. Officials feared a bigger blaze, and four fire breaks were scraped down to bare earth this summer in hopes of helping to stop the advance of flames.

"The greenway has just been a nightmare," Jackson County Sheriff Nate Sickler said.

But it does not appear likely that the initial Almeda blaze, which started sometime before 11 a.m., originated from a campfire.

The ignition point was well outside the greenway, in an open area by the dog park that was not a typical camping spot for people experiencing homelessness. And Kernan Turner, a retired Associated Press reporter who lives nearby, said he saw no slow burn from a campfire. The fire came up suddenly, with big flames that torched a border of blackberry bushes by his house, then swept across a grass field to reach the greenway fuel.

"It just roared. The flames were 20 feet high," Turner said.

The fire, fed by more berry brambles in the greenway, rapidly moved north, overtaking a person who has yet to be identified and is likely to have been homeless. "They had nowhere to go," said Chris Chambers, chief of Ashland Fire and Rescue Wildfire Division.

As fire reached Talent, Balcom, the builder who lost his home, could hear a series of explosions as propane tanks next to many homes emptied and the fuel ignited. He could also make out the short, staccato sounds of ammunition stored in people's homes as it went off.

The winds brought embers to a single-story home across the street, and upwind, from Balcom's house.

Fire engine crews arrived to try to save the building. Then they shuttled off to deal with other emergencies on that frantic afternoon. Another structure an apartment complex caught fire. Balcom tried to use his own hose to save that building, but the stream from his would not reach a corner of the roof that began to burn.

"My heart sank when I saw that. The wind was blowing really hard my way, and I figured the chance of my house being saved was really remote," he said.

In the aftermath of the fire, DellaSala feels fortunate to live in a neighborhood untouched by the flames.

With his electrical power restored, he is now back at his desk and writing more emails.

Politicians in Congress and state legislatures are once again calling for more efforts to thin and conduct controlled burns for "fuel reduction" in forests.

This fire season has demonstrated, yet again, that many fires in the West burn largely in shrub and grasslands, which can easily and rapidly carry flames into housing developments. And, DellaSala is urging post-fire legislation be narrowly targeted. He wants more public funds spent and tax credits offered to build communities better able to survive such fire.

When he takes a break for walks, DellaSala heads four blocks east to the fire zone. He wrestles with his emotions a mix of grief and anger as he gazes again upon the bleak tableau of loss in the heart of his town.

"We've been warning about this for years," he said. "It's in my face every day."

(c)2020 The Seattle Times

Visit The Seattle Times at http://www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Urban wildfire: When homes are the fuel for a runaway blaze, how do you rebuild a safer community? - The Bakersfield Californian

By Pepper Trail

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 | 2 a.m.

In early September, the Almeda Fire ignited at the edge of my hometown of Ashland, Ore., and roared through the nearby towns of Talent and Phoenix, pushed by hot south winds.

More than 2,800 houses, mobile homes and apartment units were destroyed, representing much of the low-income housing in our increasingly expensive valley. Three people were killed. The story was repeated throughout Oregon this fire season, and at its peak, almost a million acres burned across the state. Some 500,000 people were forced to flee or were under evacuation warnings.

These fires became so widespread because strong, dry winds sent flames racing to devour fuel wherever it could be found. And fuel could be found everywhere this year: in mountain forests parched from a winter of drought and a summer of record-breaking heat, in eastern Oregons sagebrush country, and in mobile home parks and residential neighborhoods. Under these conditions, any fire seemed ready to explode into a major disaster.

As a member of the southern Oregon community, I felt stunned and heartbroken by the devastation these fires left behind. But, as a conservation biologist, I was not surprised. For many years, scientific modeling predicted a future of reduced snowpack, hotter summers and drastically increased fire danger in Oregon. The present we are now enduring is the climate-change future that we have been warned about for decades.

Tragically, a different kind of conflagration also smoldered in Oregon, one fanned by hatred and division.

