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Twelve premature babies killed in Bagdad hospital fire

An Iraqi woman stands in front of a maternity ward after a fire broke out at Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad

By Maher Nazeh

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Twelve prematurely born babies were killed in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Wednesday on a maternity ward in a Baghdad hospital and was probably caused by an electrical fault, Iraqi authorities said.

Eleven or twelve other babies and 29 women were rescued from the Yarmuk hospital’s maternity ward and transferred to other hospitals, Hani al-Okabi, an MP who previously managed a health directorate in Baghdad, told journalists after visiting the hospital and talking to the management.

Firefighters and hospital staff took about three hours to put out the blaze that engulfed the ward, according to one medic. Yarmuk is a main hospital on the western side of the capital, with emergency care facilities among others.

“My son’s birth was difficult,” Shaima Hussein, one of the babies’ mothers, told Reuters TV at the gate of the hospital. She said she was not given a chance to rescue her newborn.

“I came with milk powder for him, and then this happened … they shut the electricity and the doors,” she said.

Hassan Omar said he was upset that the hospital would not give him information about his twins other than that he may have to have DNA checks to see if they were among the dead.

“I went to the other hospital, they are not there, so where are they?” he said.

The incident is likely to intensify public accusations of state corruption and mismanagement.

Pictures posted on social media showed the hospital in a state of neglect, with cockroaches crawling out from between broken tiles, dustbins overflowing with rubbish, dirty toilets and patients lying on stretchers in the courtyard.

The relative of a patient who died recently in the hospital from meningitis said he saw cockroach crawling along the tube of an oxygen mask.

“It was so dirty,” he said. “We had to bring our own bed sheets.”

Thirteen years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the oil-rich country still suffers a shortage of electricity, water, schools and hospitals.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has been trying for more than two years to tackle corruption in Iraq, which ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency International’s Corruption Index, but has faced resistance from much of the political elite.

Corruption has exacerbated the effects on the economy of a sharp decline in oil revenue caused by falling crude prices and the costs of fighting Islamic State, the hardline group that has controlled large parts of northern and western Iraq since 2014.

(Additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Louise Ireland)

California wildfires likely to worsen as season peaks

A firefighter stands on steep terrain while fire crews create fire breaks at Garrapata State Park during the Soberanes Fire north of Big Sur, California, U.S

(Reuters) – Drought conditions in California risk stoking new and ongoing wildfires as the season enters its peak, a forecaster said on Wednesday after several blazes already killed at least six people and charred thousands of acres so far this year.

The warning came as 5,500 firefighters battled a wildfire near the Big Sur coast, a well-known tourist destination. Dubbed the Soberanes Fire, it has scorched some 44,000 acres (17,800 hectares) and dozens of homes in the area, fire officials said.

Little rain and the strong, dry Santa Ana winds will likely stoke more wildfires as the peak of the wildfire season begins, AccuWeather said. The wildfire season officially begins in May and stretches into September.

“It’s bad now and it’s only going to get worse,” long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok said.

The Soberanes Fire began on July 22 and was sparked by an illegal, unattended camp fire in a section in Garrapata State Park that was closed to camping, the U.S. Forest Service said on Tuesday. No arrests have been made, the service said.

Fire personnel battling the blaze have been able to draw containment lines – a measure of how much of its perimeter has been cleared by fire crews of unburned vegetation – around only 25 percent of the wildfire so far.

A bulldozer operator hired by property owners to help battle the Soberanes blaze died last week when his vehicle rolled over. It was the second wildfire-related death in California in a week, another person having been found dead in his car in the path of the Sand Fire in Los Angeles County. Four people were killed in other blazes in June.

The fire threat has prompted the closure of several popular California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Point Lobos State Natural Reserve and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

Another fire that broke out on Saturday in grass and brush about 30 miles northeast of Fresno, in central California, has since charred about 2,185 acres and is threatening 400 structures, prompting evacuations in the area, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Nine structures, including four homes, have been destroyed, fire officials said. On Tuesday evening, the so-called Goose Fire was listed as 60 percent contained.

(This version of the story corrects to singular “forecaster” in first paragraph, not “forecasters”)

Thousands of firefighters battle massive wildfire near L.A.

Fire burns brush on a hillside during the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles,

By Laila Kearney

(Reuters) – More than 1,600 firefighters battled on Monday to contain a fast-spreading wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the drought-parched canyons north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing at least one person and closing a highway.

Authorities said the Sand Fire had grown to more than 33,000 acres (13,300 hectares) by early Monday, or more than 50 square miles (130 square km), fueled by high winds and parched conditions after years of drought.

It was threatening a string of small communities near Santa Clarita, just outside the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department said.

“This is the fifth year of an ongoing drought, so we have very extreme fire behavior,” the fire department chief, Daryl Osby told a Sunday news conference. “These are not normal times.”

A 10,262-acre (4,155-hectare) fire was also burning in a coastal area of Monterey county, 300 miles (480 km) northwest of Santa Clarita, prompting authorities to widen evacuation orders to several communities on Sunday, a Cal Fire spokeswoman said.

One person suffered non-life-threatening injuries and one structure was destroyed, the spokeswoman, Amber Anderson, said.

The fire near Santa Clarita, first reported on Friday afternoon, has forced at least 1,500 residents to evacuate their homes and destroyed at least 18 homes, the Los Angeles county fire department said in a statement.

All the affected communities, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of Los Angeles, are in or around the San Gabriel Mountains, which is dotted with multimillion-dollar homes.

About 100 commercial buildings in the path of the fire have been ordered to evacuate, fire officials said.

An “unexpected wind event” forced officials to cancel plans for residents to return to some areas, fire officials said on social media network Twitter on Sunday.

“All evacuations will remain in place,” they added.

The 14 Freeway was closed to traffic because of the fire threat, the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter.

The remains of an unidentified person were found late on Saturday in a charred vehicle in the path of the blaze. The cause of death had yet to be decided, fire officials said.

Extreme heat, strong winds and parched rugged terrain will continue to hamper firefighters, the officials said, adding that they were still trying to pinpoint the cause of the wildfire, which had been only 10 percent contained by early on Monday.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Chris Michaud in New York and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Tom Brown and Clarence Fernandez)

Firefighters make some headway in deadly California blaze

Visalia firefighters extinguish hot spots at a residence leveled by the Erskine Fire in South Lake, California, U.S.

By Noah Berger

SOUTH LAKE, Calif. (Reuters) – Firefighters have begun to contain a wildfire in central California that has killed at least two people and destroyed 200 structures, fire officials said on Sunday, as six other blazes burned in the state in an already intense wildfire season.

The fire known as Erskine, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles, smoldered over a wide area on Sunday after melting steel and reducing homes to ash in an intense conflagration on Thursday and Friday.

The Erskine fire was 10 percent contained after charring 36,810 acres, or nearly 60 square miles, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said, adding it was expected to be contained by Thursday.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Kern County. In addition to the 200 destroyed structures, 75 homes have been damaged.

“Two fatalities have been confirmed. Additional fatalities are possible due to the extreme fire behavior during the initial hours of the incident,” the Kern County Fire Department said in a statement on Sunday. Investigators were studying a third set of charred remains to determine whether they were human.

More than 1,700 firefighters were working on the fire at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada range.

Hundreds of people from more than 10 communities were evacuated as Erskine spread rapidly on Thursday and Friday as winds drove it south and east from the Lake Isabella reservoir.

“I got out just as the flames were at my back fence,” said Terralyn Lehman, who is staying at a campground with her mother and her dog after their home in South Lake was destroyed.

She and her mother were awoken by the sound of a propane tank exploding. Lehman said her mother told her “‘grab your dog and go.’ So I did.”

Crews worked in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames fueled by hot weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by a five-year drought. Helicopters and air tankers were also in action.

But a drone operated by a private individual caused suspension of air operations for a time on Sunday, said U.S. Fire Service public information officer Jim Mackensen.

Also on Sunday, a family returned to the wreckage of their burnt-out home in South Lake. Lucas Martin, his step-son and the young man’s girlfriend embraced each other after they managed to locate and retrieve a cherished family heirloom that withstood the inferno.

