NBC News reports: The Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon nearly doubled in size from Saturday to Sunday to more than 150,000 acres as extreme heatwaves and wildfires continued to scorch the West. The intense flames in the Fremont-Winema National Forest broke out on July 6, burning for its sixth day on Sunday, according to an incident report. The out-of-control wildfire …
Read More »Surfside Toll Rises To 90, Israeli Search Team Departs
Miami’s CBS News affiliate reports: Search-and-recovery efforts continued uninterrupted at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside into the night and Sunday morning. “Our teams worked tirelessly, as ever, to make progress on the collapse site. Truly, it is a remarkable operation,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava Mayor Cava said. “Our team continues to make incredible progress …
Read More »Surfside Cat Found Alive, Reunited With Family [Video]
The Miami Herald reports: Binx, a cat that lived on the ninth floor of Champlain Towers South condo, was found safe two weeks after the building collapsed and has been reunited with its family, an animal rescue organization said. The cat was found near the rubble and was taken Thursday night to Kitty Campus, an organization that cares for community …
Read More »Surfside Deaths Rise To 78, Rubble Mostly Removed
Reuters reports: The confirmed death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium tower increased to 78 on Friday after workers recovered an additional 14 bodies and whittled the rubble down close to ground level, officials said. A total of 62 people remain missing and feared dead in the concrete and steel ruins of the 12-story building in the oceanfront …
Read More »Debate Begins Over Future Of Surfside Collapse Site
Reuters reports: Should the prime beach property in Surfside be turned into a memorial? Or should it be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars to raise money for victims and their kin? Experts in trauma stemming from disasters said it’s crucial that there be some type of physical place where the families of those killed in the June 24 …
Read More »Search For Survivors Ends In Surfside Tower Collapse
The Miami Herald reports: As the 14th day of searching came to a close, families and loved ones were informed during a private briefing that the search and rescue effort for live victims in the rubble that was once Champlain Towers South is coming to an end. Fire authorities said Wednesday there is no longer hope that there are any …
Read More »Surfside Condo Collapse Death Toll Rises To 46 [VIDEO]
The Associated Press reports: The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, as workers uncovered 10 more bodies from the rubble and officials sounded more and more grim about the prospects of finding anyone alive. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah broke the discovery of the additional bodies and human …
Read More »Demolition Brings Down Remaining Part Of FL Tower
Miami’s NBC News affiliate reports: The remaining portion of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside was demolished Sunday night. The structure came down at about 10:30 p.m., and before 11:30 p.m., rescuers were given an all-clear to resume their search, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Officials had given a window of the demolition occurring between 10 …
Read More »Tower Demolition Team Readies For Monday Implosion
Yesterday it was announced that demolishing the still standing portion of the Surfside tower would take place today. Now they’re saying “Monday at the earliest.” The Miami Herald reports: The demolition company was identified as CDI Controlled Demolition Inc., of Phoenix, Maryland. It is being sub-contracted through BG Group, the Delray Beach demolition company hired by the Florida Department of …
Read More »Surfside Tower Demolition To Take Place Tomorrow
The Associated Press reports: A top Miami-Dade fire official on Saturday told family members of people missing in the rubble of a collapsed condo building that demolition workers planned to bring down the remainder of the building on Sunday. Worries have intensified over the past week that the damaged structure could come tumbling down on its own, endangering the crews …
Read More »Six Firefighters Test COVID+ At Surfside Collapse Site
Miami’s CBS News affiliate reports: COVID has reared its ugly head once again, this time at the search site of the Surfside collapsed condo. Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said Friday, at least 6 firefighters from Florida, but outside of Miami-Dade, tested positive for COVID-19. The task force that contained the positive COVID-19 has been “demobilized,” according to the chief, …
Read More »Mayor Signs Order To Demolish Rest Of Florida Tower
USA Today reports: Engineers were evaluating options Friday for demolishing the remaining portion of a condo building that partially collapsed outside Miami last week, leaving 22 people dead and 126 unaccounted for. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Friday officials have had “a couple of meetings” with engineers, who are “meeting regularly” to determine what the process would look …
Read More »Surfside Search Halted Amid Fear Of Further Collapse
The Miami Herald reports: Exactly one week after the Champlain Towers South building collapsed, rescue crews early Thursday stopped work amid concerns that the remaining structure could topple. Also, South Florida is bracing for the possible arrival of a tropical storm later in the week that could affect the site. The new challenges arose Thursday as President Joe Biden prepares …
Read More »16 Hurt As LA Cops Destroy Illegal Fireworks [VIDEO]
Los Angeles’s CBS News affiliate reports: Sixteen people were injured Wednesday evening after a planned detonation of seized illegal fireworks ended in an explosion in South Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Fire Department said nine LAPD officers were treated and taken to local hospitals in fair condition with minor injuries. One Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officer was …
Read More »Video Shows Gushing Water Before FL Tower Collapse
ABC News reports: Video recorded at Champlain Tower South minutes before its deadly collapse Thursday appears to show water pouring out of a ceiling in a parking garage and rubble on the ground, ABC News has confirmed. Adriana Sarmiento told ABC News that she and her husband were on vacation and swimming in the pool at the nearby Bluegreen Vacations …
Read More »Trump Refuses Plea From DeSantis To Postpone FL Rally
Yahoo News reports: Former President Donald Trump is rejecting pleas from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to postpone a campaign-style rally this weekend some 200 miles from the Miami suburb where an international search-and-rescue mission is excavating bodies from the site of a collapsed seaside condominium. DeSantis’s office has “made a direct plea” to the former president’s team, calling on it …
Read More »Grand Jury To Investigate Surfside Condo Collapse
The Washington Post reports: Miami’s top prosecutor pledged Tuesday to have a grand jury examine last week’s collapse of an oceanfront high-rise, suggesting that even as the search continues for survivors, the focus was quickly shifting to accountability for a disaster likely to go down as one of the country’s worst. The announcement by Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle …
Read More »Biden And First Lady To Visit Site Of Condo Collapse
NPR reports: The White House says President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Florida Thursday to view first hand the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers condominium. Asked by reporters if he planned to visit Surfside, Biden said, “Yes I hope so, as soon as we can. Maybe as early as Thursday.” The White House issued a …
Read More »April Letter Warned Tower Damage Was Getting Worse
USA Today reports: An April letter sent from the president of the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association said that damage to the doomed building’s basement garage had “gotten significantly worse” since an inspection about two and a half years earlier and that deterioration of the building’s concrete was “accelerating.” The letter also suggested that millions of dollars in needed repairs …
Read More »Condo Collapse Likely Started In Parking Garage
The New York Times reports: The investigation into what may be the deadliest accidental building collapse in American history has just begun, but experts who have examined video footage of the disaster outside Miami are focusing on a spot in the lowest part of the condominium complex — possibly in or below the underground parking garage — where an initial …
Read More »