Australia: Siding Spring Observatory Damaged In #Wambelong #Wildfire

 Huge Wildfire Damages Australia's Largest Optical Observatory

The Wambelong Bush-fire threatened Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory in January 2013.
CREDIT: Alex King NSW RFS 

A massive wildfire has damaged Australia's largest optical astronomy facility, the Siding Spring Observatory, causing significant damage, observatory officials said.

All of the 18 people on site were evacuated safely, but five buildings, including a visitors center and lodge, were significantly damaged during the Wambelong fire, Erik Lithander, vice-president of Australian National University, which owns the facility, said during a press conference Sunday (Jan. 13).

"The decision has been made to close the Siding Spring Observatory for an initial two-week period to allow us to carry out a full assessment of the damage caused by the fire and to ensure that the site is safe for staff prior to their return," Lithander said.

"An initial visual assessment shows that there does not seem to be significant damage to the buildings that house the telescopes," Lithander said. "We do not yet know what impact the extreme heat and the ash might have on the telescopes themselves, and we won't be able to carry out that assessment until we can enter the buildings and we can inspect the inside of them."

Fire approaching Siding Springs Observatory near Coonabarabran in January 2013.
CREDIT: Alex King NSW RFS

LACoFD: ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILL AT SCRIPPS COLLEGE

Contact:

Inspector Brian Riley                        Marylou Ferry                                 Jon Traber                         Nicole Nishida

(213) 760-2141                                  (909) 607-9665                                (909) 399-5418                  (323) 810-1973

For immediate release

MEDIA ADVISORY

ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILL AT SCRIPPS COLLEGE

TESTS SKILLS OF L.A. AREA FIRST RESPONDERS

WHAT:              In the wake of several tragic shooting incidents at school campuses across the United States, Los Angeles area first responders will conduct an active shooter training exercise to reinforce their skills in the pursuit and neutralization of one or more simulated active shooters.  This realistic, dramatic drill will engage helicopters from the Los Angeles County Fire and Sheriff’s departments, and will take place in several areas on the Scripps College campus in the City of Claremont.  Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and Claremont Police Department personnel will employ tactics to quickly protect students from a simulated active shooter on campus.  Emergency responders will also practice their skills in the areas of victim removal, treatment and transport.

WHO:                The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), Claremont Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). The training exercise will also include personnel from several other local area fire departments, as well as role-players and local ambulance service providers. 

WHEN:              The event will be conducted three times --Jan. 16, 17 and 18, 7-11 a.m.

The “active” portion of the drill will take place between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Media observers are encouraged to attend on Thursday, January 17, but are welcome to attend on any of the three days. (Please park in the lot located at the corner of 11^th and Dartmouth, and check in no later than 9:45 a.m.)

WHERE:            The Scripps College Performing Arts Center at the corner of 10^th Street and Dartmouth Avenue, City of Claremont. Surrounding fields and streets also will be utilized (see attached detailed map)

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

Canine Alert: Beneful dog food linked to dog fatalities

 Purina's Beneful dog food killing dogs nationwide; No recall issued by FDA 

 #Dogs - For those of us with pets, often they are members of the family. Their care and health are important to us and when something goes wrong it can be devastating. If you care about your canine pet, this is a must read.

Quite recently, my dog became very ill on more than one occasion. After the second time, I began researching the food because that was the only thing he had eaten.

Beneful dog food is a popular brand. Unfortunately over the last two to three months, pet owners have seen their dogs become ill after eating this food, based on reports on the Consumer Affairs website. Some pets are more sensitive than others, and their symptoms can include any of the following, sometimes more than one:
View slideshow: Beneful Dog Food
Beneful dog food poising symptoms:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Excessive water drinking
• Lethargy
• Weight loss
• Seizures
• Bloat (this is life threatening to a dog)
• Kidney failure
• Liver failure
• Death

 Although Beneful comes in several types of food from puppy, to active and healthy weight, it appears the problem is broader than one type of food. Reports have included Beneful's Healthy Radiance, Healthy Weight, and Playful Life, while other reports did not indicate what type of Beneful was fed.

