UPDATE: Allison reports that so many donations have been flooding in, a trailer and/or additional vehicles and drivers are necessary. Also, click here for a link of all emergency services and needed donations for fire victims in Petaluma. Previously: Eureka City Councilmember Austin Allison is driving supplies to people affected by the wildfires south of […]
fires
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No Apparent Link in Cases of Homeless Men Awaking to Flames
The recent incidents set exactly one week apart in Arcata and Eureka appeared remarkably similar at first: Homeless men sleeping on the steps of a building waking up to flames. One was severely injured while the other managed to get out of his sleeping bag before getting burned. Police department officials in the two cities […]
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Firefighters Shift to ‘Direct Attack’ on Corral Complex
Nearly a thousand firefighters this week are going on the offensive in their battle against the Corral Complex wildfires burning in the Six Rivers National Forest, just east of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. After two weeks of road-clearing, bulldozing and other “indirect” efforts at containment — and with milder weather forecast through Friday — […]
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It’s Alive! El Pulpo fires up in Eureka
You’ve probably seen pictures of the fire-spewing octopus El Pulpo Mecanico created by Duane Flatmo and friends Steve Gellman and Jerry Kunkel for Burning Man. It was featured in a recent spread in no less than Time Magazine. The gigantic kinetic sculpture was built in a local warehouse, but it’s never been fully assembled and […]
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Guest Post: The Burned House
Ami Brusca lives in Sunny Brae, where she is raising her 7-year-old son and trying to start a community supported herbal farm. She blogs at redwoodcottage.wordpress.com. She writes: The wailing I heard in the neighborhood on Sunday morning was the kind of cry that wrenches your gut and tells you in an instant that things […]
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Bad Neighbors?
A couple of weeks ago, after we reported on an apartment fire at the corner of Church and Pine streets in Eureka, some readers commented that the fire was no surprise. The building, they claimed, was a blight, filled with drug-using, music-blaring, trash-dumping delinquents, all overseen by an absentee landlord who didn’t much care. The […]
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Arrests In Arcata Playground Arson
You may recall the fire set at an Arcata playground earlier this month by dastardly miscreants. Response was swift: an award for information was offered and the Arcata City Council voted to shell out $62,444 to restore all of the playground equipment destroyed; the Rotary Club of Arcata offered to match donations up to $4,000 […]
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Eureka Man Allegedly Sets House on Fire, Runs Naked in the Street
The press release from the Eureka Fire Department is pretty dry: Yesterday afternoon, it says, the EFD and Humboldt Number One Fire District responded to a structure fire on the 1100 block of J Street. They found one fire burning in the kitchen of the house and another in an upstairs bedroom. Both were quickly […]
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A Break For Our Rural Heroes
Back in June 2008, Willow Creek VFD firefighter Tom Smithey phoned us up to vent some fiery frustration: The feds had made it so difficult for rural firefighters to get licensed to drive a fire truck that they feared one day their crew — waiting on a driver — might arrive too late to control […]
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A.M. Fire at Quality Inn in Eureka
The Eureka Fire Department responded to a fire at the Quality Inn located at 1209 4th St. in Eureka Friday morning. Flames were said to be visible coming out of a second story room upon the arrival of rescue workers, but were extinguished. At this time, the cause of the blaze is unknown. No one […]
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Photos Released in Arson Investigation
The Humboldt County Arson Task Force released these fuzzy security camera stills that show a suspicous pedestrian strolling through South Bay Elementary School Tuesday night before a fire erupted , causing half a million dollars in damage. The task force has determined that the fire was indeed caused by arson, though no arrests have been […]
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Stench plume
Arcata Firefighters spray down scorched equipment A putrid-smelling smoke cloud befouled Arcata’s western skies Wednesday afternoon after a fire erupted in the old Beaver Lumberyard near the corner of 7th and L streets, and it had nothing to do with marijuana. Gas masked firemen doused the flames, but not before they had melted a few […]