Two weeks before the fires, my valley experienced an ugly racial confrontation. Like most of Oregon, the Rogue Valley is overwhelmingly white. Still, we have Black Lives Matter support groups, and one of them, the Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity, planned a community forum in the tiny town of Rogue River. The purpose of the event was to invite local residents of color to share their experiences and educate the community on systemic racism. It was to be followed by a family-friendly barbecue, to which everyone was invited.

Unfortunately, in the toxic atmosphere of social and racial division that is daily fanned by President Donald Trump and right-wing media, this community event was seen as a threat by local patriot groups, which descended on the town heavily armed. For hours, these angry people screamed curses and threats at the small group of coalition supporters, while some tried to provoke physical confrontations. Coalition supporters, fortunately, had the discipline to remain calm while resisting.

Then, in the aftermath of the Rogue Valley fires, this social pathology flared again. Rumors began to fly on social media that the fires were deliberately set by antifa, which is not an organized group, feeding more fear and paranoia. These rumors tied up 911 lines and interfered with critical fire-response activities.

After forceful denials by local law enforcement, the antifa rumors died down, and the Rogue Valley seemed to unite in response to the tragic fires. A spontaneous brigade of bicycle riders ferried supplies to victims in the burn zone. Dozens of local organizations mobilized to offer shelter, food, water, clothing and emergency funds to displaced families.

But conspiracy theory-fueled paranoia is not so easily overcome. Its next target was a tent city that sprang up in a park in Medford, the valleys largest town. Residents of the tent city included low-income people burned out of their homes and homeless people who formerly camped along Bear Creek, another area consumed by the fire.

In short order, a Medford City Council meeting was packed with outraged citizens, with some spouting ugly theories that many of the tent-dwellers had been bused in from other towns with help from antifa, according to the Medford Mail-Tribune. Some of the protesters threatened vigilante action to take care of the problem. A week after the city council meeting, Medford police dismantled the encampment and evicted the residents.

Who benefits from this trumped-up rage? Only those whose grip on power is served by fomenting fear and chaos. The future will challenge us all. Those who work to divide us are simply fanning the flames.

Our valley has plenty of divisions, but also incredible strength and generosity. Community spirit is shining through as we begin the hard work of recovery. The only way to survive wildfire, to survive COVID, to survive climate change, and to survive vigilante hatred, is to work together for the common good. Let us hope that this terrible year teaches us that lesson at last.

Pepper Trail is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.com, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West.

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In Oregon, it's been a year of fanned flames both literal and figurative - Las Vegas Sun

Parts of Vermilion Parish are now under a mandatory evacuation, as of 1 p.m on Wednesday.The Police Jury ordered these areas of the parish to be evacuated: Pecan Island Intracoastal City Esther Forked Island Mouton Cove Erath (south of La. 14) Delcambre (south of La. 14) Gueydan (south of La. 14) and low line areas prone to flood and those who live in mobile homes in the parish.As of noon on Wednesday, Hurricane Delta is expected to make landfall near the Cameron and Vermilion Parish border on Friday around 2 p.m.The winds in Vermilion Parish could reach 80 to 100 miles per hour. The parish is expected to get four to six inches of rain.Also, parish officials are extremely worried about flooding from a storm surge.From Forked Island to Delcambre, weather officials predict a storm surge of 8 to 11 feet high. Areas of Henry, Erath, Delcambre, Pecan Island and Forked Island are expected to get a storm surge.Becky Broussard, the Office of Emergency Preparation for Vermilion Parish, said, Those choosing to stay and face this very dangerous storm must understand that rescue efforts cannot and will not begin until after the storm and the surge have passed. Broussard said if you elect not to evacuate, OEP wants you to write your name, address, social security number, and next of kin on a piece of paper. Place the paper with the information in a Ziploc bag and place the bag in your pocket.We are expecting the worse, but praying for the best, Broussard said.

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Parts of Vermilion Parish now under mandatory evacuation - The Kaplan Herald

In early September, the Almeda Fire ignited at the edge of my hometown of Ashland, Oregon, and roared through the nearby towns of Talent and Phoenix, pushed by hot south winds.

Over 2,800 houses, mobile homes and apartment units were destroyed, representing much of the low-income housing in our increasingly expensive valley. Three people were killed. The story was repeated across Oregon this fire season, and at its peak almost a million acres burned across the state. Some 500,000 people were forced to flee or were under evacuation warnings.

