Wild Fires

[American Patriot]

Map: Colorado wildfires real-time social media response 2013
Posted: 06/12/2013 12:19:18 PM MDT
Updated: 06/15/2013 11:04:34 AM MDT
By Daniel J. Schneider and Leo Postovoit
The Denver Post

A continuously updated map of US wildfire locations, perimeters, fire potential areas, global burn areas, and precipitation. See the real-time effects of the fires via social media posts, photos and videos. Provided by Esri.com.

Read more: Map: Colorado wildfires real-time social media response 2013 - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/wildfires/...#ixzz2X93iOVEk


http://www.denverpost.com/wildfires/...a-response-map

[American Patriot]

Map: Colorado wildfires real-time social media response 2013
Posted: 06/12/2013 12:19:18 PM MDT
Updated: 06/15/2013 11:04:34 AM MDT
By Daniel J. Schneider and Leo Postovoit
The Denver Post

A continuously updated map of US wildfire locations, perimeters, fire potential areas, global burn areas, and precipitation. See the real-time effects of the fires via social media posts, photos and videos. Provided by Esri.com.

Read more: Map: Colorado wildfires real-time social media response 2013 - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/wildfires/...#ixzz2X93iOVEk


http://www.denverpost.com/wildfires/...a-response-map

[American Patriot]

The East Peak fire is at 12,500 acres.

West Fork Complex fire at 76,000 acres.

East Fork 183 acres.

Trickle Mtn, 271 acres.

Ox Cart 250 acres.

Bull Gulch, 34 acres.

Lime Gulch 511 acres.

Brush Creek 400 acres.

Collins 380 acres.

Wild Rose 1067 acres.

The Black Forest fire had 2 lives lost, several injuries (nothing serious I hear) and 511 homes destroyed. 28 were partially damaged. $8.5 MILLION to FIGHT the blazes. 22 SQUARE miles of area were burned - that's over 14,000 acres.

It is the most destructive fire in Colorado History.

The West Fork Complex fire is the largest thus far. That fire is out of control, they have zero containment, no one has been injured or killed to our knowledge and no structures have burned as far as anyone knows. The West Fork Complex fire is actually three fires burning near highways 149 and 160 between Creede, South Fork and the Wolf Creek Ski Area in Southern Colorado. The complex includes the West Fork, Papoose and Windy Pass fires. Their collective perimeters are estimated at 76,000 acres, an increase of about 5,800 acres from estimates earlier Sunday.

The Papoose Fire has burned close to Highway 149, but has stayed west of the highway and had not crossed it. It is the fire closest to the town of Creede, a town of 300 permanent residents, which is northwest of South Fork.

Fire officials said Sunday that they are still optimistic they can protect the town of South Fork, however pre-evacuation notices were in place for West Fork Road and along East Fork Road.


The fire's rapid advance prompted the evacuation of thousands of summer visitors and South Fork's 400 permanent residents Friday, and it could be days before people are allowed back into their homes, cabins and RV parks. South Fork Mayor Kenneth Brooke is estimating that 1,000 to 1,500 people were forced to flee.

[American Patriot]

The sad news....

Black Forest fire victims were members of Air Force Space Command

Posted: 06/18/2013 10:11:36 AM MDT
Updated: 06/19/2013 09:14:31 AM MDT

By Sadie Gurman and Yesenia Robles
The Denver Post



Homeowner Amy Feik, right, gets a hug from Monika Hannan, a public health psychologist with El Paso County on Tuesday at the property she lived on with boyfriend Robert Runyard, left. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)




Andrew Thompson, of the El Paso County Sheriff's department, checks the IDs of residents before letting them cross a roadblock at the intersection of Wildridge and Herring Roads. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)


Related


BLACK FOREST — A husband and wife who died while trying to flee the Black Forest fire last week were longtime members of Air Force Space Command, officials said Tuesday.


A co-worker said they died trying to protect firefighters by removing ammunition and propane tanks from their home and loading them into their car.


The victims were identified by the El Paso County Sheriff's office as Marc Allen Herklotz, 52, and his wife, Robin Lauran Herklotz, 50.


Their bodies were found in the garage of their home on Jicarilla Drive in Black Forest, near the area where investigators believe the fire began. Officials said the doors of their car were open and it appeared they were trying to evacuate. The home sat on a heavily wooded 2.6-acre lot, according to county records.


Investigators spoke to someone who talked to the victims by phone at about 5 p.m. on June 11, just hours after the fire started, Sheriff Terry Maketa said last week. In the background of the phone call, the person could hear popping sounds.


"All indications on scene is that they were planning on leaving quickly," Maketa said.


Neighbors Bob and Barbara Schmidt told The Associated Press that they last saw the Herklotzes about 4:35 p.m. The Schmidts said the Herklotzes told them they had not received an automated evacuation call but were packing and "they'd leave when they needed to."


Identification of the bodies was difficult because the fire burned for several days in that area at about 2,500 degrees, Maketa said Tuesday. The bodies were identified through a cooperative effort by the El Paso County coroner's office and a forensic dentist.


Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said investigators have learned little about the circumstances of the couple's deaths.


"The coroner had very little in the way of remains to work with," he said.


James Wing, a co-worker and friend of the couple, described them as happy and inseparable.


"It's a small consolation for those that knew them that they were together in the end, but it would not have been a small consolation to them," Wing said.


Wing said Marc was a radio-control enthusiast like his father, and had rare and impressive model airplanes hanging in his office where he worked writing intelligence software for the Air Force.


In their death, Wing said he learned the couple was thinking of the safety of firefighters first, likely causing them to take too long to evacuate when the fire was approaching.

"Marc was a shooting enthusiast and he had lots of ammunition and also propane tanks," Wing said. "A neighbor saw them loading them, trying to remove all of it, so that it wouldn't pose a danger to firefighters."


A son of the couple is on tour in Afghanistan, Wing said.


An Air Force news release said Marc Herklotz served in the Air Force from 1983-87 and worked as a civilian employee in the Innovation Division of Space Command's Air, Space and Cyberspace Operations Directorate. Robin Herklotz was an Air Force contractor.


"Both were longtime members of Air Force Space Command, supporting critical air, space and cyberspace operational missions from offices on Schriever Air Force Base," the release said.


The fire began at about 2 p.m. on June 11 in Black Forest north of Colorado Springs, and it quickly raced through ponderosa pine and shrub oak.


It has burned 14,280 acres and destroyed 509 homes. Maketa said there are still 937 homes and 9,830 acres under the mandatory evacuation order. About 2,600 people remain out of their homes; at the high point of the fire, almost 40,000 people were evacuated.


As of Tuesday evening, the fire was 85 percent contained.


As people return, Maketa said to remember those who no longer have homes.


"We need to not lose sight of those who lost every memory they ever created," he said.


The cause of the fire has not been determined. Maketa has said investigators believe it was human-caused and are narrowing in on a point of origin. He said Tuesday that area is 40 feet square.


"It's certainly something you do not rush," Maketa said. "It is important to determine if the fire was caused accidentally or intentionally."


The sheriff's office Tuesday downgraded additional mandatory evacuation areas, allowing residents like Robert Runyard to go home for the first time in a week.


Runyard is admittedly sentimental, but he held his cool as he bounded down the winding roads of Black Forest for his first glimpse of the rubble and wreckage he once called home.


The skeletal trees and charred rolling hills offered further proof of what he already knew: The house on Swan Road had become part of the landscape. A lone brick wall, streaked black with smoke, jutted out like a beacon.


"This is my neighborhood," he said. "What a mess."


Camera in hand and girlfriend Amy Feik by his side, he took stock of the remains: a pile of blackened nails from inside a melted bucket, a motorcycle helmet that crumbled at the touch, a Subaru station wagon, mangled and gutted.


"My first souvenir!" Runyard said, grabbing its license plate from the ground. The numbers had burned off.


But, at least for the moment, Runyard didn't flinch. The veteran was "back in battle mode."


"I saw parts of Kuwait like this," he said, sifting through the ashes of his two-story barn. He'd lived in the home since 1986. He designed it himself and made many upgrades.


"I'll cry when you leave," he said.


The couple wandered further into the disorienting landscape. They uncovered the twisted remains of rifles, a battered washing machine.
"The wheelbarrow is still there!" Feik yelled.


"This is the hose!" Runyard shouted.


"Oh my God, do you remember when I took a pottery class and made a little bowl?" Feik said pulling it from the rubble. Later, a shattered coffee mug made her smile.
"Every object you find has a story," Runyard said. "Some of the things I thought would survive the fire didn't, but I guess that's not surprising."


Still, his assessment was that it could have been worse.


"It's under control," he told Feik, and gave her a kiss.



Read more: Black Forest fire victims were members of Air Force Space Command - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/coloradowi...#ixzz2X99Yf0nY
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[American Patriot]

Sad news... nineteen fire fighters were killed in Arizon yesterday evening. Not Colorado but most of the fire news is here.

Sorry to have to report this.

[American Patriot]

CBS/AP/ July 1, 2013, 8:21 AM
19 firefighters killed battling fast-moving Ariz. wildfire

Last Updated 8:21 a.m. ET

YARNELL, Ariz. Triple-digit heat and 45 mile-per-hour wind gusts fueled an out-of-control blaze Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew.

It was the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. in 80 years.

The "hotshot" firefighters were forced to deploy their emergency fire shelters -- tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat -- when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, state forestry spokesperson Art Morrison told The Associated Press.

The fire also destroyed an estimated 200 homes, Morrison said. Dry grass near the communities of Yarnell and Glen Isla fed the fast-moving blaze, which was whipped up by wind and raced through the homes, he said.

CBS Phoenix, Ariz. Affiliate KPHO-TV reports at least eight firefighters suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital. The extent of their injuries wasn't known.

The men were trying to help get the blaze under control when the fire suddenly shifted, taking them by surprise.

"This fire was very radical in its behavior, said Michael Reichling, a spokesman for the Arizona State Forestry Division. "The fields were very dry, the relative humidity was low, the winds were coming out of the south. It turned around on us because of the monsoon action this afternoon. They were just caught up in a very bad situation."

The fire still burned late Sunday, with flames lighting up the night sky in the forest above Yarnell, a town of about 700 residents about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix. Most people had evacuated from the town, and no injuries or other deaths were reported.

The fire started after a lightning strike on Friday and spread to some 8,000 acres on Sunday amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions, state forestry spokesperson Carrie Dennett told CBS News.

Early Monday, there was still zero containment on the fire, CBS News' John Blackstone reported.

The disaster all but wiped out the 20-member Hotshot fire crew based in Prescott, leaving the city's fire department reeling.

"We grieve for the family. We grieve for the department. We grieve for the city," Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said at a news conference Sunday evening. "We're devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet."

"Every precaution is always taken," Fraijo said. "The trouble is, sometimes it's such an erratic situation. When you have that much fuel, in those dry conditions, it becomes very unpredictable."

A wildfire burns homes in Yarnell, Ariz. on Sunday, June 30, 2013. An Arizona fire chief says the wildfire that killed 19 members of his crew near the town was moving fast and fueled by hot, dry conditions.
/ AP/The Arizona Republic, David Kadlubowski

All 19 members were part of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, elite firefighters who often hike for miles into the wilderness with chain saws and backpacks filled with heavy gear to build lines of protection between people and fires. They remove brush, trees and anything that might burn in the direction of homes and cities.

The crew was working around Barbara Potter's property on Saturday.

"I waved at one of them and I said, 'What's up guys, is there fire in the back of the neighborhood or something?' And they said, 'No, we're looking at where we can set up a break to try and save your neighborhood,'" Potter told CBS News, choking up. "And now they're gone."

The crew killed in the blaze had worked other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona, Fraijo said.

"By the time they got there, it was moving very quickly," he told the AP of Sunday's fire.

He added that the firefighters had to deploy the emergency shelters when "something drastic" occurred.

"One of the last fail-safe methods that a firefighter can do under those conditions is literally to dig as much as they can down and cover themselves with a protective -- kinda looks like a foil type -- fire-resistant material -- with the desire, the hope at least, is that the fire will burn over the top of them and they can survive it," Fraijo said.

"Under certain conditions, there's usually only sometimes a 50 percent chance that they survive," he said. "It's an extreme measure that's taken under the absolute worst conditions."

Nineteen fire shelters were deployed, and some of the firefighters were found inside them, while others were outside the shelters, Reichling told the Arizona Republic.

The National Fire Protection Association had previously listed the deadliest wildland fire involving firefighters as the 1994 Storm King Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colo., which killed 14 firefighters who were overtaken by a sudden explosion of flames. The association website lists the last wildland fire to kill more firefighters as the 1933 Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles, which killed 29. The most firefighters - 340 - were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, according to the website.

U.S. wildfire disasters date back more than two centuries and include tragedies like the 1949 Mann Gulch fire near Helena, Mont., that killed 13 (recounted in Norman Maclean's award-winning 1992 book, "Young Men and Fire"), or the Rattlesnake blaze four years later that claimed 15 firefighters in Southern California.

President Obama expressed his condolences to the families of the 19 firefighters in a statement issued in Africa, where his trip continued Monday, calling the firefighters heroes and highly skilled professionals who "put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens they would never meet." He said the federal government was assisting state and local officials.

"This is as dark a day as I can remember," Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement. "It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work."

Brewer said she would travel to the area Monday.

In a statement, Sen. John McCain called the "devastating loss" "a reminder of the grave risks our firefighters take every day on our behalf in Arizona and in communities across this nation. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten."

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, whose district includes Yarnell, shot off a series of tweets Sunday night sending his condolences to those affected. He said his office will remain in contact with emergency responders and would offer help to those who needed it.

Other high-profile Arizonans expressed their shock on Twitter, including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who called it "absolutely devastating news." U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., tweeted that he was "sick with the news."

Chuck Overmyer and his wife, Ninabill, said they lost their 1,800-square-foot home in the fire.

They were helping friends flee when it switched directions and moved toward his property. They loaded up what belongings they could, including three dogs and a 1930 model hot rod on a trailer. As he looked out his rear view mirror, he could see embers on the roof of his garage.

"We knew it was gone," he said.

He later gathered at the Arrowhead Bar and Grill in nearby Congress along with locals and watched on TV as he saw the fire destroy his house.

"That was when we knew it was really gone," he said.

He later fielded a phone call from a friend in which he said, "Lost it all, man. Yep, it's all gone."

Morrison said the fire grew in intensity when winds began gusting at up to 24 mph in the late afternoon.

"You get some winds, and it can take off on you," he said.

Two hundred firefighters were working on the fire Sunday, but several hundred more were expected to arrive Monday when a new fire management team takes over.

The fire has forced the closure of parts of state Route 89.

The Red Cross opened two shelters in the area, at Yavapai College in Prescott and at the Wickenburg High School gym.

Prescott, which is more than 30 miles northeast of Yarnell, is one of the only cities in the United States that has a hot shot fire crew, Fraijo said. The unit was established in 2002, and the city also has 75 suppression team members.

[MinutemanCO]

What a terrible loss of such fine selfless people. Prayers to their families and friends, to those who mourn their sudden passing.

[Ryan Ruck]

We could change the thread title to a more generic "Wild Fires" and have it as a catch-all thread.

[American Patriot]

Requiescant in pace

[vector7]

‘Terrible, Terrible Dark Day in Arizona’: 19 Firefighters Perish Battling Deadliest U.S. Wildfire in 30 Years

Jun. 30, 2013 11:18pm Dave Urbanski

• 150
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YARNELL, Ariz. (TheBlaze/AP) — Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years.

KPNX-TV reported the crew was known as the Granite Mountain “hotshot” firefighters. The members were forced to deploy their fire shelters – tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat – when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, state forestry spokesman Art Morrison told The Associated Press.



An undated photo of the Granite Mountain “Hotshot” Crew from the Prescott Fire Department. It is not clear if any of the 19 in the photo were among the firefighters who lost their lives. (Credit: KPNX-TV)

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo, his voice breaking at times, said that the 19 firefighters were a part of the city’s fire department. One member of the crew was working in a different location and survived, Fraijo told KPNX-TV. The crew killed in the blaze had worked other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona.

“By the time they got there, it was moving very quickly,” he said.

He added that the firefighters had to deploy the emergency shelters when “something drastic” occurred.

“One of the last fail safe methods that a firefighter can do under those conditions is literally to dig as much as they can down and cover themselves with a protective – kinda looks like a foil type- fire-resistant material – with the desire, the hope at least, is that the fire will burn over the top of them and they can survive it,” Fraijo said.

“Under certain conditions there’s usually only sometimes a 50 percent chance that they survive,” he said. “It’s an extreme measure that’s taken under the absolute worst conditions.”