Some owners said immediately upon feeding for the first time, the dog became sick. Other owners said that overtime the dog became sicker. Some people just switched to Beneful for the first time because it is a softer kibble and noticed an immediate problem. Either way, one common thread in the reports was the anguish for having bought this food that injured or killed their beloved pets.

Veterinarians have reported bacterial infections, liver and kidney failure and high toxins in pets that have been brought in related to Beneful dog food illnesses.

This problem is not in a single region but across the country. The number of reported cases, mainly from October 2012 through January 2013, has been increasing and currently there are 220 incidents listed on the consumer affairs site alone. With pets dying after eating this food, the following questions must be asked.

Is Purina turning a blind eye to what their Beneful product is doing?

Why has there been no recall or statement issued by the FDA?

How many injuries and deaths must there be before someone takes some action?

The FDA has three levels of recall.

• The recall is made by the firm’s own initiative.
• The FDA makes a request to recall.
• The FDA orders a recall under statutory authority.

The FDA website was updated as of December 31, 2012, and with just about every other pet food available listed on the site, there is blatantly no mention of either Purina or Beneful.

In 2007, Purina dog food was identified for dog fatalities after an autopsy revealed aflatoxins in the food and the ASPCA became involved. Aflatoxins are known to be found in moldy grains, like the corn that would be in the dog food. At that time, there was a large recall. In 2005 100 dogs died for the same reason prompting another recall of a different brand of food.

At this time, there has been no indication that the ASPCA is investigating these 220 incidents. It is apparently up to us, the pet owners to take some action so that other pet owners, who may be unaware of this crime, don’t have to go through this devastating experience.

Here is how you can help. You can post this news article or even a note to the following social networking sites:

Warn your friends on Facebook
Tell your followers on Twitter
Inform your Google +circles
Push the agencies that can do something to get involved by contacting the following organizations:
The ASPCA
The FDA
At minimum, inform your friends and fellow pet owners to be very careful on what they feed and check the recall lists.

Source article at Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/article/purina-s-beneful-dog-food-killing-dogs-nationwide-no-recall-issued-by-fda

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

RRU: One-hundred-and-thirty pet oxygen mask kits deployed

Banning, Beaumont Firetrucks to Carry Life-Saving Pet Oxygen Masks

Chief John Hawkins said all stations in Riverside County are “committed” to using the devices to save pet lives across the region.

One-hundred-and-thirty pet oxygen mask kits are being delivered to all Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department stations, a top official said.

During a demonstration event Wednesday at Station 64 in Temescal Canyon that was designed to showcase the masks, Chief John Hawkins said the department is “committed” to using the devices to save pet lives across the county.

The cone-shaped masks are used to deliver oxygen to pets rescued in fire or other hazardous incidents and have been donated to county stations by the Anaheim-based non-profit Emma Zen Foundation.

RRU Station 64 firefighters practice using a pet oxygen mask on a dummy dog. 
Photo Credit Toni McAllister

Debra Jo Chiapuzio, who spearheads the foundation, was at Station 64 Wednesday and said injured pets have a 25 percent greater chance of survival if they receive first aid before being transported to a veterinarian.

Chiapuzio said she is trained in pet first aid and CPR, which is why she became interested in the masks.

The kits are not being sold or distributed to the public, and instead are provided free of charge to fire and police departments via fundraising efforts.

Like human oxygen masks, the pet devices require an oxygen tank hook up like those carried on emergency vehicles. Each donated kit includes three different mask sizes to accommodate dogs, cats and other household pets of varying size. The mask fits over an animal’s muzzle. In dogs and cats, the mask closes the animal’s mouth and delivers oxygen through the nostrils.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department stations are receiving training materials with the kits, officials said Wednesday.

