In August 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe toward the sun to analyze and measure the G-type yellow dwarf star that makes life on Earth possible. Now, after the spacecraft completed 3 of 24 planned close orbits around the sun, researchers have released four papers published in the journal Nature detailing the probe's first findings.

The $1.5 billion probe has flown closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history, passing through the suns upper atmosphere, or corona, for the first time. The probe is loaded up with several suites of instruments that collect data about solar wind, plasma flows, the suns magnetic field and more, reports Alexandra Witze at Nature News & Comment.

Scientists at University of California, Berkeley led by plasma physicist Stuart Bale control the probes devices, fittingly dubbed FIELDS, that study the suns magnetic and electric fields. A second toolkit called SWEAPor Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons, operated by the University of Michigan and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatorymeasures the particles of solar winds. The probes imaging instrument WISPR is led by the Naval Research Lab. Another group of devicescalled the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun suite, led by Princeton Universitymeasures the suns outflow of energetic particles, like electrons and ions. Together, data from all of these instruments are revolutionizing what we know about the star.

Solar winds constantly wash over Earth, but studying the phenomenon from an earthly vantage point is like trying to understand the origin of a waterfall by standing halfway down the cliff, explains Bale. Expanding on the waterfall analogy, Bale tells Witze, [i]f you want to know the source, you have to get up there and get closeris it coming from one hole in the ground? From a bunch of seams in the rocks? Is there a sprinkler system up there?

The so-called fast solar wind, which flows at 500 to 1,000 kilometers per second, emanates from large holes in the corona near the suns north and south poles, reports Hannah Devlin at The Guardian. However, the origin of the slow solar wind, which is denser and travels at about half that speed, is not understood, explains atmospheric physicist Tim Horbury of Imperial College London, who is part of FIELDS research team.

During each swoop toward the sun, the probe passes about 15 million miles above a coronal hole for up to a week at a time to measure the solar wind and magnetic fields, according to a Berkeley press release.

Parker Solar Probe is also investigating a mystery that has long baffled solar physicists: the extreme heat of the outer atmosphere. The corona is a million degrees, but the suns surface is only thousands, Horbury tells Devlin. Its as if the Earths surface temperature were the same, but its atmosphere was many thousands of degrees. How can that work? Youd expect to get colder as you moved away.

Data from the spacecraft shows that the movement of plasma in the corona is extraordinarily complex. The measurements revealed that quick reversals in magnetic fields and fast-moving jets of plasma cause turbulence in the solar wind. The researchers dubbed one particularly dramatic type of magnetic field reversal a switchback.

As the solar wind flows away from the sun, the magnetic field lines would almost completely reverse for a few seconds or even a few minutes, causing abrupt changes in velocity. When the magnetic field snaps back to its previous orientation, it produces a spike in energy. While the researchers do not yet know what causes these magnetic reversals, the spacecraft's close observations will help them narrow down the possibilities.

These switchbacks are probably associated with some kind of plasma jets," Bale says in the Berkeley release. My own feeling is that these switchbacks, or jets, are central to the solar wind heating problem.

The Parker probe was able to measure solar wind while it was still rotating with the sun, finding that the speed and strength of the rotation was ten times more powerful than current solar models predict.

Because the sun rotates, solar wind travels on a curved path. But after the energy is flung into space, its path eventually straightens out. Finding out the exact point at which that energy starts traveling in a straight line will tell researchers about the lifecycles of stars and the workings of protoplanetary disks, which will improve our understanding of how planets form.

The probe also observed the suns dust-free zone. Our solar system is full of dust particles remaining from the planet-forming process that occurred over billions of years. Researchers long ago predicted that the heat of the sun could vaporize this dust into gas creating an area with much less dust. The probe has finally found supporting evidence of this phenomenon and researchers suspect it will likely encounter less and less dust as it swings closer to the sun.

Scientists also used the probes data to measure the outflow of electrons and ions that sometimes produce solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs). So far, the Parker probe has recorded several new types of particles and ejection events that researchers are unable to observe from Earth, explains Princetons David McComas who leads the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun suite of instruments.