Prescott, which is more than 30 miles northeast of Yarnell, is one of the only cities in the United States that has a hot shot fire crew, Fraijo said. The unit was established in 2002, and the city also has 75 suppression team members.

The flames lit up the night sky in the forest above the town, and smoke from the blaze could be smelled for miles.

The fire started Friday and spread to 2,000 acres on Sunday amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. Officials ordered the evacuations of 50 homes in several communities, and later Sunday afternoon, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office expanded the order to include more residents in Yarnell, a town of about 700 residents about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.


A home burns amidst the Yarnell Hill Fire in Yarnell, Ariz. on Sunday, June 30, 2013. The fire started Friday and picked up momentum as the area experienced high temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. (Credit: AP)

Previously Mike Reichling, Arizona State Forestry Division spokesman, told the Arizona Republic that 20 firefighters were involved in a “serious incident.”

The National Fire Protection Association had previously listed the deadliest wildland fire involving firefighters as the 1994 Storm King Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colo., which killed 14 firefighters who were overtaken by a sudden explosion of flames.

U.S. wildfire disasters date back more than two centuries and include tragedies like the 1949 Mann Gulch fire near Helena, Mont., that killed 13, or the Rattlesnake blaze four years later that claimed 15 firefighters in Southern California.

“A terrible, terrible dark day in Arizona,” Gov. Jan Brewer told KPNX-TV. She added in a statement: “This is as dark a day as I can remember. It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work.”


The Yarnell Hill Fire burns through the town of Yarnell, Ariz. on Sunday, June 30, 2013. (Credit: AP)

Morrison said several homes in the community of Glenisle burned on Sunday. He said no other injuries or deaths have been reported from that area.

About 200 firefighters are fighting the wildfire, which has also forced the closure of parts of state Route 89.

Reichling also told The Arizona Republic the fire they’re calling in federal help to fight the fire.

Roxie Glover, spokeswoman at Wickenburg Community Hospital, told The Associated Press that the hospital has been told to expect residents with injuries and firefighters.


Tanker 910 makes a retardant drop Yarnell Hill Fire to help protect the Double Bar A Ranch near Peeples Valley, Ariz., Sunday, June 30, 2013. (Credit: AP)

In the afternoon, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office expanded the evacuations to include residents in the Peeples Valley area and in the town of Yarnell.

The wildfire also forced the closure of parts of state Route 89, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced. The department did not have an estimate of how long the closure would last but advised drivers to use U.S. 93 or Interstate 17 as alternate routes.


Dean Smith watches as the Yarnell Hill Fire encroaches on his home in Glenn Ilah on Sunday, June 30, 2013 near Yarnell, Ariz. (Credit: AP)

The Red Cross has opened a shelter at Yavapai College in Prescott, the sheriff’s office said.

The Yarnell Hill Fire now covers nearly 2,000 acres, according to the newspaper.

The fire started Friday but picked up momentum Sunday as the area experienced high temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions.

An additional 130 firefighters and more water- and retardant-dropping helicopters and aircraft are on their way.

In another Arizona fire, a 2-acre blaze that started at a motorcycle salvage yard and spread to a trailer park has destroyed five mobile homes in the Gila County community of Rye, located more than 130 miles east of Yarnell.

Gila County Health and Emergency Services Director Michael O’Driscoll said no one was injured in Rye.

The fire was ignited Saturday night at All Bikes Sales located off Highway 87. It spread to neighboring federal Forest Service land but was fully contained within 12 hours of its start.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Seven adults and two children were staying at a shelter set up for people who were evacuated, the Red Cross said.

Watch coverage of the fire via KPNX-TV

Here’s footage of the fire from USA Today:


This is a breaking news story. Updates will be added.

SilentReader

Jul. 1, 2013 at 12:05am

Did you know that the Jihadist magazine Inspire is asking for Muslims to go out and start fires?

I hope you are all aware of this and do your research.

http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2013/06/f...n-america.html

An excerpt from the article:

Bill Scott, a senior fellow at ACD, warned about such a scenario last July, speaking at the ACD/EWI Economic Threats briefing on Capital Hill. An expert on aerial firefighting, he presented a sobering analysis of the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire, pointing out that the striking rise Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature.

He noted that in spring 2012, al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called “It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,” which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.

A few months later, Russia’s security (FSB) chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov warned, ”al-Qaeda was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe” as part of the terrorists’ “strategy of a thousand cuts.”

Bortnikov spoke of “extremist sites [that] contained detailed instructions of waging the ‘forest jihad’ and stressed that such a method had proved itself effective as it inflicted both physical and moral damage, needed little training or investment and it was extremely hard for police to find and apprehend the arsonists.”

[vector7]

'Perfect storm' wildfire raging in Arizona claims 19 men in elite unit

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

[vector7]

Monday, July 1, 2013
Arizona inferno: 19 firefighters killed, town evacuated, 500 homes destroyed



Arizona inferno: 19 firefighters killed, town evacuated, 500 homes destroyed. HT: RussiaToday.

An estimated 500 homes have been destroyed by the ongoing fire that is currently covering more than 2,000 acres. Wickenburg Community Hospital is treating at least eight firefighters who were among 22 injured in the line of duty.

"It has been confirmed that 19 wildland firefighters have lost their lives on the Yarnell Hill fire Arizona," the US Wildland Fire Aviation said in a statement, Reuters reports.

TRUE HEROES! PHOTO FROM THE 19 PRESCOTT FIREFIGHTERS IN BETTER DAYS. 'THOUGHTS & PRAYERS TO THEIR FAMILIES'. DCOURIER http://t.co/pcMw5mvpEa
— 911 Operator (@911BUFF) July 1, 2013

Arizona State Forestry Division spokesman, Mike Reichling, said the fire is quickly reaching “Type 1” status. It is estimated that two hundred firefighters are now battling the flames. Federal authorities are expected to arrive with additional force to help tackle the disaster. Reichling expects manpower to reach about 400 people and involve numerous water carrying aircrafts

About 250 firefighters, including two Type 2 crews, three Type 1 crews, and four engines, were on the scene, Reichling said. Three Type 1 crews, seven helicopters, two air tankers, four single engine air tankers, and multiple engines and air tankers were ordered.

Earlier Sunday, 50 homes in the Buckhorn, Model Creek and Double A Bar Ranch areas some 85 miles from Phoenix were ordered to evacuate. By afternoon the evacuation order included residents in the Peeples Valley area and in the town of Yarnell.

The natural disaster also shut down state Route 89, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced.

The Red Cross has opened a shelter at Yavapai College in Prescott, the sheriff's office said.

The blaze erupted first on Friday but rapidly spread on Sunday as the area was hit by unfavorable weather conditions.

Update:
YARNELL, Ariz. — Gusty hot winds blew an Arizona wildfire out of control on Sunday, overtaking and killing 19 elite firefighters in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years.

The specially trained "hotshot" firefighters were forced to deploy their fire shelters — tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat — when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, state forestry spokesman Art Morrison told The Associated Press.

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo also said that 19 firefighters had been killed by the fire. "The entire hot shot crew had been killed by the fire," he said. He said that the firefighters had to deploy the emergency shelters when "something drastic happened." The crew killed in the blaze had worked other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona. The unit was established in 2002.
Hmmmm........
Forest Fires an Act of Jihad- Fresh From ‘Inspire’, Al-Qaeda’s English Language Online Magazine.

This is not a land management issue. It is a national security issue. As is securing the border and more vigilant monitoring of suspicious, profiled individuals. Yes, I said it profiled individuals -not every living, breathing American citizen.

[vector7]

Jihadist Group: We Started Arizona Wildfires

451 Comments



Oh the many facets of jihad! Now we’re seeing fire jihad in America. According to reporter David Barnett, a Palestinian jihadist group, Masada al Mujahideen, has recently claimed credit for the ongoing wildfires in Arizona in a statement that was posted to a jihadist forum on Wednesday.

Barnett reports:

The statement, titled “Masada al-Mujahideen Fulfilled its Promise and Attacked America Again After the Expiration of the Period with Fires that Achieved Historic Results,” was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

“We had previously announced an unconventional war against the occupation state of Israel, and then we escalated this war to reach its main supporter, America, so that it receives a major share of it, which will destroy their flora and fauna, with permission from Allah and then with our hands,” the group said.

The statement further said that the group targeted the United States “in order to make it clear and to make it know we can reach it when we warn it, and to make it certain that our hands don’t just reach it but also strike it.”

The group warned that the attacks “will not be the last…if America does not respond to our demands.” The statement boasted that 19 firefighters had been killed in the fires.

Authorities contradict Masada al-Mujahideen’s claims, saying that they believe the fires were started by lightning.

This is not the first time they have claimed responsibility for fires in the United States. In January of 2012, they also claimed credit for wildfires in Nevada and they have claimed credit for over a dozen fires in Israel since 2010.

They have also claimed numerous attacks on Israel other than the fires, including rocket and mortar attacks.

Masada al-Mujahideen formed in April of 2008, claiming Abu Omar al Ansari as its leader.

Whether their claims are true or not is anyone’s guess. However, Pamela Geller points out:

The devout Muslim group, Al Qaeda, has long urged the setting of forest fires as a form of jihad (holy war). Spring 2012: al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called “It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,” which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.

What should disturb everyone is that anyone would claim responsibility for such atrocities, especially these guys, right? They’re from the “religion of peace” (Yes, there’s loads of sarcasm laced in that statement.)

[vector7]

Jihadists claim credit for Arizona fires

'Our hands don't just reach America, but also strike it'

Published: 07/05/2013 at 9:05 PM Drew Zahn About | Email | Archive



A Palestinian jihadist group, Masada al Mujahideen, has claimed credit for starting the ongoing Arizona wildfire that has killed 19 firefighters, according to a report from The Long War Journal’s David Barnett.

The Long War Journal is a project of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, whose leadership council includes among others former CIA Director R. James Woolsey Jr. and Former FBI Director Louis Freeh.

According to the report, the SITE Intelligence Group obtained and translated from a jihadist Internet forum a statement titled “Masada al-Mujahideen Fulfilled its Promise and Attacked America Again After the Expiration of the Period with Fires that Achieved Historic Results.”

The statement boasted of the deaths of the 19 firefighters and claimed, “We had previously announced an unconventional war against the occupation state of Israel, and then we escalated this war to reach its main supporter, America, so that it receives a major share of it, which will destroy their flora and fauna, with permission from Allah and then with our hands.”

The statement further said that the group targeted the United States “in order to make it clear and to make it known we can reach it when we warn it, and to make it certain that our hands don’t just reach it, but also strike it.”

The Arizona fire killed 19 of 20 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew, the greatest loss of life for firefighters in a wildfire since 1933 and the deadliest day for U.S. firefighters since the 9/11 when 340 died.

“Just as we remembered the brave men who ran into the twin towers,” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said, “we will also remember the men of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.”

Thus far, however, ABC News reports authorities believe the Arizona wildfire began with a lightning strike in Yarnell, Ariz., about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix, before spreading to roughly 6,000 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions.

As WND reported, authorities have said a similarly deadly fire that struck Colorado last month was not the result of any “lightning strike.”

“One thing that my investigators have given me the authority to state is that they have all but ruled out natural causes as the cause of this fire,” said Colorado’s El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa. “I can’t really go any further on that, but I can say we are pretty confident it was not, for instance, a lightning strike.”

One expert on Islamic terrorism believes the wildfire that ravaged the outskirts of Colorado Springs, killing two people and destroying more than 500 homes, should be examined by terror investigators, if for no other reason because of the history of threats from al-Qaida and others to burn America’s forests.

At the American Center for Democracy, noted terror funding expert Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote that Bill Scott, a senior fellow at ACD, warned about terrorist fires last July, speaking at the briefing on Capital Hill.

“An expert on aerial firefighting, he presented a sobering analysis of the devastating (2012) Waldo Canyon Fire [in Colorado], pointing out that the striking rise [in] Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “He noted that in spring 2012, al-Qaida’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called ‘It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,’ which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.”

She explained that Russia’s security chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov, also has warned, “Al-Qaida was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe” as part of terrorism’s “strategy of a thousand cuts.”



“Since then, more fatwas advocating that ‘fire is a cheap, easy and effective tool for economic warfare’ have been issued,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “They’ve included detailed instructions for constructing remote-controlled ‘ember bombs, and how to set fires without leaving a trace.’”

Israel’s forests also have been targeted, she noted.

“While many of the fires that have scorched millions of acres and destroyed thousands of homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and other states have been identified as arson, none has been publicly attributed to criminal or terrorist groups, despite the presence of Mexican gangs and [a] large number of other illegals in our Western states,” she said.

Mother Jones reported Don Smurthwaite, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman, “downplayed” Ehrenfeld’s ideas, “but he didn’t dismiss the notion outright.”

“We don’t have any hard evidence that any wildfires in the U.S. were started by terrorists in recent years,” he told the publication. “But is it a possibility? Certainly.”

He noted the last confirmed weaponized wildfires were in World War II, when the Japanese sent incendiary balloons across the Pacific.

However, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported al-Qaida was advising would-be terrorists how best to burn America.

The terror group’s magazine included pictures, diagrams and explanations on how to start fires to obtain the most damage.

CBN analyst Erick Stakelbeck said the extreme detail provides reason for concern. The information, he said, is “all designed to cause the maximum amount of carnage and death.”

CBN noted that in the U.S., more houses are built in the countryside than in the cities and cited a Montana fire chief who said the prospect of a wildfire terrorist attack was not farfetched.

WND also reported websites run by jihadis made claims of arson in a number of California wildfires.

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be “al-Qaida’s plan of economic attack” on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation’s forests into raging infernos.

The National Terror Alert Response Center report said: “We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call.”

Even in 2003, an FBI memo warned that national forests in the West could be the next target for terror by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic, warned law enforcement that a senior al-Qaida detainee told interrogators he planned to spark multiple, catastrophic wildfires simultaneously in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming to strike a blow to the U.S. economy.

WND also reported documents recovered from a remote area along the Pakistan border revealed that bin Laden wanted al-Qaida to launch a “global fireball” by lighting forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and South America.

The documents, uncovered during an operation led by the British intelligence service MI6, were described by experts in that agency as “the most worrying [plot] that the world is facing.”

[MinutemanCO]

'Our hands don't just reach America, but also strike it'

My fist doesn't just reach your face, it punches you square in your cowardly jaw.

[American Patriot]

My fist doesn't just reach his face, it will rip the heart out of his children's chests, the slimy coward camel fucker.

[Phil Fiord]

American Patriot, You called this attack method long ago.

[American Patriot]

Muslims caught trespassing Boston reservoir now a “criminal matter”

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Dr. Eowyn | Leave a comment
U.S. officials have determined that some of the wildfires that burnt in California last year were started by al-Qaeda operatives. (See “Wildfires started by Al-Qaeda as economic warfare against America“)
It is therefore not at all far-fetched to think that terrorists would also target America’s water-supply.
Do you remember the news from last May, about 7 Muslims caught trespassing after midnight at the Quabbin Reservoir that supplies water to Boston, Massachusetts?
At the time, we were told that the seven were “chemical engineers” who were on an innocent “field trip” to observe the water storage structure. At midnight!
Ha!
Now comes news that the trespassing is a “criminal matter.” But do we hear/see this news on the alphabet TV networks?

Quabbin Reservoir

EJ Haust reports for the Conservative Daily News, August 30, 2013, that the seven individuals apprehended for trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, Massachusetts, just after midnight May 14, 2013 are part of an “on-going criminal matter,” according to the Massachusetts State Police (MSP).
However, MSP refuses to release information on the identities of the seven individuals, not even the specific charges filed against them, if any.
In response to a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request for names, addresses, court dates, and charges filed against the seven individuals, the Office of Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts State Police cited several state statutes exempting the release of information requested.
“Please be advised G.L. c. 4, XXSSXX 7 cl. 26(a) exempts from public disclosure any records that are “specifically or by necessary implication exempted from disclosure by statute.” In this instance, your request falls within this exemption since releasing the requested information would violate… the Criminal Offender Record Information (“CORI”) statute.”
The letter comes more than 3 months following an incident whereby 5 men and 2 women were apprehended for trespassing at the largest drinking water supply for the greater Boston area in the middle of the night. The 7 individuals of Singaporean, Pakistani, and Saudi Arabian decent claimed to be chemical engineering students, according to local news reports. No other information has been made public about the identities of the individuals involved.
The response letter revealed ties to a larger criminal investigation.
“…according to information provided to this office, this incident remains the subject of an on-going criminal matter.”
The Massachusetts State Police recently shared publicly their discontent with a Clerk Magistrate’s decision not to proceed with the criminal investigation of the seven individuals. The magistrate judge who’s blocking the criminal investigation is from the East Hampshire District Court which serves Belchertown, MA where the reservoir is located.
Robert Spencer of JihadWatch urges us to call the Office of Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts State Police and urge them, politely and respectfully, to release all information on this case immediately: (508) 820-2311.
~Eowyn

[vector7]

Are terrorists setting U.S. wildfires?