Five-year-old Emma Zen, a black Labrador Retriever owned by Chiapuzio, was on-hand Wednesday. She patiently played an injured pet as firefighters took instruction from Chiapuzio on how to use the device.

Chiapuzio said Emma Zen was a rescue who was found in the devastating Santiago Fire of 2007 that burned more than 28,000 acres in the canyon areas of Orange County.

“The foundation is named after her,” Chiapuzio said.

In addition to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department hiapuzio said the pet oxygen mask kits have been distributed to fire agencies across Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, and the foundation has shipped kits to agencies as far away as Germany and Japan.

“It’s all done through donations,” she said, noting that the foundation raised more than $86,000 in 2012.

Chief Hawkins said he did not have statistics on how many pets perish annually due to smoke asphyxiation, but said if even one pet is saved as a result of the new masks, he will be happy.

“I will be carrying one in my vehicle,” he said.


Source article:  http://banning-beaumont.patch.com/articles/banning-beaumont-firetrucks-to-carry-life-saving-pet-oxygen-masks#photo-12881042

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

#Australia Wildfire Threat Reduced

 Milder Temperatures Ease Australian Wildfire Fears

Update: A Firefighter has been badly burned while operating at an out-of-control brush fire north of Canberra in New South Wales today. The NSW Rural Fire Services Firefighter was taken by helicopter on this afternoon to Concord Hospital in Sydney with severe burns and is in critical condition.

Associated Press/Holmes Family, Tim Holmes - In this Jan. 4, 2013, photo provided by the Holmes family, Tammy Holmes, second from left, and her grandchildren, two-year-old Charlotte Walker, left, four-year-old Esther Walker, third from left, nine-year-old Liam Walker, eleven-year-old Matilda, second from right, and six-year-old Caleb Walker, right, take refuge under a jetty as a wildfire rages near-by in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, Australia. The family credits God with their survival from the fire that destroyed around 90 homes in Dunalley. Record temperatures across southern Australia cooled Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013, reducing the danger from scores of raging wildfires but likely bringing only a brief reprieve from the summer’s extreme heat and fire risk. (AP Photo/Holmes Family, Tim Holmes)

COOMA, Australia -- Record temperatures across southern Australia cooled Wednesday, reducing the danger from scores of raging wildfires but likely bringing only a brief reprieve from the summer's extreme heat and fire risk.

Australia had its hottest day on record Monday with a nationwide average of 40.33 degrees Celsius (104.59 degrees Fahrenheit), narrowly breaking a 1972 record of 40.17 C (104.31 F). Tuesday was the third hottest day at 40.11 C (104.20 F). Four of Australia's hottest 10 days on record have been in 2013.

Cooler conditions brought relief to firefighters, who were battling around 200 fires across Australia's southeast, and gave them the chance to build earth breaks to try to contain the blazes. The risk from fire was expected to increase later in the week as temperatures again rise.

No deaths have been reported from the wildfires, although around 100 people haven't been accounted for since last week when a blaze destroyed around 90 homes in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart. On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Lisa Stingel said it was likely most of those people simply haven't checked in with officials.

The U.S. government announced on Tuesday that 2012 had been the United States' hottest year on record.

A brutal combination of a widespread drought linked to a La Nina weather event and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up 0.6 C (1.08 F) above the previous record set in 1998 to 12.96 C (55.32 F).

The same La Nina brought flooding rains to much of Australia in the cool first half of 2012. The second half was dry and hot, ending the year with a daily temperature 0.11 C (0.2 F) above the daily average of 21.81 C (71.26 F).

Source: http://www.weather.com/news/australia-wildfires-heat-20130108CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

Man badly burned when tent catches fire

PLEASANT HILL -- A 56-year-old man living outdoors in Pleasant Hill was badly burned when his tent caught fire early Monday, authorities said.

Police found the man lying naked on the side of Taylor Boulevard near Morello Avenue around 4:20 a.m. with severe burns on his legs, arms and torso.