These fires became so widespread because strong, dry winds sent flames racing to devour fuel wherever it could be found. And fuel could be found everywhere this year: in mountain forests parched from a winter of drought and a summer of record-breaking heat, in eastern Oregons sagebrush country, and yes, in mobile home parks and residential neighborhoods. Under these conditions, any fire seemed ready to explode into a major disaster.

As a member of the southern Oregon community, I felt stunned and heartbroken by the devastation these fires left behind. But, as a conservation biologist, I was not surprised. For many years, scientific modeling predicted a future of reduced snowpack, hotter summers and drastically increased fire danger in Oregon. The present we are now enduring is the climate-change future that we have been warned about for decades.

Tragically, a different kind of conflagration also smoldered in Oregon, one fanned by hatred and division.

Two weeks before the fires, my valley experienced an ugly racial confrontation. Like most of Oregon, the Rogue Valley is overwhelmingly white. Still, we have Black Lives Matter support groups, and one of them, the Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity, planned a community forum in the tiny town of Rogue River. The purpose of the event was to invite local residents of color to share their experiences and educate the community on systemic racism. It was to be followed by a family-friendly barbeque, to which everyone was invited.

Unfortunately, in the toxic atmosphere of social and racial division that is daily fanned by President Trump and right-wing media, this community event was seen as a threat by local patriot groups, which descended on the town heavily armed. For hours, these angry people screamed curses and threats at the small group of coalition supporters, while some tried to provoke physical confrontations. Coalition supporters, fortunately, had the discipline to remain calm while resisting.

Then, in the aftermath of the Rogue Valley fires, this social pathology flared again. Rumors began to fly on social media that the fires were deliberately set by antifa, which is not an organized group, feeding more fear and paranoia. These rumors tied up 911 lines and interfered with critical fire-response activities.

After forceful denials by local law enforcement, the antifa rumors died down, and the Rogue Valley seemed to unite in response to the tragic fires. A spontaneous brigade of bicycle riders ferried supplies to victims in the burn zone. Dozens of local organizations mobilized to offer shelter, food, water, clothing and emergency funds to displaced families.

But conspiracy theory-fueled paranoia is not so easily overcome. Its next target was a tent city that sprang up in a park in Medford, the valleys largest town. Residents of the tent city included low-income people burned out of their homes and homeless people who formerly camped along Bear Creek, another area consumed by the fire.

In short order, a Medford City Council meeting was packed with outraged citizens, with some spouting ugly theories that many of the tent-dwellers had been bused in from other towns with help from antifa, according to the Medford Mail-Tribune. Some of the protesters threatened vigilante action to take care of the problem. A week after the city council meeting, Medford police dismantled the encampment and evicted the residents.

Who benefits from this trumped-up rage? Only those whose grip on power is served by fomenting fear and chaos. The future will challenge us all. Those who work to divide us are simply fanning the flames.

Our valley has plenty of divisions, but also incredible strength and generosity. Community spirit is shining through as we begin the hard work of recovery. The only way to survive wildfire, to survive COVID, to survive climate change, and to survive vigilante hatred, is to work together for the common good. Let us hope that this terrible year teaches us that lesson at last.

Pepper Trail is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.com, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a conservation biologist and writer in Ashland, Oregon.

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Writers on the Range column: Fanning the flames of hate in Oregon - Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Help is on the way for families who lost their homes and belongings when in a fire in the Pueblo del Sol community on Wednesday.

The29 Palms Band of Mission Indians is purchasing all brand new trailer homes for the families, Indio Mayor Glenn Miller shared exclusively with News Channel 3.

A gift from God thats all Monica Tessandore could say to rationalize the news that she and her family will have a home again.

Ive gone through anger, frustration, sadness, heartbroken every emotion that you can come up with from losing your home, your entire things youve worked so hard for. Just having a home for the kids to come home and play. For me to come home from work and cook and clean, you know, do everything I can do for them as a mother. In the blink of an eye it was all taken from us, she said.

