Colo. Springs fire ruins 346 homes
Colo. Springs fire ruins 346 homes
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A raging Colorado wildfire that forced tens of thousands to flee destroyed an estimated 346 homes this week, making it the most destructive fire in the state’s history, officials said Thursday.
From above, the destruction becomes painfully clear: Rows and rows of houses were reduced to smoldering ashes even as some homes just feet away survived largely intact.
On one street, all but three houses had burned to their foundations, said Ryan Schneider, whose home is still standing in a neighborhood where 51 others were destroyed.
“I was real happy at first. My wife was happy,” he said. “The emotion of seeing the other homes … was instant sadness.”
The aerial photos showing the scope of one of the worst fires to hit the American West in decades did little to help ease the concerns of many residents who still did not know the fate of their homes.
Amid the devastation in the foothills of Colorado Springs, there were hopeful signs. Flames advancing on the U.S. Air Force Academy were stopped and cooler conditions could help slow the fire.
As of mid-day Thursday, the fire was 10 percent contained. The cost of fighting the blaze had reached $3.2 million.
Student loans, highways vote set
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders pushed a sweeping highways-student loans package salvaging millions of construction jobs and maintaining low interest rates on millions of new college loans toward a House vote today even as conservative groups mounted a last-minute and likely futile campaign against it.
Favorable action by the Senate on what would be the only big jobs measure Congress has enacted this year was assured. Leaders said they hoped get it done Thursday night, but then ran into procedural hurdles that pushed back a vote until today. Lawmakers in both parties hoped to get an early start bragging about a rare accomplishment four months before the election.
The conservative Heritage Action for America and the anti-tax Club for Growth urged a “no” vote on the bill in emails Thursday to lawmakers, warning that it will be counted as a key vote on their legislative scorecards.
“This massive bill spends too much money, will continue taxpayer bailouts for highway spending and keeps subsidies that have contributed directly to skyrocketing tuition rates,” Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller said.
Despite the backlash from such core conservative groups, the bill’s supporters expressed confidence. “We got a pretty good reception in conference this morning,” Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania said after House Republicans met on the bill.
Tsunami debris
hotline in Oregon
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Find a boxcar-sized dock on the beach, or a soccer ball with Japanese symbols? The state of Oregon wants to hear from you. Just dial 211.
Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber announced the hotline at a news conference Thursday, saying it’s an easy way for residents and visitors to report Japanese tsunami debris. Beginning today, the hotline will be staffed during business hours and will take recorded messages at other times.
“I just want to make sure that Oregonians understand that we are on top of this,” Kitzhaber said.
The hotline will allow the public to help keep Oregon’s beaches clean and return any missing Japanese property to its rightful owners, the governor said.
He also said Brig. Gen. Mike Caldwell, deputy director of the Oregon National Guard and interim director of the state’s Office of Emergency Management, will be responsible for coordinating the response and cleanup efforts among state agencies.
It’s important to quickly collect and throw away tsunami debris to keep beaches clean and prevent the introduction of invasive species, Caldwell said.
Officials are asking that people not take home debris to keep as souvenirs, but they say there’s little chance of the debris being harmful to human health.
People should be especially mindful of items that might have sentimental value or personal significance to someone in Japan, officials said. When such items wash up, Oregon will work with the Japanese consulate to return them.
Helping with tsunami debris is a new responsibility for the 211 hotline, which was created in 2004 to help people in the Portland area get connected with health and community services. It’s since expanded to cover 80 percent of Oregon’s population, according to the website of the nonprofit organization that operates it.
Oregon will work with California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii to request money from the federal government to help with their efforts. If the debris had washed up all at once, it would unquestionably qualify for federal disaster funds, Kitzhaber said. But since it’s emerging in pieces, the states will have to work harder, he said.
The Japanese government has estimated 1.5 million tons of debris is floating in the ocean from the March 2011 tsunami. Some U.S. experts think the bulk of that trash will never reach shore, but others fear a massive, slowly unfolding environmental disaster.
Debris that already has arrived on the shores of North America includes oyster farm buoys, soccer balls, boats and a shipping container holding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with Japanese license plates. Earlier this month, a 66-foot dock ripped loose by the big waves landed on Agate Beach near Newport, Ore.
Biologists and volunteers scraped 1.5 tons of marine life from the dock, and Oregon officials say it will cost about $85,000 to remove the structure.
Debris floating in the water is a serious threat to fishermen and other mariners, said Terry Thompson, a Lincoln County Commissioner and commercial fisherman.