He told officers his tent had caught fire when he lit a candle.

The man was airlifted to the burn unit at UC Davis in critical condition, police said. His name has not been released.
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Man-badly-burned-when-tent-catches-fire-4193050.php

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

FIRE WEATHER: RED FLAG WARNING CALIFORNIA FIRE WEATHER ZONE 231

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
322 AM MST MON JAN 14 2013

AZZ131-CAZ231-150300-
/O.NEW.KPSR.FW.W.0001.130114T1800Z-130115T0300Z/
ARIZONA FIRE WEATHER ZONE 131
YUMA/MARTINEZ LAKE AND VICINITY/LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY AZ-
CALIFORNIA FIRE WEATHER ZONE 231
LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY CA-
322 AM MST MON JAN 14 2013 /222 AM PST MON JAN 14 2013/

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM MST /10 AM PST/ THIS
MORNING TO 8 PM MST /7 PM PST/ THIS EVENING FOR STRONG WINDS..
LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND HIGH FIRE DANGER FOR THE LOWER COLORADO
RIVER VALLEY..

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING FOR STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND HIGH FIRE
DANGER...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM MST /10 AM PST/ THIS MORNING
TO 8 PM MST /7 PM PST/ THIS EVENING.

* AFFECTED AREA...IN ARIZONA...YUMA/MARTINEZ LAKE AND
VICINITY/LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY AZ. IN CALIFORNIA...LOWER
COLORADO RIVER VALLEY CA.

* WINDS...NORTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.

* TIMING...LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY EVENING.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AS LOW AS 10 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS...FUELS ARE DRY AND FIRE DANGER IS HIGH. THESE
CONDITIONS...COMBINED WITH LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND STRONG WINDS
WILL LEAD TO WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS..

PLEASE ADVISE THE APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS AND FIRE CREWS IN THE
FIELD OF THIS RED FLAG WARNING.

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

AU WILDLAND FIRE FIREFIGHTER LODD

AUSTRALIAN FIREFIGHTER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY-WILDLAND FIRE

An Australian Firefighter in his 60s died in the Line of Duty yesterday. The Firefighter was found near Taranna, a hamlet on the Tasman Peninsula, where he had been working on foot on the southern boundary of the Forcett Fire about 2 to 3km from the fire's edge. It was unclear exactly how the man died or if he was working alone.

The Firefighters death came as fire crews made solid progress on consolidating containment lines around bushfires still burning ahead of higher fire danger conditions forecast. Tasmania Fire Service has issued an alert for the uncontained 24,040ha Forcett blaze, where 150 firefighters using 39 tankers and four aircraft continue working on the fire which has a 200km perimeter.

Firefighters had been strengthening containment lines around Bream Creek and Marion Bay and also at Lagoon Bay, but had to eventually pull out due to increased winds.

The Tasmania Fire Service consists of over 230 brigades with around 250 career firefighters and approximately 4800 volunteer firefighters. Our condolences to all affected. RIP.

Tasmania Fire Service home page: http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

“How many kids have been killed by school fire?

Active shooters in schools: The enemy is denial
Preventing juvenile mass murder in American schools is the job of police officers, school teachers, and concerned parents

“How many kids have been killed by school fire in all of North America in the past 50 years?

Kids killed... school fire... North America... 50 years... How many? Zero. That’s right. Not one single kid has been killed by school fire anywhere in North America in the past half a century. Now, how many kids have been killed by school violence?”

So began an extraordinary daylong seminar presented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a Pulitzer Prize nominated author, West Point psychology professor, and without a doubt the world’s foremost expert on human aggression and violence. The event, hosted by the California Peace Officers Association, was held in the auditorium of a very large community church about 30 miles from San Francisco, and was attended by more than 250 police officers from around the region.

Grossman’s talk spanned myriad topics of vital importance to law enforcement, such as the use of autogenic breathing, surviving gunshot wounds, dealing with survivor guilt following a gun battle, and others. But violence among and against children was how the day began, and so I'll focus on that issue here.

