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Wildfires in Florida Panhandle Are a ‘Beast,’ Official Says

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Wildfires in Florida Panhandle Are a ‘Beast,’ Official Says

Three sweeping wildfires that began final week within the Florida Panhandle have burned greater than 29,000 acres and are threatening surrounding communities amid dry and windy climate, the authorities stated Tuesday.

The blazes, that are collectively referred to as the Chipola Complicated, are being fed by useless bushes and different vegetation left by Hurricane Michael in 2018, fireplace officers stated.

“This can be a dwelling, respiratory beast,” Brad Monroe, the chief of emergency providers in Bay County, stated Tuesday throughout a information convention. “When it produces its personal climate, you see lightning strikes inside a hearth on a vivid sunny day, it’s unimaginable. Phrases can’t describe it.”

The most important blaze within the Chipola Complicated, the Bertha Swamp Highway fireplace, was greater than 28,000 acres in dimension and was 10 p.c contained, in accordance with a Tuesday night information launch from the Florida Forest Service. The fireplace is centered about 60 miles west of Tallahassee.

“It’s a life taker,” Jimmy Patronis, the state fireplace marshal, stated through the information convention, including that residents mustn’t take probabilities. No deaths or accidents have been reported.

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Gusty winds on Tuesday prompted erratic fireplace habits that prompted extra evacuation orders for components of Calhoun County, officers stated.

The 2 different Chipola Complicated fires — the Adkins Avenue and Star Avenue fires — have mixed to burn somewhat over a thousand acres and are every about 80 p.c contained, officers stated. Evacuation orders for these fires have been lifted.

Gov. Ron DeSantis stated through the information convention on Tuesday that the state was working to offer $6.1 million to assist households affected by the fires.

“This complete space has been by lots previously three years, beginning with Hurricane Michael,” he stated. “We have to ensure that they can care for themselves as they care for others.”

Mr. DeSantis additionally warned residents to not ignore evacuation orders, including that up to now two properties have been destroyed and others have been broken.

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“These fires are transferring in a short time and it’s not one thing you may simply wait after which rapidly bail on the final minute,” he stated. “No one desires to inform somebody to depart their house.”

Fireplace officers stated greater than 70 tractor-plow models and 10 aircrafts, together with three Florida Nationwide Guard Black Hawk helicopters, have been working to suppress the wildfires.

Elements of northwest Florida will see an lively climate sample over the subsequent few days, with the chance for tornadoes, the National Weather Service said. Extreme storms have been anticipated Wednesday, and extra storms with heavy rainfall might hit the realm on Friday.

“Whereas the climate forecast within the coming days requires the opportunity of rain, it is not going to be sufficient to lower the wildfire risk any time quickly — particularly within the Hurricane Michael-impact space,” the Florida Forest Service stated.

Whereas wildfires have routinely ravaged components of the American West, that risk may very well be making its manner east.

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Seven killed in Israeli air strike on central Beirut

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Seven killed in Israeli air strike on central Beirut

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An Israeli air strike killed at least seven people in a Hizbollah-linked medical facility in the heart of Beirut in the early hours of Thursday, according to the militant group, in the deepest assault on the capital since fighting began.

The strike hit close to Lebanon’s parliament building in a densely populated neighbourhood far from the capital’s southern suburbs, which Israel has pummelled over the past two weeks.

The Islamic Health Authority, which is linked to the Iran-backed Hizbollah, said that seven of its staff, including two paramedics and several rescue workers, were killed in the latest strike.

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The Israeli military said it had launched a “precise strike” but did not disclose its target. Several air strikes were also reported in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel has stepped up its offensive against Hizbollah in recent days, as the region braces for its retaliation to an Iranian missile barrage on Tuesday that intensified fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.

Iran said its missile attack on Israel was in response to the assassination of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week and the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

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The US has said Israel has the right to respond, although US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that any retaliation should be “in proportion” and that he was opposed to attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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Israel has also launched a land offensive into southern Lebanon. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said eight soldiers were killed and several injured in clashes with Hizbollah militants inside Lebanon.

In recent weeks, the IDF has launched regular, devastating strikes on the densely populated southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hizbollah has a major presence.

It had previously only targeted one site within the city limits during the current conflict, killing three Palestinian militant group leaders in the early hours of Monday in an apparent drone strike that destroyed one floor of an apartment building.

Israel’s bombing campaign against what it says are Hizbollah targets across Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people in the country in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese authorities. They said 46 people had been killed and 85 wounded over the past 24 hours.