Its amazingeven at solar minimum conditions, the sun produces many more tiny energetic particle events than we ever thought, says McComas in a NASA press release. These measurements will help us unravel the sources, acceleration, and transport of solar energetic particles and ultimately better protect satellites and astronauts in the future.

As Mike Wall at Space.com reports, this new data is really just a taste of what the probe will likely discover if its 4.5-inch-thick, carbon-composite shield can survive the remaining 21 dips closer and closer to the sun over the next five years. Eventually, the craft will fly as close as 3.83 million miles above the sun.

We knew we were going into a region we've never been before. It is a voyage of discovery, Nicola Fox, director of the NASAs Heliophysics Division, tells Nell Greenfieldboyce at NPR. It's going to the last sort of major region of our solar system to ever be visited by a spacecraft. And as we continue to get closer and closer, then I'm sure that we are going to continue to see more and more surprises."

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NASA's Sun-Orbiting Probe Reveals New Secrets of Our Host Star - Smithsonian.com

This darling 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch home was built ahead of it's time with modern construction including a poured concrete foundation, exterior wall insulation, and over a foot of blown insulation in the attic. It has been owned and cared for by a single family and never used as a rental. The main floor features beautiful refinished red oak wood floors with a completely updated bathroom. Laundry hookups are available in the bath on the main floor or in the basement. The kitchen has new sink, faucet, garbage disposal, dishwasher, cooktop hood, and slate back splash. The basement is finished with a large family room and additional bath and laundry. The fenced double lot backyard is perfect for gardening, outdoor games, and pets and also features large cement patio has extra deep footings to allow for a room addition if desired. This is a perfect starter home conveniently located on an Emergency snow/bus route for quick snow removal. Come take a look today!

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Affordable Starter Homes in the Lincoln Area | Home and Garden - Lincoln Journal Star

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Wondering what buildings are coming down or going up in San Francisco? Local building permit data can shine a light on what's under construction near you.

In the past week, the city issued 383 building permits, according to data from BuildZoom, a platform that helps homeowners and businesses with new construction and remodels.

Twenty of those permits were for new building construction, three were for demolition projects and the remainder were for repairs and renovations.

Read on for a selection of the most noteworthy new permits.

Applicant TSL Construction & Consultant Inc. received a permit for new construction of a structure at 128 Elsie St. In the permit, the work scope is described as: "New construction of a single-family home. Five bathrooms, one kitchen, four shower pans. Underground plumbing."

Contractor BH Chen Inc. received a permit for new construction of a structure at 18 Turk Murphy Lane.The permit defines the project's work scope as: "Install new fire sprinkler."

Applicant De Anza Tile Co Inc. received a permit for new construction of a structure at 1 Market St. The permit defines the project's work scope as: "Waterproofing at two new shower pans on level six."

Contractor AM West Mechanical Inc. was issued a permit for repair/renovation of a structure at 3475 16th St. The permit defines the project's work scope as: "Install new water service line for new fire sprinkler system."

Contractor Innovative Construction Implement was issued a permit for addition of a structure at 1309 Ninth Ave. In the permit, the work scope is described as: "New ADA restroom. New service area."

Contractor Berisha Construction received a permit for repair/renovation of a structure at 1251 37th Ave. The work is described as: "New plumbing throughout whole home."

This story was created automatically using local building data from BuildZoom, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing.

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Permits for 20 new construction projects issued in San Francisco last week - Yahoo News

The St. Paul Public Housing Agency spent two decades adding sprinklers to every unit on every floor in each of its 16 high-rise apartment buildings.

Thats why St. Pauls retired fire marshal, Steve Zaccard, believes public housing residents in that city would have been saved from the kind of fire that killed five people in Minneapolis last week.

If the sprinklers are maintained, a deadly blaze like the one in Minneapolis is not possible, Zaccard said in an interview this week.