“In 1999,” Grossman said, “school violence claimed what at the time was an all time record number of kids’ lives. In that year there were 35 dead and a quarter of a million serious injuries due to violence in the school. How many killed by fire that year? Zero. But we hear people say, ‘That’s the year Columbine happened, that’s an anomaly.’ Well, in 2004 we had a new all time record — 48 dead in the schools from violence. How many killed by fire that year? Zero. Let’s assign some grades. Put your teacher hat on and give out some grades. What kind of grade do you give the firefighter for keeping kids safe? An ‘A,’ right? Reluctantly, reluctantly, the cops give the firefighters an ‘A,’ right? Danged firefighters, they sleep ‘till they’re hungry and eat ‘till they’re tired. What grade do we get for keeping the kids safe from violence? Come on, what’s our grade? Needs improvement, right?”

Johnny Firefighter, A+ Student

“Why can’t we be like little Johnny Firefighter?” Grossman asked as he prowled the stage. “He’s our A+ student!”

He paused, briefly, and answered with a voice that blew through the hall like thunder, “Denial, denial, denial!”

Grossman commanded, “Look up at the ceiling! See all those sprinklers up there? They’re hard to spot — they’re painted black — but they’re there. While you’re looking, look at the material the ceiling is made of. You know that that stuff was selected because it’s fire-retardant. Hooah? Now look over there above the door — you see that fire exit sign? That’s not just any fire exit sign — that’s a ‘battery-backup-when-the-world-ends-it-will-still-be-lit’ fire exit sign. Hooah?”

Walking from the stage toward a nearby fire exit and exterior wall, Grossman slammed the palm of his hand against the wall and exclaimed, “Look at these wall boards! They were chosen because they’re what?! Fireproof or fire retardant, hooah? There is not one stinking thing in this room that will burn!”

Pointing around the room as he spoke, Grossman continued, “But you’ve still got those fire sprinklers, those fire exit signs, fire hydrants outside, and fire trucks nearby! Are these fire guys crazy? Are these fire guys paranoid? No! This fire guy is our A+ student! Because this fire guy has redundant, overlapping layers of protection, not a single kid has been killed by school fire in the last 50 years!

“But you try to prepare for violence — the thing much more likely to kill our kids in schools, the thing hundreds of times more likely to kill our kids in schools — and people think you’re paranoid. They think you’re crazy. ...They’re in denial.”

Teaching the 

200 Utah teachers who flocked to an indoor sports arena for free instruction in the handling of firearms by gun activists who say armed educators might have a chance at thwarting deadly shooting rampages in their schools.
Photo credit: http://www.theedrepublic.com

The challenge for law enforcement agencies and officers, then, is to overcome not only the attacks taking place in schools, but to first overcome the denial in the minds of mayors, city councils, school administrators, and parents. Grossman said that agencies and officers, although facing an uphill slog against the denial of the general public, must diligently work toward increasing understanding among the sheep that the wolves are coming for their children. Police officers must train and drill with teachers, not only so responding officers are intimately familiar with the facilities, but so that teachers know what they can do in the event of an attack.

“Come with me to the library at Columbine High School,” Grossman said. “The teacher in the library at Columbine High School spent her professional lifetime preparing for a fire, and we can all agree if there had been a fire in that library, that teacher would have instinctively, reflexively known what to do.

"But the thing most likely to kill her kids — the thing hundreds of times more likely to kill her kids, the teacher didn’t have a clue what to do. She should have put those kids in the librarian’s office but she didn’t know that. So she did the worst thing possible — she tried to secure her kids in an un-securable location. She told the kids to hide in the library — a library that has plate glass windows for walls. It’s an aquarium, it’s a fish bowl. She told the kids to hide in a fishbowl. What did those killers see? They saw targets. They saw fish in a fish bowl.”