In the early hours of Thursday, a large blast was heard in Beirut, with footage from the scene showing smoke rising over the night-time skyline. Footage from Lebanese news outlets showed the blast had also damaged a cemetery.

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“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent,” said Jeanine Hennis, the UN special co-ordinator in Lebanon, on X.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said 17 Israeli bombing raids had taken place in neighbourhoods in southern Beirut.

Beyond its militant activities, Hizbollah has a political party and a sprawling network of social services that runs parallel to state institutions. These include schools, social welfare organisations and healthcare facilities such as the one struck on Thursday.

Separately on Thursday, Israel’s military said that it had killed the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Rawhi Mushtaha, in a strike three months ago.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah

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A downed power line is officially blamed for last year’s Maui wildfire

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A downed power line is officially blamed for last year’s Maui wildfire

An aerial image shows destroyed homes and vehicles after a wind driven wildfire burned from the hills through neighborhoods to the Pacific Ocean, as seen in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 17, 2023.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images


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PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

A new joint federal-state report on the origin of last year’s wildfire that killed at least 102 people in Maui determined that power lines downed by high winds ignited a brush fire that ended up destroying the town of Lahaina.

The investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Maui’s fire department confirms a timeline that Maui residents and news organizations have previously reported.

The ATF report classifies the fire as “accidental.”

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The joint investigation doesn’t hold any individual or organization responsible for the fire that caused an estimated $5 billion in damage and left thousands homeless.

A pending $4 billion settlement would resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed by fire victims against the county, Hawaii Electric Company and others.

How Lahaina wildfire survivors are marking one year from the tragedy

At a news conference, Maui Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Giesea said, “we want to make abundantly clear to the community that our firefighters went above and beyond their due diligence to be as confident as they could be that the fire was completely extinguished before they left the scene.”

The report released Wednesday says that ifre crews responded to a brush fire after 6 a.m. on August 7. About three hours later, the fire was declared 100% contained and the crews left the area.

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But less than an hour later, embers from that morning fire rekindled and ignited brush in a nearby gully. The fire soon hopped over a highway and began spreading through the town of Lahaina.

Jonathan Blais, special agent in charge of the ATF Seattle Field Division, said: “I do believe they did everything possible,” to extinguish the fire.

Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said his agency continues to educate the community about clearing brush and high grasses and taking other measures to harden their homes against wildfires.

“When it comes to wildfire, especially wind-driven, weather-driven fires, the Fire Department is not going to be able to stop the fire. It’s really about what we can do to make our homes safer.”

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Read the Special Counsel’s Newly Unsealed Evidence Against Trump

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Read the Special Counsel’s Newly Unsealed Evidence Against Trump

Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC Document 252 Filed 10/02/24 Page 17 of 165
1. Arizona
P16
to ask him
The defendant was on notice that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in
Arizona within a week of the election. On November 9, for instance, two days after news networks
projected that Biden had won, the defendant called Arizona Governor
what was happening at the state level with the presidential vote count in Arizona. 63 At that point,
though Fox News had projected that Biden had won the state, several other news outlets-
including ABC, NBC, CNN, and the New York Times-had not yet made a projection.64 P16
walked the defendant through the margins and the votes remaining to be counted, which were
primarily from Pima County, which favored Biden, and Maricopa County, which was split.65
P16 described the situation to the defendant as “the ninth inning, two outs, and [the defendant]
was several runs down.” The defendant also raised claims of election fraud, and P16 asked
the defendant to send him supporting evidence. 67 Although the defendant said he would-stating,
“we’re packaging it up”―he never did. 68 Shortly thereafter, on November 13, Campaign Manager
P2
told the defendant directly that a false fraud claim that had been circulating-that a
63
GA 656-658
64
); GA 727
See, e.g., Democrats flip Arizona as Biden, Kelly score key election wins, Fox NEWS, Nov. 3,
2020, available at https://www.foxnews.com/video/6206934979001; Dan Merica, Biden carries
Arizona, flipping a longtime Republican stronghold, CNN.COM, Nov. 13, 2020, available at
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/12/politics/biden-wins-arizona/index.html; Luis Ferré-Sadurni et
al., Biden flips Arizona, further cementing his presidential victory, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 12, 2020,
available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/us/biden-wins-arizona.html; Election Latest:
Biden Projected Winner in Arizona, NBC 4 NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2020, available at
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/decision-2020/election-latest-biden-talks-to-world-
leaders-about-virus/2718671/.
65 GA 667
66 Id.
67 GA 657
68 Id.
-17-

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