North Dakota’s largest city is planning to offer buyouts to residents of 56 homes next year as part of a plan to protect them from Red River flooding.
Fargo officials say the buyouts will likely cost about $24 million, The Forum newspaper reported. Nathan Boerboom, an assistant Fargo city engineer, said that several homes on the list are high-end properties.
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State officials now say 11 homes and 24 other structures were destroyed by the wildfire that threatened the northwestern Minnesota city town of Karlstad.
Jean Goad, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center, said that updated figures show the fire destroyed seven mobile homes, four regular homes, two garages and 22 other structures in the Karlstad area on Oct. 2.
There were no injuries.
The weather has turned considerably colder. The local forecast called for rain, changing over to snow early on Oct. 4 with accumulations of up to 7 inches.
Goad says that will give firefighters a reprieve, but it won’t add up to much moisture to recharge the soils in northwestern Minnesota, which she says is 12 to 15 inches behind on precipitation.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Midwest NewsTopics: damages, homeowners insurance, Minnesota, wildfireHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
The debate over whether all new homes should have fire sprinklers is heating up in South Carolina.
The South Carolina Building Code Council is considering whether to adopt the International Residential Code requiring sprinklers in all new homes.
The National Fire Protection Association has launched a statewide ad campaign featuring commercials and billboards in favor of the requirement. Relatives of fallen firefighters and burn victims speak in favor of sprinklers.
The Home Builders Association of South Carolina agrees that sprinklers make people safer. But the group says that putting in sprinklers in a new home is a decision that should be up to homeowners.
Whether the code is adopted will ultimately be decided by the General Assembly.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Southeast NewsTopics: home sprinklers, South Carolina building codeHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
The Lower North Fork wildfire in Jefferson County, Colo. is nearly 100 percent contained, and with all remaining evacuation and pre-evacuation orders lifted on Tuesday residents were returning to their homes.
The fire, believed to have been started by a prescribed burn by Colorado State Forest Service and fanned by high winds on Monday, consumed 4,140 acres and destroyed 25 structures. It also killed three people.
At one point the fire had forced the evacuation of 900 homes, and required more than 700 firefighting personnel, plus numerous aircraft and helicopters to drop fire retardants and water.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been assisting with funding and firefighting activities. FEMA Urban Search and Rescue had been conducting a search for one person still missing in the area. That person was later found dead in a burned down residence.
There are no estimates available yet on insured losses.
If the Forest Service is found to be responsible for starting the fire, under a Colorado law, which limits liability for the state and its taxpayers, the state would only be liable to pay up to $600,000 total.
Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: West NewsTopics: Colorado State Forest Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Liability, Lower North Fork wildfire, wildfireHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk