Canada’s wildfires - conspiracy theories - who's fuelling them

pgs

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Nov 29, 2008
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B.C.
There were a lot of climate change truther caused fires. Apparently, climate change needs help with the ignition.
From environmental extremists . They must keep global climate catastrophe front and center as they know the narrative will fall apart otherwise .
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire pleads guilty
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Feb 11, 2024 • Last updated 4 days ago • 2 minute read

On Friday, the San Bernardino County district attorney announced that Refugio Jimenez Jr. had pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. He will be taken into custody on Feb. 23 to serve a year in jail. His sentence also includes two years of felony probation and 200 hours of community service.


Angelina Jimenez pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing fire to property of another. She was sentenced to a year of summary probation and 400 hours of community service. The couple was also ordered to pay $1,789,972 in restitution.


“Resolving the case was never going to be a win,” District Attorney Jason Anderson said in a news release, offering his condolences to Morton’s family. “To the victims who lost so much, including their homes with valuables and memories, we understand those are intangibles can never be replaced.”

The U.S. Forest Service in September — on the third anniversary of the ignition of the fire — filed a lawsuit against the pyrotechnic device’s manufacturers, distributors and sellers, as well as the couple. The lawsuit alleges that the “Smoke Bombs” used were illegal in California and known to be defective.


Mike Scafiddi, the lawyer for Refugio Jimenez Jr., said the couple has wanted to speak publicly about the fire, its impact on the community and Morton’s death but cannot because of the ongoing federal litigation.

“They have been praying for Mr. Morton and his family every night since his death,” Scafiddi told The Associated Press on Sunday. “It has touched them profoundly.”

The lawyer said his client had researched and tested the pyrotechnic device before setting it off that day, finding no problems online or during his test.

“It was unforeseeable in all minds,” he said.

Scafiddi said the couple had not, contrary to what’s been said publicly for years, hosted a gender-reveal party. He said it was a photo shoot to discover the baby’s gender with the couple, a few relatives and their children.


“To infer that it was a gathering of multiple people with food and celebration is simply incorrect,” he said. “This was simply taking photographs in what was a beautiful backdrop.”

An attorney for Angelina Jimenez did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

The blaze injured 13 other people and forced the evacuations of hundreds of residents in small communities in the San Bernardino National Forest area. It destroyed five homes and 15 other buildings.

Flames blackened nearly 92 square kilometres of land in San Bernardino and Riverside counties before the blaze was contained on Nov. 16, 2020.

The fire was one of thousands during a record-breaking wildfire season in California that charred more than 4% of the state while destroying nearly 10,500 buildings and killing 33 people.

Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Xcel Energy says its facilities appeared to have role in igniting Texas wildfire
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Mar 07, 2024 • Last updated 5 days ago • 1 minute read

CANADIAN, Texas — The utility provider Xcel Energy said Thursday that its facilities appeared have played a role in igniting a massive wildfire in the Texas Panhandle that grew to the largest blaze in state history.


Texas officials have said they are still investigating the cause of the fire that has burned nearly 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometres) and destroyed hundreds of structures. The Minnesota-based company said in a statement that it disputes claims that “it acted negligently” in maintaining and operating infrastructure.


“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said in a statement.

Electric utilities have taken responsibility for wildfires around the U.S., including fallen power lines that started a blaze in Maui last year. Transmission lines also sparked a massive California wildfire in 2019.


The Texas fire was among a cluster of fires that ignited in the rural Panhandle last week and prompted evacuation orders in a handful of small communities.

Officials save said that as many as 500 structures may have been destroyed in the fires that include the Smokehouse Creek fire, which is the largest one in Texas history. That wildfire, which also spilled into neighboring Oklahoma, was about 44% contained as of Wednesday.

A lawsuit filed Friday in Hemphill County had alleged that a downed power line near the town of Stinnett on Feb. 26 sparked the blaze. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Stinnett homeowner Melanie McQuiddy against Xcel Energy Services Inc. and two other utilities, alleged the blaze started “when a wooden pole defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain and replace, splintered and snapped off at its base.”
 
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