Entries Tagged 'wildfire' ↓
January 25th, 2008 — incident tracking, counterjihad, crime, ecoterrorism, vehicle theft, wildfire, disaster preparedness, cellular, Australia, Russia, trees, Europe
Triggered by cellular phones?
Remember all of the discussion in the summer of 2007 about wildfires in California and in Greece? Many people raised questions about whether some of those fires were, in fact, ecoterrorism. There was also some evidence that devices made from cellular phones may have been used to ignite wildland fires. This is plausible enough, considering that remote bombs triggered by cellular phones have been used in other terrorist attacks. But after the fires were extinguished, the story disappeared from the news.
These mysterious remote cell phone bombs have now surfaced - in California.
San Jose and Santa Clara police chiefs announced Wednesday the results of a massive sting operation in their cities. Operation Meltdown, as the joint effort was called, netted investigators hundreds of criminals, tons of stolen copper, dozens of stolen cars and weapons, and in one case, homemade bombs.
A Fremont man was arrested in October as part of Operation Meltdown. He is accused of trying to sell the officers improvised explosive devices capable of being denoted remotely by a cell phone. During a news conference at San Jose Police headquarters Wednesday morning, police showed a video, recorded by hidden camera, of the suspect demonstrating the technology to officers by detonating a bomb for them.
Operation Meltdown was begun in March 2007. Undercover officers from both departments opened a fake metal-recycling business in the city of Santa Clara called Jose Clara Co-Op.
Within days, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis said, customers started showing up offering to sell what appeared to be stolen copper. Over the course of the next year, the undercover officers purchased 14 tons of copper with a street vale of almost $100,000. Soon after the officers began buying the copper, though, Davis said visitors to the recycling shop started offering to sell other stolen goods. The officers eventually purchased 40 stolen vehicles and 74 firearms, including 21 assault weapons.
Over the life of the operation, Davis said, 273 suspects were investigated, 63 of whom were arrested over the course of the investigation. Another 73 suspects were picked up during a sweep Tuesday. There are still another 70 suspects with outstanding warrants yet to be arrested…
Vehicle theft was also part of the picture, including some mighty fancy rides:
40 stolen vehicles were purchased. The vehicles include a BMW, Porsche Carrera, Nissan 350Z, Audi, Toyota MR2, SUV’s, sedans, motorcycles and a new Ford Edge SUV.
Who is involved?
The article mentioned that “many of the suspects were identified as gang members,” but no suspects were named, nor were the gangs identified.
In case you have any doubts:
U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.
A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.
The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”
The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”
The posting quoted imprisoned Al Qaida terrorist Abu Musab Al-Suri, as saying “Jihad is an art just like poetry, music, and the fine arts. There are people that draw and there are others that are jihadists. They both act upon inspiration.”
(h/t Scarlett Crusader)
November 15th, 2007 — ecoterrorism, crime, incident tracking, wildfire
KNDO Washington State: Seven Suspicious Fires Monday Night in the Yakima Valley
Posted: Nov 14, 2007 01:50 AM
Updated: Nov 14, 2007 09:11 AM
YAKIMA, Wash - Firefighters responded to seven different suspicious fires in the Yakima Valley late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
“This is for sure arson,” says Joe Ware, a foreman at Evans Fruit Company in the West Valley, where fruit bins caught fire. That was the first fire reported just before 11:00 Monday night.
Almost an hour later a barn on Prospect Way in Yakima burned to the ground. Fire officials say it was a total loss.
Global Incident Map: Location of Fires
Technorati : arson, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, wildfire
Del.icio.us : arson, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, wildfire
Ice Rocket : arson, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
October 26th, 2007 — smiley, incident tracking, climate change, ecoterrorism, counterjihad, Twitter, trees, disaster preparedness, wildfire, drought
It’s No Accident
A significant number of these fires appear to have been deliberately set.
Obviously, in drought conditions, where plenty of dry fuel abounds, anybody who thoughtlessly discards a cigarette butt can start a wildfire. Lightning, or spontaneous combustion from rotting debris, can do the same.
But these fires show a suspicious pattern.
Despite the fact that there has long been evidence of al Qaeda’s plans to cause such fires, public figures are unwilling to go on record to warn about jihadist involvement in pyroterrorism!
For more about this, see Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?
Nobody on the 1389 Blog team cares about being politically correct. We bring you all of the news that we can find, and we are not afraid to point out the obvious conclusions about what it means!
If you doubt that pyroterrorism is real:
Pelosi, Boxer, and the global warming contingent exploit fires for political advantage:
Twitter: A Great Disaster Preparedness Tool
Stein hoist to Jenn Sierra on FHK!
California Fire News and Information:
Anyone with information about the cause of the Santiago fire (Orange Co) is asked to call a tip line at (800) 540-8282. If you see something, say something!
US Fire News and Information
Technorati : California, Greece, Islam, Twitter, arson, climate change, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Del.icio.us : California, Greece, Islam, Twitter, arson, climate change, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Ice Rocket : California, Greece, Islam, Twitter, arson, climate change, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
October 25th, 2007 — incident tracking, ecoterrorism, counterjihad, wildfire, disaster preparedness, trees
We have asked this question before:
Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism - Could it Happen in the US?
1389 Blog has been tracking this issue, and we will continue to do so as we await a more definitive answer.
Others are asking the same question too:
Anyone with information about the cause of the Santiago fire (Orange Co) is asked to call a tip line at (800) 540-8282. If you see something, say something!
Malicious motives:
-
American Muslim: California Fires Are Allah’s Retribution on Infidels
An American Muslim in Charlotte, North Carolina, named Samir Khan, chimes in on the great is Allah punishing the infidels in California debate:
Most Muslims in America shy from discussing the natural disasters that occur to America especially in light of Allah’s anger. They get this strange idea somehow that Allah’s wrath and anger has nothing to do with the great natural disasters…..
1389 wants to know: Has the FBI gotten around to asking Samir Khan and his associates just how much they know about who set those fires in California?
Past evidence of arson and pyroterrorism:
Other Factors:
Are drought and dry winds to blame?
The answer? Yes, but only up to a point. Drought provides the dry fuel for widespread fires, but it doesn’t provide the trigger that ignites the actual flames. Of course, there’s always room for research to improve the state of the art in firefighting, and for organizational improvements to deploy firefighting resources as efficiently as possible. But none of that explains what ignited the fires in the first place!
Population, terrain, and fuel:
In densely populated areas, more homes and other buildings are exposed to destruction by fire. It is also more difficult to evacuate threatened areas, to protect existing structures, to create firebreaks, and to do controlled burns to remove the dry fuel that allows wildland fires to go out of control.
- Homes Spared, Lost in Fires’ Random Destruction
- The Great Divide - Man and Nature: Learning Brushfire Lessons From America
With bushfire season fast approaching, a contingent of Australian and New Zealand firefighters have recently returned from North America, where they took lessons from their counterparts in managing extreme bushfires.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Richard Teychenne was a member of the group who journeyed from Canada, down the west coast of the USA and into Mississippi, in the south.
“The tour went for about 32 days, we travelled about 60,000 kilometres, took about 16 flights, three bus trips and ended up back at home about a week and a half ago,” Richard told ABC Gippsland’s Gerard Callinan this morning.
. . .
He said issues of population also hampered American firefighters’ ability to conduct fuel-reduction burns in fire-prone areas.
“With a population of over 300 million, compared to Australia’s population over 20 million, the issues that they are facing is how can they actually do fuel reduction burning?”
“In LA they haven’t done burning in two years,” Richard said.
- Fox News Reports, Networks Ignore Consequences of Not Clearing Brush
Fox News, just as Glenn Beck previously, picked up on an observation that the rest of the mainstream media largely ignored: brush left in place under environmental groups’ pressure fueled much of the fires in southern California.
Copycat arson or accidental fires:
-
Officials: Boy with matches started fire
According to the article, this particular individual has admitted to starting the Agua Dulce fire, which consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes.
There were numerous separate fires in California; no one is suggesting that all of them were ignited in the same way. One possibility is copycat crime, which is likely whenever high-profile lawbreaking has been reported or even suspected.
In addition, when weather conditions facilitate the rapid spread of fire, it’s all too easy for someone to lose control of a small bonfire or debris fire that was never intended to spread. One carelessly tossed cigarette butt or match can be enough to start a major fire.
Innovations on the horizon?
More Fire News and Information:
Technorati : California, Greece, Islam, arson, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Del.icio.us : California, Greece, Islam, arson, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Ice Rocket : California, Greece, Islam, arson, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
August 30th, 2007 — Greece, counterjihad, incident tracking, crime, ecoterrorism, wildfire, disaster preparedness, security, cellular, drought, trees, photos
Arson by cell phone?
We don’t have all the evidence in yet, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Just because a few of the local outbreaks of fire appear to have been caused by simple carelessness does not mean that all of them were.
Greek broadcasting station SKAi reported that arson devices triggered by cell phones were found. Where have we heard of that before?
Photos from Space
Here are some photos from space, showing how widespread these fires are:
Updates:
Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Del.icio.us : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Ice Rocket : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
May 16th, 2007 — disaster preparedness, wildfire, ecoterrorism, weather, Australia, hurricane, Florida, photos
Ever wanted a behind-the-scenes view of how professionals approach hurricanes, tornados, dust storms, wildfires, and other dangerous but exciting phenomena? Here you are:
- Wildfires are an ongoing problem. Wildfires at Jacksonville.com offers an entire section of up-to-date information.
- The U.S. National Interagency Fire Center offers wildland fire maps and firefighting information.
- The Weather Channel blog offers the personal experiences of the weather forecasters themselves, as well as the scientific background explained in layman’s terms.
- For storms in the U.S., check out the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.
- The MODIS Rapid Response System offers new satellite views of extreme weather and fire events worldwide, including some spectacular photos of smoke from the recent Florida wildfires.
- TheStormTrack.com offers updated satellite views and current information on hurricanes and tropical storms worldwide.
- For information about winter storms, snow and ice, avalanches, and cold-climate regions, check out National Snow and Ice Data Center.
- For those of you who live Down Under, there’s Australia Severe Weather.
- For storm-chasing buffs, Stormtrack.org offers a library of storm-chasing information, including maps of recent severe weather phenomena.
- Professional storm chaser Warren Faidley’s Stormchaser.com offers data, links, and media information about severe weather and storm chasing, along with some truly wild photos.
Technorati tags:
Australia
disaster preparedness
Florida
hurricane
photos
snow
storm chasing
tornado
weather
wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
May 14th, 2007 — Florida Power and Light, energy, ecoterrorism, wildfire, disaster preparedness, Florida, weather, drought, hurricane
Lots of news lately, most of it rather worrisome:
To help prepare yourself, see:
Technorati : Florida, Florida Power & Light, disaster preparedness, drought, hurricane, storm chasing, tornado, water, weather, wildfire
Del.icio.us : Florida, Florida Power & Light, disaster preparedness, drought, hurricane, storm chasing, tornado, water, weather, wildfire
Ice Rocket : Florida, Florida Power & Light, disaster preparedness, drought, hurricane, storm chasing, tornado, water, weather, wildfire
Powered by Zoundry