The Cedar High Apartments, where last weeks deadly blaze occurred, is one of 42 high-rises operated by the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. That 25-story building at 630 S. Cedar Av., has partial sprinkler coverage on the main floor and lower mechanical equipment rooms but lacks sprinklers on the upper levels where people lived.

Zaccard sees what happened in Minneapolis as a teaching moment.

Im hoping these folks have not died in vain, that we can finally get some remaining high-rises sprinkled, he said.

Government codes did not widely require sprinklers in high-rise buildings until the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Cedar High building was one of many public housing buildings constructed before that.

Over the years, Minnesota lawmakers have considered requiring the owners of older high-rise buildings to retrofit them with sprinklers, but none of those proposals were adopted. After one of those efforts failed at the state level, Zaccard and the St. Paul Public Housing Agency decided they could wait no longer.

The residents expect a lot from us, said Jon Gutzmann, executive director of St. Pauls agency. They expect safe, affordable, quality housing for sure.

The agency began work on its first major high-rise sprinkler installation in 1990, when it began a larger remodeling effort at the Neill Hi-Rise in the citys Cathedral Hill district.

Over more than 20 years, it spent $8.3 million on the sprinkler project, with the final installation at the Ravoux Hi-Rise in 2012. Gutzmann said the authority used money from the roughly $7 million to $8 million in annual capital funding it received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Zaccard commended the agency for sticking with the project, noting that over that period of time, that two decades, funding was very lean at times, and they had to delay it.

He continued: It took them a while, but they were persistent and accomplished it.

Zaccard, who retired in 2017 after more than 30 years with the fire department, said sprinklers are 96% effective at controlling fires.

While the exact number of fires prevented can be hard to determine, the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections said it hears of about one fire each year in a public housing high-rise thats extinguished by the sprinkler system, according to spokeswoman Suzanne Donovan.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) has sprinklers inside the apartments in 16 of its 42 high-rise buildings, which are about 50 years old on average, according to spokesman Jeff Horwich. In the days since the fire, residents and politicians have called on the authority to add in-unit sprinklers to more of its buildings. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said earlier this week that he would support efforts to require sprinklers in the authoritys high-rise buildings but the additional piece is that we need the necessary funding.

Horwich said in a statement that sprinkler systems are a priority for comprehensive building modernizations we undertake, and are included in the modernizations that are currently underway. He said he could not comment further.

The Housing Authority wrote in a draft of its 2020 annual report that it currently has $152 million in unmet capital needs, including $69 million for mechanical systems, which includes plumbing and fire systems. A separate progress report submitted to the authoritys board showed that as of late August, another building had a sprinkler system update in progress. That building is in the same complex as the high-rise that caught fire.

The authoritys report also noted that federal capital funds meet only about 10% of its needs. In 2020, we project no dramatic reversal in this decadeslong trend, the report added.

The authority concluded: While we continue to press the federal government for increased capital funding, MPHA and the families we serve cannot afford to simply wait.

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Over 22 years, St. Paul housing agency added sprinklers to every high-rise - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Since it launched last year, NASAs Parker Solar Probe has made three dives toward the sun as it reached the fastest speed ever clocked by a human-built vehicle. Scientists released the missions first batch of findings on Wednesday, revealing that the dynamics of our star are even weirder than once imagined.

Four papers published in the journal Nature describe what the spacecraft observed during its first two flybys, as it passed within about 15 million miles of the surface of the sun. That is about half the distance that the planet Mercury orbits the sun.

All of this brand-new information about how the way our star works is going to help us understand how the sun drives change in the space environment throughout our solar system, said Nicola Fox, director of the heliophysics division at NASA, during a telephone news conference on Wednesday.

The information could help scientists develop ways to provide advance warning of solar storms that could knock out satellites and electrical grids or endanger the health of astronauts in orbit.

The sun is essentially a big ball of hydrogen and helium, and for something that we see every day, it remains a complex ball of mystery.

One puzzle that scientists have been pondering for decades: Why is the solar atmosphere superhot?

The surface of the sun what we see as a yellow disk in the sky is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is toasty, but cool compared with what lies above, in the thin atmosphere known as the corona.