(Writing by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler and Kim Coghill)

Firefighters to battle against flames, dry California weather

(Reuters) – Firefighters on Thursday were set to face high temperatures and gusty winds as they battle five large fires burning in drought-stricken California, officials said, though progress allowed authorities to lift some earlier evacuation orders.

The National Weather Service issued so-called red flag weather warnings for a tract of southern California for Thursday, including for mountains in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties where wildfires were already burning.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said the weather conditions could fuel existing blazes or contribute to new fires.

“We’re preparing for what could be another busy day,” Berlant said.

Authorities on Wednesday lifted evacuation orders on 534 homes in foothills northeast of Los Angeles that had been imposed as firefighters struggled to get control of two wildfires called the San Gabriel Complex. Evacuation orders were still in effect for another 324 homes.

As of Wednesday night, the blaze had charred 4,900 acres of chaparral and short grass, and containment lines had been drawn around 15 percent of the flames, according to fire information website InciWeb.

To the south, firefighters managed to slow the spread of a massive fire near the Mexican border town of Potrero, prompting officials to lift some evacuation orders there as well. Fire officials said some 200 structures were under threat as of Wednesday night, down from a peak of 1,000.

That fire, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of San Diego, has blackened more than 6,700 acres and was 20 percent contained as of Wednesday night, fire officials said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday said the risk of catastrophic wildfires had increased because of the 66 million trees that had died in California from 2010 to October 2015. Some 26 million of them were in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Alison Williams)

Wildfires in California, New Mexico trigger evacuations

Handout photo of a firefighter battling the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara, California

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Firefighters worked into early Friday morning to try to contain a growing wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather fed flames that triggered hundreds of evacuations.

The Sherpa Fire in California grew to about 1,400 acres (560 hectares) overnight after forcing authorities to evacuate 400 homes and businesses and to close part of the 101 Freeway, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and fire information center InciWeb.

About 1,200 firefighters were trying to keep the fire from exploding out of control as airplane tankers and helicopters dropped water, according to officials and online videos.

The blaze, which ignited on Wednesday in a wilderness area northwest of Santa Barbara, has consumed chaparral and tall grass in the Los Padres National Forest, according to InciWeb.

Because of the fire, officials said they had closed two state beaches and some ranch land, forcing out campers and horses.

Southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Dog Head Fire, which broke out on Tuesday about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique, has also forced evacuations and grown to about 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares) overnight.

Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency and ordered the state’s National Guard to be prepared to assist if needed, according to a statement from her office.

The fire destroyed 24 homes and 21 other structures, InciWeb said.

The blaze has burned through timber in central New Mexico, pushing heavy smoke toward cities more than 100 miles (160 km) away as flames spread through a largely unpopulated area, state fire information officer Peter D’Aquanni said in a phone interview on Thursday.

D’Aquanni said winds could shift the flames to the east as more than 600 firefighters tackle the blaze.

Torrance County Sheriff Heath White said on Thursday that his office was evacuating about 200 people.

The National Weather Service on Friday predicted dry, windy and hot weather for the region through next week, which could lead to more wildfires.

The weather service issued excessive heat warnings for areas in the U.S. Southwest, including California, Nevada and Arizona and New Mexico. Its forecast office in Phoenix predicted temperatures as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48.3 Celsius) in the coming days, which would exceed record highs.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

NASA to set fire in space for science, safety

The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft departs the International Space Station

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – An unmanned cargo ship pulled away from the International Space Station on Tuesday to stage the first of three planned NASA experiments on how big fires grow in space, an important test for astronaut safety.

Previous experiments in space were limited to the incineration of samples no bigger than an index card, said David Urban, lead researcher for the Spacecraft Fire Experiment, or Saffire.

“We tried for years to find a vehicle and a circumstance where this would work and initially we’d get a ‘not on my spacecraft’ reaction,” Urban said during a NASA TV interview.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ultimately settled on using an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship, which is designed to burn up in the atmosphere after it departs the space station.

The Cygnus, which departed the space station on Tuesday, was launched from Earth in March with more than 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of food, supplies and science experiments for the station, a research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above the planet.

The cargo included Saffire, a module containing a 38-inch by 19-inch (97 cm by 49 cm) cotton-and-fiberglass material sample that will be set on fire after Cygnus reaches a safe distance from the station.

The experiment will begin with hot wires igniting the sample. Air flowing through ducts will fan the fire, which is expected to last about 20 minutes.

“One of the big questions is how big will the flame get?” Urban said.

Fire behaves differently outside of Earth’s atmosphere, so scientists want to test whether microgravity will limit flames and what materials will burn.

The question is not academic. In February 1997, an oxygen-generating canister aboard the Russian Mir space station erupted into a searing flame, blocking the crew’s path to an emergency escape ship.

The crew fought the fire with foam extinguishers and water and it eventually burned itself out, leaving a thick residue of soot.

The Saffire experiment will be the largest fire set in space since the accidental blaze on Mir.

Onboard sensors will record temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, while two cameras snap pictures. The data and images will be relayed to ground control teams over the next four to six days. NASA plans two more Saffire experiments aboard future Cygnus spacecraft.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Steve Orlofsky)

Two Washington state church fires possible arsen

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Authorities in southwest Washington were investigating on Thursday fires at two churches they believe were deliberately lit over the past two days and put places of worship in the area on high alert, police said.

The suspicious fires occurred at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Vancouver, Washington, early Wednesday morning and at the Liberty Bible Church of the Nazarene on Thursday morning, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Authorities “are investigating these two incidents as intentional acts of arson,” the sheriff’s office said.

The Clark County Fire Department said authorities had yet to determine whether the two acts of suspected arson were committed by the same person.

Sheriff Chuck Atkins “is asking that all churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship, remain vigilant,” the sheriff’s department said.

Washington state media reported that the fire at the First Congregational United Church of Christ caused $2 million in damage. The fire at the Liberty Bible Church of the Nazarene was set when an object was thrown through a window and was quickly doused by the church’s sprinkler system, media reported.

No possible motive was known yet, the sheriff said.

Vancouver, Washington, is a community of 160,000 people about 10 miles (15 km) north of Portland, Oregon.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Paul Tait)

10 year old blaze victim ‘called for mum and dad’

Yupin Saw-wa, (L) cries as she holds a picture of her daughter, who died after a fire swept through the Christian Pitakiatwittaya School in the northern province of Chiang Rai

y Athit Perawongmetha

WIANG PA PAO, Thailand (Reuters) – A 10-year-old Thai girl called out for her mother and father as a blaze swept through her school dormitory “until her voice was gone”, her mother said on Tuesday.

The fire broke out late on Sunday as the girls, aged between five and 12, slept at a Christian school for children of hill-tribe families in the northern province of Chiang Rai. Seventeen girls died.

Investigators are looking at the possibility of faulty lighting on the ground floor below the dormitory.

Malawian Saw-wa’s daughter, May, died in hospital. Her elder daughter survived by jumping from a second-floor window, she said.

“My eldest daughter said she heard May calling for mum and dad to help until her voice was gone,” Malawian said.

“Never in my lifetime will I let my daughter out of my sight. The school must be held responsible for this. My daughter was my heart and soul.”

Five of the victims have been identified and police were seeking to identify the others through DNA tests.

Police questioned witnesses on Tuesday, and said they had not yet reached a conclusion on the cause of the fire.

“We still need to gather evidence from the scene first on what caused this and whether this was due to negligence,” said district police chief Prayad Singsin.

A forensics officer told Reuters evidence pointed to a loose light bulb melting on the ground floor of the two-storey building, causing the fire that killed the girls in the dormitory above.

Around 10 of the 19 girls that survived slept on the school grounds on Monday night as their parents had yet to arrive from far-flung areas to pick them up, said Tuenjai Tanachaikant a local who volunteered to help at the school after the fire.

Some of the parents also slept at the school where they lit incense sticks and prayed.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sent his condolences to the families of the victims and the school.

“The prime minister wanted to sent a message to all the teachers and students that the fire may burn down the school buildings but don’t let it burn away their hopes,” government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters.