Grossman said that if the school administrators at Columbine had spent a fraction of the money they’d spent preparing for fire doing lockdown drills and talking with local law enforcers about the violent dangers they face, the outcome that day may have been different.

Rhetorically he asked the assembled cops, “If somebody had spent five minutes telling that teacher what to do, do you think lives would have been saved at Columbine?”

Arming Campus Cops is Elementary

 
Nearly two years ago, I wrote an article called Arming campus cops is elementary. Not surprisingly, Grossman agrees with that hypothesis.

“Never call an unarmed man ‘security’,” Grossman said.

“Call him ‘run-like-hell-when-the-man-with-the-gun-shows-up’ but never call an unarmed man security.

"Imagine if someone said, ‘I want a trained fire professional on site. I want a fire hat, I want a fire uniform, I want a fire badge. But! No fire extinguishers in this building. No fire hoses. The hat, the badge, the uniform — that will keep us safe — but we have no need for fire extinguishers.’ Well, that would be insane. It is equally insane, delusional, legally liable, to say, ‘I want a trained security professional on site. I want a security hat, I want a security uniform, and I want a security badge, but I don’t want a gun.’ It’s not the hat, the uniform, or the badge. It’s the tools in the hands of a trained professional that keeps us safe.

“Our problem is not money,” said Grossman. “It is denial.”

Grossman said (and most cops agree) that many of the most important things we can do to protect our kids would cost us nothing or next-to-nothing.

Grossman’s Five D’s

Let’s contemplate the following outline and summary of Dave Grossman’s “Five D’s.” While you do, I encourage you to add in the comments area below your suggestions to address, and expand upon, these ideas.

1. Denial — Denial is the enemy and it has no survival value, said Grossman.

2. Deter — Put police officers in schools, because with just one officer assigned to a school, the probability of a mass murder in that school drops to almost zero

3. Detect — We’re talking about plain old fashioned police work here. The ultimate achievement for law enforcement is the crime that didn’t happen, so giving teachers and administrators regular access to cops is paramount.

4. Delay — Various simple mechanisms can be used by teachers and cops to put time and distance between the killers and the kids.

a. Ensure that the school/classroom have just a single point of entry. Simply locking the back door helps create a hard target.
b. Conduct your active shooter drills within (and in partnership with) the schools in your city so teachers know how to respond, and know what it looks like when you do your response.

5. Destroy — Police officers and agencies should consider the following:

a. Carry off duty. No one would tell a firefighter who has a fire extinguisher in his trunk that he’s crazy or paranoid.
b. Equip every cop in America with a patrol rifle. One chief of police, upon getting rifles for all his officers once said, “If an active killer strikes in my town, the response time will be measured in feet per second.”
c. Put smoke grenades in the trunk of every cop car in America. Any infantryman who needs to attack across open terrain or perform a rescue under fire deploys a smoke grenade. A fire extinguisher will do a decent job in some cases, but a smoke grenade is designed to perform the function.
d. Have a “go-to-war bag” filled with lots of loaded magazines and supplies for tactical combat casualty care.
e. Use helicopters. Somewhere in your county you probably have one or more of the following: medevac, media, private, national guard, coast guard rotors.
f. Employ the crew-served, continuous-feed, weapon you already have available to you (a firehouse) by integrating the fire service into your active shooter training. It is virtually impossible for a killer to put well-placed shots on target while also being blasted with water at 300 pounds per square inch.
g. Armed citizens can help. Think United 93. Whatever your personal take on gun control, it is all but certain that a killer set on killing is more likely to attack a target where the citizens are unarmed, rather than one where they are likely to encounter an armed citizen response.

Coming Soon: External Threats
Today we must not only prepare for juvenile mass murder, something that had never happened in human history until only recently, but we also must prepare for the external threat. Islamist fanatics have slaughtered children in their own religion — they have killed wantonly, mercilessly, and without regard for repercussion or regret of any kind. What do you think they’d think of killing our kids?