Ex-NSA official: Al-Qaida ignited California blazes

Published: 23 hours ago
Joe Kovacs


Firefighters battle a 2013 summer wildfire in Yosemite National Park. (KRON-TV)

As the 2013 season of devastating wildfires continues to rage across the American West, the question of arson as a form of major terrorism is again being raised.

Already this year, 35,440 reported fires have burned a total of 3.9 million acres, with a quarter-million acres scorched the iconic Yosemite National Park.

Large blazes continue to burn in several states, with six alive in Idaho, five each in California and Montana, and one each in Alaska, Louisiana, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, says at this time last year, 45,278 fires had burned 7.9 million acres, and in 2011, there were 55,619 fires devastating 7.2 million acres.

In July 2012, William Scott, a former National Security Agency official and Aviation Week editor, told the American Center for Democracy that terrorists are using fire as a tactical weapon of war.

“Perhaps the most simple form of economic warfare is wild land arson,” Scott said in his “Fire Wars” presentation. “That’s just setting fires in U.S. forests [and] grasslands.”

“For any terrorists that are determined to inflict significant damage with very little investment or risk, fire is an extremely high-leverage weapon of mass effect.”

Scott explained that after U.S. Navy SEALs killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, they “captured a treasure trove of material that provided some unprecedented insight into the al-Qaida plans. And one of those was a detailed campaign for starting fires throughout the [American] West.”

“U.S. officials have pretty much determined that some of the fires that burned in California [in 2011] were ignited by al-Qaida operatives,” Scott said.

An editorial in June by the Washington Examiner noted, “Those trying to downplay the threat of terrorism have dismissed such a possibility as paranoid. As Americans learned in 2001, and again as recently as 2012 in Benghazi and 2013 with the Boston Marathon bombing, terrorist threats are not something to take lightly.”

This year’s wildfire in Yosemite started Aug. 17 in the Stanislaus National Forest, but authorities believe it was not an act off terror. They say a hunter’s illegal fire swept out of control, torching 394 square miles of timber, meadows and sensitive wildlife habitat. The Associated Press reports it has cost more than $89 million to fight, and officials say it will cost tens of millions of dollars more to repair the environmental damage alone.


Yosemite National Park has been decimated by fire in the summer of 2013.

As WND reported in June, an expert on Islamic terrorism believes a wildfire that ravaged the outskirts of Colorado Springs, Colo., killing two people and destroying more than 500 homes, should be examined by terror investigators.

“One thing that my investigators have given me the authority to state is that they have all but ruled out natural causes as the cause of this fire,” said Sheriff Terry Maketa at the time. “I can’t really go any further on that, but I can say we are pretty confident it was not, for instance, a lightning strike.”

That single blaze in Colorado caused more than $85 million in damage, but that figure is expected to rise to possibly $120 million.

The causes for most forest fires are limited to electrical problems, out-of-control campfires or grills, accidents such as a car fire and sparks from chain saws or other back-country tools.

Those causes, to an expert investigator, are readily identifiable.

But authorities said they were focusing on a 28-foot square patch where they believe the fire started, examining some portions with a magnifying glass.

At the American Center for Democracy, noted terror funding expert Rachel Ehrenfeld suggested circumstances are a little suspicious.

Ehrenfeld, once targeted by a Saudi official with a foreign lawsuit over her work in the United States, was the reason the “Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitution Heritage Act” was adopted by Congress.

It put an end to lawsuits brought in foreign jurisdictions where speech protections do not exist or are not as robust as in the United States which were simply intended to censor or chill speech in the U.S.
“Bill Scott, who’s a senior fellow at ACD, warned about such a scenario last July, speaking at the ACD-EWI Economic Threats briefing on Capital Hill,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “An expert on aerial firefighting, he presented a sobering analysis of the devastating (2012) Waldo Canyon Fire [in Colorado], pointing out that the striking rise [in] Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature.

“He noted that in spring 2012, al-Qaida’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called ‘It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,’ which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.”

She explained that Russia’s security chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov, also has warned, “Al-Qaida was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe” as part of terrorism’s “strategy of a thousand cuts.”

“Since then, more fatwas advocating that ‘fire is a cheap, easy and effective tool for economic warfare’ have been issued,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “They’ve included detailed instructions for constructing remote-controlled ‘ember bombs, and how to set fires without leaving a trace.’”

Israel’s forests also have been targeted, she noted.

“While many of the fires that have scorched millions of acres and destroyed thousands of homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and other states have been identified as arson, none has been publicly attributed to criminal or terrorist groups, despite the presence of Mexican gangs and [a] large number of other illegals in our Western states,” she said.

Mother Jones reported Don Smurthwaite, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman, “downplayed” Ehrenfeld’s ideas, “but he didn’t dismiss the notion outright.”

“We don’t have any hard evidence that any wildfires in the U.S. were started by terrorists in recent years,” he told the publication. “But is it a possibility? Certainly.”

He noted the last confirmed weaponized wildfires were in World War II, when the Japanese sent incendiary balloons across the Pacific.

However, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported al-Qaida was advising would-be terrorists how best to burn America.

The terror group’s magazine included pictures, diagrams and explanations on how to start fires to obtain the most damage.