Prayuth said he had ordered government agencies to work to reduce the number of deadly accidents in Thailand. In Bangkok on Tuesday, a blaze at a restaurant and bar killed two people, police said.

(This refiled version of the story adds death toll).

(Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana, Panarat Thepgumpanat and Pracha Hariraksapitak BANGKOK; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Temporary housing first step for wildfire ravaged Fort McMurray

A charred vehicle and home are pictured in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Fort McMurray

By Rod Nickel and Liz Hampton

FORT MCMURRAY/LAC LA BICHE, Alberta (Reuters) – Reconstructing Fort McMurray will be easier than first feared since much of the city’s critical infrastructure remains intact but the once booming oil town will be smaller than before, according to its mayor.

The first priority is getting new temporary housing so companies can resume shuttered oil production.

Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake said the fire is a chance to “right size” the city after the energy slump left it with vacant houses and unemployed workers well before wildfires hit last week.

With 10 percent of the city burned and more than 90,000 residents evacuated, the combination of a glut of prefire homes and quick-build housing are a solution as the government and oil executives try to jump-start rebuilding.

“If I look at what the circumstance gives to us, I think it’s an opportunity to right-size the community,” Blake told Reuters. “I recognize that this horror is probably going to get some people reconsidering what their futures are, whether it’s in the region or not.”

The fire may have been the final push that some residents needed to leave the isolated northern city, but major oil producers need it back on its feet quickly to restart some 1 million barrels per day of shuttered production.

The wildfire, which has spread over 229,000 hectares (566,000 acres), is still burning, though favorable weather overnight was seen helping firefighters.

While many companies have work camps at the site of their oil sands projects around Fort McMurray, workers from across Canada and around the world moved into the city with their families when the sector was booming years ago.

If energy companies can’t house workers and their families quickly, they risk losing them permanently.

The industry will support efforts to rebuild the hospital, pipelines and electrical distribution center, Suncor Inc <SU.TO> Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams said on Tuesday after a meeting of industry and provincial officials.

“FIRST WAVE”

A recovery will be easier due to the city’s largely intact infrastructure and downtown, but people are already fighting over available housing because several major residential neighborhoods were destroyed.

“We’ve got banks, companies, restoration companies, engineering companies all looking for space now. People need to stay somewhere,” said Bill de Silva, construction manager of Liam Construction, one of the city’s biggest builders.

He said the “first wave” is already trying to secure space in hotels, condominiums and apartments undamaged by the fire, but the approval process in the still-evacuated city isn’t easy.

“We’ve got to get there as quickly as we can. We can play a big role but they have to let us in. All the government red tape doesn’t help us now,” de Silva said.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said officials need to finish damage assessments, set up a welcome center and transportation plan and secure food and supplies before anyone can start moving back in.

“There are hazardous materials and broken power lines. Basic services, gas, water, waste disposal, healthcare and much more needs to be re-established,” she said.

“The city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago but Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities have been saved, and they will be rebuilt.”

The province is already speaking to temporary builders.

“They’ve been asking very general questions about what kind of temporary housing solutions we can provide (and a) rough timeline of how long it would take to be installed,” said Troy Ferguson, CEO of Redrock Group, which builds modular work camps and homes in Alberta.

Marc Roy, who was chief of staff for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sees parallels between the two disasters, including the total destruction of some homes.

Longer term, Roy said, authorities need to allocate resources carefully, because some residents likely will not return.

“Are you building with the hopes that you build a field of dreams and people come to fill it, or are you using your resources as wisely as you possibly can at the moment?” he said. “You just can’t put it back exactly like it was and make that your plan. That does not work.”

One wrinkle may be home insurance policies that do no pay out in full unless homeowners rebuild.

“If a customer chooses not to repair or replace, they will receive the actual cash value of the building at the time of the loss,” said Intact Insurance, Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer, in a statement. Because of the oil downturn, that cash value could be less than owners hope.

Debra Bunston, an Alberta realtor, said the disaster may fill vacant homes or spur sales of homes that are already on the market, “a bit of a silver lining in this horrible cloud of smoke.”

(Additional reporting by Allison Martell and Andrea Hopkins in Toronto and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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