Wildfire explodes near site of most destructive blaze in Californian history
15 July 2021
California officials say a wildfire has exploded near the site of the deadliest blaze in recent American history, burning out of control across some 1,200 acres and prompting evacuation warnings in Butte County.
What's happening: While the Dixie fire is currently moving away from Paradise, it's was still only 10 miles from the town that was devastated in by the 2018 Camp fire. And residents are worried flames could attack the town again, per AP
BCSO continues to work with our partners at CAL FIRE, monitoring the fire and weather conditions. An EVACUATION WARNING remains in place for the Pulga and east Concow areas.
— Butte County Sheriff (@ButteSheriff) July 14, 2021
A map of the EVACUATION a WARNING areas can be found at https://t.co/OM08mbGqHO. pic.twitter.com/O93yWGvhUq
- Larry Petersen, whose home in nearly Magalia survived the Camp fire, told KHSL-TV that some of his neighbors were "starting to get their stuff together," noting that everybody is "a little worried about it, just no one wants to go through that again."
The big picture: The Dixie fire is one of 68 large wildfires firefighters are battling across the U.S. that have burned across more than 1 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
- There are 14 large fires in Idaho, 12 in Montana, 11 in Arizona, eight in California, six in Washington, two in Wyoming, one in New Mexico, one in Colorado, one in Utah and one in Minnesota.
- The largest fire in the U.S. is the Bootleg fire, 15 miles northwest of Beatty, Oregon, which has razed 212,377 acres and was 5% contained as of Wednesday, per the U.S. Forest Service.
Of note: Hot, dry conditions linked to human-induced climate change have exacerbated the situation for firefighters across the country.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.