CBN analyst Erick Stakelbeck said the extreme detail provides reason for concern. The information, he said, is “all designed to cause the maximum amount of carnage and death.”

CBN noted that in the U.S., more houses are built in the countryside than in the cities and cited a Montana fire chief who said the prospect of a wildfire terrorist attack was not farfetched.

WND also reported websites run by jihadis made claims of arson in a number of California wildfires.

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be “al-Qaida’s plan of economic attack” on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation’s forests into raging infernos.

The National Terror Alert Response Center report said: “We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call.”

Even in 2003, an FBI memo warned that national forests in the West could be the next target for terror by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic, warned law enforcement that a senior al-Qaida detainee told interrogators he planned to spark multiple, catastrophic wildfires simultaneously in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming to strike a blow to the U.S. economy.

WND also reported documents recovered from a remote area along the Pakistan border revealed that bin Laden wanted al-Qaida to launch a “global fireball” by lighting forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and South America.

The documents, uncovered during an operation led by the British intelligence service MI6, were described by experts in that agency as “the most worrying [plot] that the world is facing.”

[American Patriot]

California Will Burn — NWO Arsonists Prepped For Massive Attack

06 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted by Mary W. in Agenda 21, Central Bankers, Chemtrails, DOJ, Economic Collapse, Economic Crisis, Education, Global Elites, Homeschooling, Judicial Courts of Law, Medical Tyranny, New World Order, Obamacare, Police State, Surveillance State, Tyrannical Government, United Nations, United States, US Constitution, Water Rights
≈ 1 Comment

Tags
Barium, bubbles, controlled, dumbing down, economy, Environment, financial system, Fluoride, health care quality, nano aluminum, publc water supply, Toxins, under attack, US

The stage is set. The conditions are perfect. The New World Order is prepared to use fire as a primary method of control to rid the state of California of its human inhabitants and to destroy what remains of California’s ability to provide food for itself and the rest of the country.
It has been very well documented that the current drought plaguing California has been engineered by spraying hundreds of tons of nano aluminum in the atmosphere coupled with the use of atmospheric ionic heaters also known as HAARP to create high pressure zones over the state while migrating the moisture that would normally fall on the state to other areas of the country east of California.
Is it just a coincidence that these programs are being deployed in an effort to deprive California of water while at the same time Agenda 21 states that it’s goal is to re-wild America? Is it also coincidence that our government uses weather as a weapon of war to drought out countries that don’t comply and use the U.S. dollar as it’s primary currency when purchasing oil? What is one of the first methods our government uses to soften up a country before a planned invasion is to take place? They attack the offending nations food and water supply.

The United States is under attack. Not by a shadowy group that we can never quite identify that is seemingly unbeatable but rather by a group of multinational corporations and banks that have publicly declared war on freedom and our way of life. When you look at the totality of what is happening to us it becomes clear that we are not dealing with raging incompetence but rather a very well orchestrated effort to undermine our Constitution and bring America to it’s knees. Let’s look at the various methods used to subjugate and domesticate our population rendering us incapable of living independently by producing our own food and electricity.
1. Our Education system is under attack. Through the implementation of common core it becomes obvious that there is a deliberate effort to control what our kids are taught completely gutting our classical form of education. It should be clear that there is a deliberate dumbing down of America.
2. Our Environment is under attack. By spraying America with hundreds of tons of nano aluminum and barium and by introducing toxic fluoride into our public water supply our ability to think clearly, to reproduce and to grow our own food is greatly impaired.
3. Our Medical system is under attack. The passage of the affordable care act (obamacare) is literally destroying the quality of care in the U.S. by forcing doctors to follow government directives when rendering medical assistance to their patients rather than relying on their instincts and training to care for their customers.
4. Our Financial system is under attack. In 2008 when the housing bubble collapsed and our financial system failed our corrupt congress, despite receiving 99-1 calls against, bailed out the banks to the tune of TRILLIONS of our dollars and allowed companies that should have failed to continue to operate against all the rules of a competitive capitalist system. Our economy is a hoax controlled and manipulated by the big banks.
5. Our Justice system is under attack. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that only the little people ever get in trouble and go to jail? Don’t you find it odd that not ONE person was fired or even arrested as a result of the 9/11 attacks? Don’t you think it’s just a little strange that not ONE person was arrested and convicted for what happened in 2008? The federal government has a 98% conviction rate when they decide to single you out and prosecute you. Does that sound like justice to you?
6. Our Species is under attack. Just about everything our government promotes is designed to render us infertile and is designed to shorten our lives. This is called the soft kill method of population control. Have you noticed that fertility centers are popping up all over the place and everyone has cancer?

• GMO foods cause cancer and infertility.
• Vaccines cause cancer and infertility.
• Fluoride causes cancer and infertility.
• Prescription drugs cause cancer and infertility.
• Depleted uranium causes cancer and infertility

So what does California have to do with all of this? For the casual observer you might not notice but for someone who follows the trends and studies the plans of the group running the show it becomes blatantly obvious that there is a vast, evil agenda in various forms of implementation being forced on all of us. It boils down to this. This group wants to reduce the worlds population down to around 500,000,000 (five hundred million people) and replace all of us with robots. Humans have outlived their usefulness and these anti human criminals want to merge with machines and in their words “become gods.”

California is ground zero. The primary beta testing area for all of these programs. While over run with illegal aliens and taxed to the max California bans homeschooling for it’s citizens. While being inundated with radiation from Fukushima and cutting off water to the central valley destroying hundreds of producing farms California says they can vaccinate your kids at school without your knowledge or consent. While gang crime is exploding statewide California is disarming it’s citizens leaving them defenseless against criminal thugs.

Read more at Truth Weather