There, the temperatures jump by a factor of 300 or more, to millions of degrees. The corona also accelerates the solar wind the million-miles-per-hour stream of particles that fly outward from the sun.

Justin C. Kasper, a professor of space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan and the principal investigator of one of the solar probes four instruments, said scientists said they had a hunch that the vibrating of the suns magnetic fields like the plucking of a guitar string was critical to heating the corona. So they were curious about what the vibrations would look like closer to the sun.

As expected, the vibrations did get stronger. But the instrument also picked up additional, powerful waves. Kind of like rogue waves in the ocean, Dr. Kasper said.

As one of the big waves swept the spacecraft, the speed of the solar wind would, within seconds, rise by 300,000 miles per hour. Each wave would last seconds to minutes. Just as quickly, in seconds, it goes past us, and were back in the normal solar wind, Dr. Kasper said.

The waves were so strong that they could flip the direction of the magnetic field, producing S-shape twists that the scientists called switchbacks, like the twisty paths carved in the side of a steep mountain.

These are very large and energetic events, Dr. Kasper said. Were really excited about this, because we think it tells us a possible path to understanding how energy is getting from the sun into the atmosphere and heating it.

With the closer view of the sun, scientists also now have a better idea of where the solar wind originates.

Most of the solar wind measurements to date have been in the neighborhood of Earth, more than 90 million miles from the sun.

Stuart Bale, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, who leads an instrument that measures the electric and magnetic fields in the solar wind, said trying to study solar winds from Earth is like observing the waterfall halfway down.

The water is always flowing past us, he said. It is very turbulent, chaotic, unstructured. And we want to know what is the source of the waterfall, whats at the top. Is there an iceberg melting up there? Is there a sprinkler system? A lake?

By the time the solar wind reaches Earth, clues about its origin have been jumbled and become difficult to discern.

We want to know the source of the water, whats at the top, Dr. Bale said.

He said that data from the Parker Solar Probe now shows that the so-called slow solar wind, moving at relatively slow speeds of less than a million miles per hour, emerges from what are known as coronal holes locations associated with sunspots and where hydrogen and helium are colder and less dense near the suns Equator. (Faster solar winds traveling more than a million miles per hour were known to originate from coronal holes near the poles.)

The spacecraft has also been putting together a picture of the cloud of dust surrounding the sun and the corona bits shed from comets and asteroids that have passed. The dust was thinner closer to the sun, matching the expectations for a long-theorized dust-free zone around the star.

As the Parker Solar Probe gets closer repeated flybys of Venus in the coming years will eventually nudge it to a trajectory that will take it within four million miles of the sun it is likely to confirm that observation and reveal new mysteries.

Its a bit early to say whether these discoveries actually overturn existing models, Daniel Verscharen, a space scientist at University College London who wrote a commentary accompanying the Nature papers, said in an email. They definitely show that there is a lot more happening close to the sun and that its absolutely worth going there to explore further.

A European Space Agency mission, Solar Orbiter, is set to launch in February. While it will not get as close to the sun as the Parker Solar Probe, it will carry instruments that will provide different views and provide more clues on solving the mystery of the solar wind.

Eugene N. Parker, a retired University of Chicago astrophysicist whom the spacecraft is named after, predicted the existence of the solar wind in 1958. It was humbling to see the probes launch and watch it disappear into the night sky, Dr. Parker, now 92, said in a statement provided by the university. But now that data is finally coming in and being analyzed, things are getting really exciting.

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NASAs Parker Solar Probe Is Unlocking the Suns Mysteries - The New York Times

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Global Wi-Fi Smart Sprinkler Control System Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 - Breaking News Updates

College Avenue reopened to traffic earlier this week as the first of three phases of construction came to a close. The 100-300 block of College Avenue had been closed to cars with its asphalt torn up since the College Avenue Sewer Replacement Project began on August 7, with construction crews installing new water and sewage lines.

The road has been repaved for the winter and spring to allow vehicles to drive as usual. In the next construction phase, most likely beginning in May, New York State Electric and Gas Corporation crews will dig up College Avenue once again and install a gas line, as well as an electric line underground to replace the current above-ground electric lines.