Tessandore was stopping by to survey the damage left behind by the devastating fire at the Pueblo del Sol community, destroying three families homes and all their belongings. Indio Mayor Glenn Miller was there to deliver Life-changing news.

Chairman Darrell Mike from the 29Palms Band of Mission Indians and the tribe and the tribal council will be purchasing all three of the mobile homes for these families, free of charge and installing them as quick as possible, he already looked at them in Thermal, said Mayor Miller.

That hope is coming back I didnt think it would be possible to get that hope back, said Tessandore.

Two of the three families did not have insurance to cover the damage. Mayor Miller said the money given by the American Red Cross is not enough to cover all expenses, which is why the communitys support is so important.

The community is amazing, it always has been. Whenever anything happens here in the city of Indio, we rally. Residents, businesses, we come together any time theres adversity, Mayor Miller said.

If you have it, give it. This is just a big eye opener. If you have it, give it. You have no idea how this helps somebody out. If its just socks if its one shirt. Anything, just give it, Tessandore said.

The city of Indio and Desert Sands Unified School District are also encouraging the community to show support to three families who lost everything in a mobile home park fire this week.

DSUSD is accepting donated items and gift cards at Indio High School or Summit High School. Items are needed for both men and women, adults and children - including, but not limited to, clothing and school supplies.

Five adults and five children in the Pueblo Del Sol community lost everything they've ever owned Wednesday as the fire ripped through their homes.

Tessandore's daughter also organized a GoFundMe page to collect donations.

"We lost everything," said Roberto Valdez, speaking in Spanish. "The two cars, the work tools. We've only got the clothes we're wearing. I don't even have socks; I don't have anything."

Link:
New trailer homes donated to Indio families left only with ashes after devastating fire - KESQ

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Mobile applications are various types of software applications that are developed to run on tablets, smartphones, and computer tablets. They provide similar service as personal computer to the users. The prime aim of mobile applications is to provide internet services to the users on their mobile phone by accessing the internet. Today, various types of mobile application are present in the market that connect users to various sectors such as banking, entertainment, healthcare, hotels & restaurants, tour & travel, and many other. Necessity is the mother of any invention, thus rising need for globalization and IoT-connected world is driving the mobile applications market prominently.

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Besides this, mobile applications are largely useful for online banking, health monitoring, and entertainment businesses. Fitness applications and several gaming applications that are developer-trusted or native application have now became companion for any smartphone user. To enhance the user experience using interactive and better user interface third party application developers are trying to grab the maximum market opportunity. Thus, rising competition for the better and enhanced mobile application projected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period. However, lack of internet penetration in some of the rural and under-developed areas may restrict the market growth.

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The Asia Pacific exhibits the fastest growth rate during the forecast period and expected to hold the dominant position in the coming years. Prime factors attributed to this are explosive growth in smartphone sales in the past few years, with several new competitors capturing the market for example OnePlus, Xiaomi, Nokia, & Vivo and challenging the established players such as iPhone and Samsung. In addition, rising internet penetration in the under-developed and developing Asian countries also contribute significantly in the market growth during the coming years.

However, North America led the global mobile application market with approximately 40% of the revenue share in 2019. This is majorly due to the presence of some of the major market players in the region such as Apple Inc., Cognizant, CA Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corp., and many more. Furthermore, increased competition in the market has triggered the application development speed along with enhanced user experience.

Key Players & Strategies

The global mobile application market is dominated by the well-established market players such as IBM Corp., Google LLC, Microsoft Corp., HP Enterprises, Apple Inc., and Cognizant. Besides this, the market offers significant opportunities for the startup companies to establish their footprint, thereby increasing the market competition. However, rising demand for mobile applications in various sectors has offered significant opportunities of the companies to flourish in the market.

Some of the key players of the market are Apple Inc., Cognizant, CA Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, China Mobile Ltd, Google LLC, Intellectsoft, Microsoft Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation, and Verbat Technologies among others.

Market Segmentation

By Marketplace

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Mobile Application Market Expected to Grow 18.6% by 2027 - GlobeNewswire

A leisure destination of yesteryear in northwest Volusia may undergo an extreme makeover and once again welcome new waves of visitors.