“Eight years ago they came and killed 3,000 of our citizens. Do we know what they’re going to do next? No! But one thing they’ve done in every country they’ve messed with is killing kids in schools,” Grossman said.

The latest al Qaeda charter states that “children are noble targets” and Osama bin Laden himself has said that “Russia is a preview for what we will do to America.”

What happened in Russia that we need to be concerned with in this context? In the town of Beslan on September 1, 2004 — the very day on which children across that country merrily make their return to school after the long summer break — radical Islamist terrorists from Chechnya took more than 1,000 teachers, mothers, and children hostage. When the three-day siege was over, more than 300 hostages had been killed, more than half of whom were children.

“If I could tackle every American and make them read one book to help them understand the terrorist’s plan, it would be Terror at Beslan by John Giduck. Beslan was just a dress rehearsal for what they’re planning to do to the United States,” he said.

Consider this: There are almost a half a million school buses in America. It would require almost every enlisted person and every officer in the entire United States Army to put just one armed guard on every school bus in the country.

As a country and as a culture, the level of protection Americans afford our kids against violence is nothing near what we do to protect them from fire. Grossman is correct: Denial is the enemy. We must prepare for violence like the firefighter prepares for fire. And we must do that today.

Hooah, Colonel!

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, pictured with PoliceOne Senior Editor Doug Wyllie, spoke before a crowd of more than 250 police officers in an event hosted by the California Peace Officers Association. (PoliceOne image)

Source Article Link: http://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/2058168-Active-shooters-in-schools-The-enemy-is-denial/

CFN - California Fire News 2012 

 -  

CIT: Super Earthquake could affect Northern & Southern California

Single Super Quake Could Affect Both Northern, Southern California: Study

Cal EMA will consider amending response plans in light of the new findings, discovered while studying devastating quakes in Asia.

For the first time, scientists and emergency planners are examining whether a super quake could affect both Northern and Southern California, rendering the entire state helpless in the aftermath of the "Big One."

Seismologists have warned Super Earthquake that a major quake on the lower San Andreas Fault, the so-called Big One is inevitable. But that the population centers of both Southern and Northern California could be affected simultaneously by one quake on the San Andreas Fault has only recently been recognized as a possibility.

The study by Professor Nadia Lapusta at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Japanese collaborator Hiroyuki Noda focused on explaining the behavior of two devastating quakes in Asia: the 1999 magnitude 7.6 temblor in Taiwan, and the 2011 magnitude 9.0 quake off the eastern coast of Japan.


In both cases, the quake spread across so-called "creeping" fault segments long thought to be incapable of transmitting quakes, according to Caltech Staff Seismologist Kate Hutton, a Lapusta colleague.

"The general idea until this paper was that they would stop a quake," Hutton said.

It was believed the slow, creeping movement prevents stress from building up and keeps such a segment stable, Hutton added.

Lapusta and Noda developed a computer model to explain how under certain conditions "a rupture could just kind of barge right through," Hutton said. "Now the question is how this would apply to California."

Such a creeping zone has been identified in a stretch of the San Andreas Fault in central California, just north of seismically active Parkfield.

The Great San Francisco quake of 1906 occurred on the San Andreas north of the creeping zone. The 1857 Fort Tejon quake occurred to the south. No known quake has ever spanned across that creeping zone.

Whether the model developed by Lapusta and Noda could apply there would depend on local geological variables not yet completely understood, Hutton said.

Responsible for statewide emergency planning and disaster preparedness, California's Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) is reviewing the new study, according to spokesman Greg Renick. The agency already has in place a plan for responding to a catastrophic quake in Southern California, and another plan for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cal EMA anticipates that a catastrophic quake affecting a major population center, much less two, will require response assistance from outside California, and has established procedures in place. Beyond that, Cal-EMA now intends to review the newly published research to see if it exposes any gaps in the current response plans that could be corrected before they’re needed, Renick said.