Since the road reopened, TCAT routes 11N, 30, 51 and 70 have resumed normal paths along College Avenue, according to a TCAT press release. The return of the bus route to this section of the road has helped business at the Green Star grocery, as people waiting for the bus frequently stop into the store for a snack, according to Green Star employee Jimmy Pomm.

But another local employee saw the effects of construction differently. Elber Calderon at Enzo Pizzeria told The Sun that business has remained steady throughout the construction.

Thomas Knipe, Ithacas Deputy Director for Economic Development, said that city officials are aware of the potential negative impacts that the construction might have on businesses. To address these issues, the city posted signs near the construction site indicating that the businesses remained open as usual, Knipe said.

Some employees at nearby businesses have had trouble parking since the project reduced parking spaces in the area, according to Calderon. Graham Kerslick (D-4th), Alderperson for the 4th Ward, said that limited parking was an issue that city officials are trying to mitigate.

Another concern that residents and local employees voiced about the construction was the dust in the air, which contractors have tried to quell, Kerslick said.

The sewer and water lines have not been replaced since 1895, according to Erik Whitney, assistant superintendent of the Department of Public Works, Water & Sewer.

We got our moneys worth out of this infrastructure, Whitney said. Its roughly a 100-year life cycle with the water and sewer, so this is a once in a lifetime project for everyone involved.

Aging aside, Whitney said that the water and sewage system needs an urgent update to provide adequate fire protection to the increasing population of Collegetown. According to Alderperson Stephen Smith (D-4th Ward), housing developments over the last five years have increased the living capacity of the area by approximately 1000 people, including the area of the College Avenue construction.

If a sprinkler system is activated, we need to know that the flow rate is enough to provide fire suppression, Whitney said. This was completely different with two or three story buildings. The new water pipes are larger than those installed in 1895 to supply sufficient water to these buildings in case of a fire.

The water and sewage pipes are being installed first because they are buried deeper than electrical and gas lines at around 5 and 8 feet deep respectively to avoid freezing in the winter. Electrical and gas lines, buried around two feet deep, will be installed next construction season.

Whitney said that the work has gone smoothly, finishing this stage of the project under the 800 thousand budget. Smith, though, was less optimistic.

I wouldve liked to see power lines buried at the same time as the water and sewage work, Smith said. But NYSEG is notoriously difficult to coordinate with, and notoriously bad at maintaining a construction schedule. Its obviously unfortunate to have two consecutive years of construction, but were having growing pains.

He added that the need for an improved sewage system is so serious that it could not wait for the NYSEG work happening next construction season. Theres always inconvenience, primarily for college students, Whitney said. Having one of the four years disrupted is a high percentage of their time here.

Unlike the water and sewage work, the electrical work is less urgent, according to Smith. The motivation for moving the electrical lines underground is to avoid outages or fallen power lines during a storm, as well as to improve the appearance of Collegetown.

This lattice work of power lines, its something you generally dont really notice, but it gives this exposed underdeveloped, temporary feel to things, Smith said. Its just not as neat and orderly or well designed as wed like a street with College Avenues prominence to be.

According to Smith, much of the reason that this work is happening now is that development in Collegetown has been discouraged since the 1970s. In 2012, city officials changed course, changing parking, zoning and height regulations to enable the larger developments which make replacement of the 134-year-old water and sewer lines even more urgent.

Smith said that permanent residents in Collegetown, tired of the student-dominated scene, implemented a regulation that every new building must have available one parking space for every two residents. This requirement meant that high-capacity buildings were effectively prohibited.

You can never build enough parking for a 50-unit apartment building, Smith said. But this strategy has unintended negative consequences, according to Smith. Many homeowners or developers paved over lawns to provide parking spaces, and renters spread out to surrounding single-family neighborhoods.

The 2012 decision also allowed developers to build taller buildings, and got rid of the requirement that structures cannot be built within five feet of the property line, therefore allowing owners with side-by-side properties to build adjoined buildings.

You see this in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and New York City, Smith said. It has this charming urban vibe.

The final stage of construction, scheduled to be completed in two years, involves redesigning the surface of the street.

This is a good opportunity to rethink what we want Collegetown to look like are the sidewalks wide enough, does it make sense to provide so much longterm on street parking should we install bike lanes, Smith said. People have even suggested blocking it off to all traffic besides bikes and busses.

Smith said the redesign is constrained by the age of the street. It was built for two carriages to pass each other, not two buses, he said.

But Smith, ultimately, saw a glass half-full. This is all in the purpose of creating a better neighborhood where people can feel comfortable and people can enjoy living, Smith said. Thats the light at the end of the tunnel.

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First Phase of College Avenue Construction Closes for the Season, on Schedule - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Video still from sprinklers going off at the old Target store in Campbell River. (Kory Wallace, Facebook)

Faulty sprinklers at the old Target store this morning wont put a damper on food donations this Christmas.

So says Knights of Columbus spokesperson, Kevin Gearey.

For 46 years, The Knights Of Columbus have been helping struggling individuals and families through their Community Christmas Hamper Fund.

Gearey said that just a small percentage of their food donations are stored there.

Right now, there is just the food that we got off the Fill The Bus (campaign), Gearey said. So theres not a whole lot. There might be five percent of the food that we are eventually going to use. And we are not in the Target area where the shopping occurred. Were in the area of Target where they used to have all of their storage their backroom sort of thing where its cement floors, cement and so on.

Gearey said most of the food is ordered during the first week of November and is delivered about two weeks before delivery day.

Thats when the 18 wheelers will come in and drop off the canned goods and dry goods and so on, and all of our perishable stuff goes to a cooler north of town, theres a company there that takes care of all of that for us the turkeys, hams, cheese, carrots, and the margarine they store that for us until the day we need it, he said.

Campbell River fire chief Thomas Doherty said the building is equipped with a dry sprinkler system for areas outside under the awnings.

These dry systems are normally charged with air (which holds the water valve closed) to eliminate the risk of the sprinkler line freezing outside.

Doherty said that when a sprinkler head activates on a dry system, or when the air compressor fails, the air escapes the system and the water valve opens which flows water to the dry system.

In some circumstances, the dry systems will charge when the compressor fails, but no sprinkler heads flow until the head itself activates due to heat, or damage, Doherty said.

Today, a sprinkler head on the dry system activated (failed for some reason) outside the building, there was no fire, Doherty added.

We were able to isolate the sprinkler system by shutting down the isolation valve to the dry system. There was no water damage to the building.

Continued here:
Knights of Columbus food hampers unaffected by fire sprinklers going off - My Comox Valley Now

Here are five important fire safety tips, courtesy of the Red Cross. St. Cloud Times/USA TODAY NETWORK, Wochit

Clive Fire Lt. Gerrit Foreman has worked25years fighting fires.

So whenhe saw the MadisonCounty home he partially built being devoured by flames over the weekend, his heart broke, he said. One of the family's dogs and two cats died, but Foreman's familymade it out alive. Only the fireplace was left standing.

Foreman said he felthelpless.

"That was the most humbling part, was looking at my kid's face and knowing that's something that I can't fix," Foreman said.

"I've grown up my whole life being able to fix everything and do everything, but this is something that no matter how much effort I put forward, I can't fix it."

All that was left standing of Clive Fire Lt. Gerrit Foreman was their fireplace.(Photo: Special to the Register)

Foreman splits his work time between Clive and Windsor Heights as a full-time firefighter and paramedic48 hours on, 24 hours off. He was working in Windsor Heights at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday when he got thetearful call from his wife, Connie, saying their house in St. Charles was on fire.

"First question I asked was, 'Was everybody out?'" Foreman said.

Foreman left the station and made thehalf-hour trip home as he spoke with his family.

When the fire started, Connie was in the house with their son, Evan, 15, and daughter, Hannah, 17. Their eldest, Emma, 19, was staying with a friend butdrove back to be with her family.

