Fire season

[westwall]

So 'rare' it has a name!

 

[skookerasbil]

Lmao

 

[freedombecki]

So 'rare' it has a name!

Well, westwall, there have been a number of fires, and according to at least one California news source, the Kern Valley Sun, the season is still on.

One thing that is smart to have in your safety deposit box are the following items, in the event that you have a fire:

The following are 14 documents you should have secured in the event that you and your family find yourselves facing a wildfire or other disaster. Copies or originals of many of these documents should be kept in a bank safe-deposit box or in a fireproof safe.

• Birth certificates, marriage licenses, military discharge papers, death certificates, wills, trusts and other important life-event documents

• Property titles

• Social Security cards

• Passports

• Insurance records

• Credit card numbers and contacts

• Automobile pink slips

• Medical records, including prescription numbers

• Records of passwords and IDs for bank accounts and Web sites you frequently use

• Phone numbers and addresses for relatives, friends, physicians and other important contacts

• Federal and state income tax returns for the past three years.

• Receipts for high-end purchases such as jewelry, fine art and high-tech equipment

• Bonds and stock certificates.

• Household inventory.

We're having some family issues with a senior member of the family who is forgetting a lot of simple things, and are assembling our list to take down to the safe deposit box. We should have done this sooner, but since we've been doing that all day today, and I read the list, it gave me some good ideas.

Thank you for mentioning it's fire season.

Every year for 25 years at my business, the fire inspector comes by the shop and inspects the premises for compliance with the city fire code. One day he was there, and I asked him what was the most important thing one could do that would save more homes and businesses and prevent more losses from fire? He said, "That's easy." Put new batteries in all the smoke/fire alarm devices in the home. A lot of people have fire alarms in kitchen, central air/heaters, and workshop/soldering areas in their garages. There should be a smoke alarm in each child's bedroom and the master bedroom, too. At least you can get out safe that way.

My cousin's husband died in a house fire two months ago. I guess that's why I opened this thread up, with the thought of fire so close to home. His life would have been saved if my cousin had put batteries in her smoke detectors in the last 12 months.

Fire is nothing to figure it will not ever happen to you.

 

[westwall]

So 'rare' it has a name!

Well, westwall, there have been a number of fires, and according to at least one California news source, the Kern Valley Sun, the season is still on.

One thing that is smart to have in your safety deposit box are the following items, in the event that you have a fire:

The following are 14 documents you should have secured in the event that you and your family find yourselves facing a wildfire or other disaster. Copies or originals of many of these documents should be kept in a bank safe-deposit box or in a fireproof safe.

• Birth certificates, marriage licenses, military discharge papers, death certificates, wills, trusts and other important life-event documents

• Property titles

• Social Security cards

• Passports

• Insurance records

• Credit card numbers and contacts

• Automobile pink slips

• Medical records, including prescription numbers

• Records of passwords and IDs for bank accounts and Web sites you frequently use

• Phone numbers and addresses for relatives, friends, physicians and other important contacts

• Federal and state income tax returns for the past three years.

• Receipts for high-end purchases such as jewelry, fine art and high-tech equipment

• Bonds and stock certificates.

• Household inventory.

We're having some family issues with a senior member of the family who is forgetting a lot of simple things, and are assembling our list to take down to the safe deposit box. We should have done this sooner, but since we've been doing that all day today, and I read the list, it gave me some good ideas.

Thank you for mentioning it's fire season.

Every year for 25 years at my business, the fire inspector comes by the shop and inspects the premises for compliance with the city fire code. One day he was there, and I asked him what was the most important thing one could do that would save more homes and businesses and prevent more losses from fire? He said, "That's easy." Put new batteries in all the smoke/fire alarm devices in the home. A lot of people have fire alarms in kitchen, central air/heaters, and workshop/soldering areas in their garages. There should be a smoke alarm in each child's bedroom and the master bedroom, too. At least you can get out safe that way.

My cousin's husband died in a house fire two months ago. I guess that's why I opened this thread up, with the thought of fire so close to home. His life would have been saved if my cousin had put batteries in her smoke detectors in the last 12 months.

Fire is nothing to figure it will not ever happen to you.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss Becki. Fire is a terrible way to go. I lost one home to wildfire many, many years ago and still live in a wildfire area, so defensive space and preparedness are paramount.

 

[waltky]

Arsonist gets death sentence...

Jury: Death for arsonist convicted of 5 murders
Sep 28,`12 -- A jury on Friday recommended death for an arsonist convicted of murdering five men who died of heart attacks during a wildfire that ripped through Southern California nearly a decade ago.

The murder charges against Rickie Lee Fowler, 31, signaled a tough standard for arson cases in a region plagued by wildfires that sometimes claim the lives of firefighters and civilians. The Old Fire scorched 91,000 acres and destroyed 1,000 buildings while burning for nine days. The men died after their homes burned or as they tried to evacuate. Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith ordered Fowler to return to court Nov. 16 for sentencing. The judge can either accept the jury's recommendation or sentence Fowler to life in prison without possibility of parole. Fowler, who wore a pinstriped shirt, spoke briefly with his attorney after the recommendation was read. He was handcuffed and led down a hall by bailiffs.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos welcomed the verdict after the fire devastated neighborhoods, destroying people's lives and cherished personal property such as photos, albums and letters that can never be replaced. "Hopefully this does bring some justice to the victims," Ramos said. Jurors declined to speak with reporters outside the courtroom. Defense attorney Michael Belter said he spoke with members of the jury after the hearing and was told they had gone back and forth on whether to recommend death or a life sentence. "We still take the position that if one is not involved with the intentional killing of somebody, the death penalty would not be warranted," Belter said, adding that he plans to file a motion for a new trial.

The decision to recommend the death penalty for a crime tangential to the arson appeared to be unprecedented, according to a legal expert. "I've never heard of a case like this," said Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman. "This issue is going to keep the California Supreme Court busy for quite a while." He said a key consideration would be whether it was foreseeable to Fowler that five men would die of heart attacks when he set the fire. "The real question is whether we should be executing people when the deaths were not an easily foreseeable consequence of the criminal act," Goldman said. He cited a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing the death sentence of a man charged with aiding and abetting a murder. The court held that the sentence should not apply to someone who didn't kill, attempt or intend to kill the victim.

The district attorney declined to discuss the death recommendation in detail because he expects the issue to be raised on appeal. Fowler was convicted in August of arson and five counts of first-degree murder for setting the massive wind-blown blaze that ravaged the hills east of Los Angeles in 2003. Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and former federal prosecutor, said that in charging Fowler with murder for setting the fire, prosecutors applied the same reasoning as they do when charging bank robbers for murder after tellers die of heart attacks. However, she acknowledged that people might not see a link between setting a wildfire and suffering a heart attack. "Usually in arson, people die of smoke inhalation, or being - God forbid - burned to death. This is not the ordinary way people die in these situations," she said.

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