Fires

This paper engages with the involvement of Jewish Diaspora organizations, and the ramifications of their role with regard to both the rebuilding plan of the burnt zone created by the big fire that devastated Salonika in August 1917  , and the rehabilitation of those left homeless by the fire. This study sheds further light on the subject, yielding a fascinating portrait of a broader issue, namely, the response of diasporas in general when one of their communities is in distress. Accordingly, this paper can serve as a case study of the motivations and actions of diasporas in such situations: At what point do they become involved on behalf of their injured kin? How far do they take this involvement? And does such intervention always prove worthwhile?

Changes in ecosystem functions following disturbances are of central concern in ecology and a challenge for ecologists is to understand the factors that affect the resilience of community structures and ecosystem functions. In many forest ecosystems, one such important natural disturbance is fire. The aim of this study was to understand the variation of resilience in six functional groups of invertebrates in response to different fire frequencies in southern Switzerland. We measured resilience by analysing arthropod species composition, abundance and diversity in plots where the elapsed time after single or repeated fires, as determined by dendrochronology, varied. We compared data from these plots with data from plots that had not burned recently and defined high resilience as the rapid recovery of the species composition to that prior to fire. Pooling all functional groups showed that they were more resilient to single fires than to repeated events, recovering 6–14 years after a single fire, but only 17–24 years after the last of several fires. Flying zoophagous and phytophagous arthropods were the most resilient groups. Pollinophagous and epigaeic zoophagous species showed intermediate resilience, while ground-litter saprophagous and saproxylophagous arthropods clearly displayed the lowest resilience to fire. Their species composition 17–24 years post-burn still differed markedly from that of the unburned control plots. Depending on the fire history of a forest plot, we found significant differences in the dominance hierarchy among invertebrate species. Any attempt to imitate natural disturbances, such as fire, through forest management must take into account the recovery times of biodiversity, including functional group composition, to ensure the conservation of multiple taxa and ecosystem functions in a sustainable manner.

Since the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001, the Fire Department, City of New York Monitoring Program has provided physical and mental health screening services to rescue/recovery workers. This study evaluated performance of the self-report PTSD Checklist (PCL) as a screening tool for risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters who worked at Ground Zero, compared with the interviewer-administered Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). From December 2005 to July 2007, all retired firefighter enrollees completed the PCL and DIS on the same day. Sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and Youden index (J) were used to assess properties of the PCL and to identify an optimum cutoff score. Six percent of 1,915 retired male firefighters were diagnosed with PTSD using the DIS to assess DSM-IV criteria. Depending on the PCL cutoff, the prevalence of elevated risk relative to DSM-IV criteria varied from 16% to 22%. Youden i...

Psychological distress is common in the aftermath of a disaster. This study investigated psychological distress and morbidity in individuals who had experienced severe exposure to a wildfire disaster in a part of Greece. The study was a cross sectional case control of an adult population (18-65 years old). Face to face interviews were used in the collection of the data which were demographics, the type and number of losses and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised for assessment of psychological symptoms. The results showed that those exposed to wildfires disaster scored significantly higher on the symptoms of somatization, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and paranoia; had significantly more symptoms of psychopathology and were more distressed, compared to controls. Risk factors for potential psychiatric cases were those exposed to disaster; those who had lower education, and those who were widowed. It was concluded that wildfires may cause considerable psychological symp...

On April 17, 2013, a fire and subsequent explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company plant in West, Texas, and caused extensive damage to the adjacent neighborhood. This investigation described the fatal and nonfatal injuries caused by the explosion. Persons injured by the fertilizer plant explosion were identified through death certificates, medical examination reports, medical records, and survivor interviews. Data on patient characteristics, type of injury, and location of injury were collected. Medical record review indicated that 252 individuals sought medical care for nonfatal injuries directly related to the explosion immediately after the explosion. Fifteen patients died of injuries sustained by the blast. Almost one-quarter of patients were admitted for treatment of injuries. Injuries sustained in the explosion included abrasions/contusions, lacerations/penetrating trauma, traumatic brain injuries/concussions, tinnitus/hearing problems, eye injuries, and inhalational ...

Extreme environments merit special attention and significance because of the possible existence of thermophilic microorganisms in such ecological niches. Keeping this in mind indigenous stove ash samples were explored for extremophilic bacteria in term of their biodiversity. Accordingly, this study reports 37 bacterial isolates from the local wood run oven (Tandoor) ash samples. All the isolated strains belong to genus Bacillus on the bases of morpho-cultural and biochemical considerations. The average temperature tolerance profile was >45°C thereby, indicating towards the thermophilic nature of the isolated strains. The Bacillus isolates were screened for 10 different hydrolytic enzymes (cellulase, xylanase, amylase, pectinase, caseinase, keratinase, lipase, esterase, dextranase and β-galactosidase) by plate screening method using the medium incorporated with specific substrate(s). It was found that keratinase was produced by all the isolates while, 36 (97.2%) isolates showed ca...

Proficiency in emergency fire-safety skills is important for developmentally disabled persons, especially if they are to live independently in the community. In this study, nine mentally retarded adults were taught functional repertoires for (a) exiting a burning building, (b) reporting a fire to the proper authorities and (c) extinguishing a fire on one's self or another person using the 'stop, drop and roll' technique. In a two-part study, five residents from one group home were taught these behaviours by skilled trainers using a training package consisting of instructions, modelling rehearsal, feedback, and social and descriptive reinforcement. In the second part, two residents from another group home were taught by the trainers, and an additional two subjects were taught by a staff member of the group home using the same training procedures. The results showed that developmentally disabled adults can be trained in emergency fire-safety skills by both skilled trainers and by direct-care staff.

A review of 2,647 studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) yielded 476 potential candidates for a meta-analysis of predictors of PTSD or of its symptoms. From these, 68 studies met criteria for inclusion in a meta-analysis of 7 predictors: (a) prior trauma, (b) prior psychological adjustment, (c) family history of psychopathology, (d) perceived life threat during the trauma, (e) posttrauma

As organizations develop secondary data centers, it is critical that they be placed in locations that serve the organization yet do not have a shared risk with the primary data center. The organization needs to consider factors or guidelines which mitigate potential issues that could affect both the primary and secondary data center. It is impossible to eliminate all risk to a single data center but an organization needs to ensure that at least one data center remains operable. The article will propose that data centers be located 50 km or approximately 30 miles apart. The proposal is supported by evaluating earthquake intensity maps that will show that earthquakes damage drops to relatively safe levels after the 30 miles from the epicenter. The article will show that other environmental factors such as power, floods, fire, transportation, fire, and soil are also mitigated by a 30-mile separation guideline.

We measured the amount of lead released from 14 different brands of candles with metal-core wicks sold in Michigan. The emissions of lead were found to range from 0.5 to 66 microg/h, and the rates for zinc were from 1.2 to 124 microg/h. It is estimated that burning four of the candles bought in Michigan for 2 h can result in airborne lead concentrations that can pose a threat to human health. In addition to inhalation of lead in the air, children get exposed to lead in candle fumes deposited on the floor, furniture and walls through their hand-to-mouth activity. Burning candles with leaded-core wick may be an important exposure route for lead that has generally been ignored.

An LPG filling station incident in Korea has been studied. The direct cause of the incident was concluded to be faulty joining of the couplings of the hoses during the butane unloading process from a tank lorry into an underground storage tank. The faulty connection of a hose to the tank lorry resulted in a massive leak of gas followed