Clive Fire Lt. Gerrit Foreman returned to his home after a frantic call from his wife around 3:30 a.m. He arrived to see his St. Charles home in flames.(Photo: Special to the Register)

Hannahbegged over the phone for Foreman to do something as she watched the flames travel to her room.

"I've spent a majority of my time protecting other people, and I couldn't protect my family," Foreman said.

A neighbor housed his wife and kids as Foreman arrived. He asked a friend to be with him when he arrived.

Later, when Foreman brought the family'sdogs into a pole barn, he realized one of the sixwas missing.

Major, a German Shepherd who was Connie's "adamant companion," had followed her back into the house during the fire.He didn't make it back out.

The family had lived in the home for about five years. Foreman had remodeled the home and added a second staircase, a master bath and two bedrooms.

Foreman made sure his home had working fire alarms and two sets of stairs. He said his wifetold him she would have been dead if it weren'tfor the fire alarms he installed. Still, he said hewished he wouldhave installeda residential sprinkler system.

A fire destroyed the home of Clive Fire Lt. Gerrit Foreman. After his fire family started a GoFundMe, people have blown past the $3,000 goal and raised over $20,000.(Photo: Special to the Register)

Foreman began as a volunteer firefighter in 1994 in Truro, a town just south of St. Charles. In 2009, he applied to be a part-time firefighter in Clive.

At the interview, he was asked why he chose to apply inClive. He said hedidn't know he could get paid as a part-time firefighter until a friend told him about the opportunity.

He became a full-time firefighter a few years later.

"It kind of tugs at your soul," Foreman said."It's something that people really have a passion for and love doing. I love going and helping people. I love being the one that people turn to when they have no one else to ask for help.

"It's not a fire department anymore, it's an everything department."

Now, Foreman said itfeels strange being the one that needs help. The people in his community, without ever being asked, have stepped up. And his colleagues at the fire departmentin Clivestarted a fundraiser.

"I'm not used to being on the receiving end of this stuff," Foreman said."It's wonderful ... It just amazes me what people will do for you."

Clive Fire Chief Rick Roe said they expected to raise a few thousand dollars. The GoFundMe's $3,000 goal has been greatly surpassed with more than $23,000 raised for the Foremans.

"Gerrit's the kindof person that if anyone was down on their luck he'd be ... the first person to help somebody else," Roe said. "He's finding himself in the unique position where he's the person that could use a helping hand this time."

Foreman is taking some time off to decide on next steps. He said his wife joked that he won't last the week without working.

Here are some year-round fire prevention tips courtesy of the Delaware State Fire Marshal's Office. 8/13/19 Damian Giletto, The News Journal

Foreman said he thinks they will rebuild on the 20-acre land where thehouse stood. He said he can't imagine living anywhere else.

"I wouldn't change a thing about where I live. I love this community, the people that are in it," Foreman said."I hourly get texts and calls, 'What can we bring you? What can we do for you?' I know you see that in other places, but I think in a small-town community, something happens, and they really rally around you."

For now, Foreman said his kids seem to be responding as he does as a firefighter, ignoring the chaos and moving forward. They are running errands for their parents and offering other help where they can.

He said his children are actually stronger than he.

"They kind of went, 'Yep, it's time to take over,'" Foreman said.

Foreman said he and his wife are still wrapping their heads around the loss of a home. He comparedhis houseto a hunter's trophy.

Foreman said for hisfamily of hunters, their stuffed turkeys don't just serve as trophiesbut as mementos for what they experienced and accomplished together. After building onto his home with his children, wife and friends, he felt their home served the same purpose.

When they buildagain, Foreman said their new home will be a reminder of how fast things can change.

"Been doing this (firefighting) 25 years, and I don't think I ever once thought that that could be me," Foreman said.

Danielle Gehr is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. She can be reached by email at dgehr@dmreg.com, by phone at 515-284-8367 or on Twitter at @Dani_Gehr.

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'That's something that I can't fix': Clive firefighter is heartbroken after fire destroys his family's home - Des Moines Register

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