The Jungle Den, a waterfront resort in Astor on the St. Johns River, has deteriorated over the past few decades, but county officials are looking at a proposal submitted by an Auburndale developer to revamp the 89-acre site.

I am so for it. Its going back to what my father had in mind, Mike Blair, whose family owns the property, said.

Blair has seen the Jungle Dens decline from an attractive inland spot for tourists to an aesthetically and environmentally unwelcoming place.

Its an unsightly mess, he added.

WHATS THERE NOW Mike Blair, whose family owns Blairs Jungle Den in Astor, called the once-vibrant resort and fish camp an unsightly mess. Photos from a county development report show rusted buildings and parts of docks falling into the St. Johns River and nearby canals. The facilitys sewage system sometimes overflows into the river during floods, along with stormwater, according to attorney Glenn Storch, representing RLK Real Estate & Development, an Auburndale developer proposing to redevelop the site.

Volusia Countys professional planners agree.

The property includes an old motel and marina that are in disrepair, an assortment of derelict single-wide mobile homes on canals, and an old wastewater package treatment plant. Recent hurricane events have left the facility in very poor condition and in need of refurbishment, the planning staffs report on the rezoning request reads.

The countys Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission has endorsed the request to rezone the property from its current mix of uses mobile homes, commercial and agricultural to a planned-unit development (PUD). The request will go before the Volusia County Council next month.

The development proposed by Randall Knapp of RLK Real Estate & Development LLC, would include a new marina, motel, restaurant, bait-and-tackle shop, general store, swimming pool, 460-space recreational-vehicle park, and spaces for mobile homes.

Knapp says he is ready to invest $30 million in reviving and reconstructing the Jungle Den.

It will start with the demolition, and then with the redevelopment, Knapp told The Beacon.

The redevelopment could begin in the spring or summer of 2021, he added.

When completed, Knapps attorney Glenn Storch said, the new Jungle Den may create 40 to 50 new jobs.

Knapps plan also provides for preserving a bit of Old Florida, with 21 acres of the property set aside in a conservation easement.

In addition to tearing down and removing the damaged and irreparable buildings and mobile homes now on the property, Knapp proposes to replace the old sewage-disposal system with a connection to St. Johns Utilities.

St. Johns Utilities Inc. is a privately owned water and sewage-service provider in Astor.

Information furnished by Knapp and Storch notes the current sewage system often overflows into the St. Johns River during floods, along with stormwater.

WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD FOR THE JUNGLE DEN County planning documents contained these photos of what could replace the aging trailers currently parked at Blairs Jungle Den in Astor. The redevelopment of the 89-acre site would include a new marina, general store, bait-and-tackle shop, motel, and spaces for recreational vehicles and mobile homes.

Its an absolute blight along the river, Storch said. This is what people see as theyre boating along the St. Johns River.

All that will soon change if county officials and Knapp have their way.

Besides attracting fishermen, boaters and hunters during game seasons, the revamped Jungle Den will also be a place for ecotourists, Storch said.

We believe this is going to be a welcome addition, said Georgia Turner, executive director of the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority. I also believe its going to be a national and international destination.

Because of the anticipated higher numbers of people the new Jungle Den may bring, the Volusia Sheriffs Office may be invited to establish a substation on or near the property.

Other conditions for the redevelopment of the Jungle Den include:

Limiting the occupancy by any guests to six consecutive months

Using a recognized architectural style in the design and construction materials, such as Key West or Old Florida style

WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD FOR THE JUNGLE DEN County planning documents contained these photos of what could replace the aging trailers currently parked at Blairs Jungle Den in Astor. The redevelopment of the 89-acre site would include a new marina, general store, bait-and-tackle shop, motel, and spaces for recreational vehicles and mobile homes.

Minimizing outdoor-lighting nuisances, by limiting the height of light fixtures to 29 feet and requiring lights to shine downward.

The Jungle Den redevelopment plan is set to go before the County Council Nov. 17.

Read more from the original source:
Run-down resort and fish camp to be revitalized - The West Volusia Beacon