32 structures destroyed in California wildfire
SAN FRANCISCO – Nearly three-dozen structures were destroyed in a massive Northern California wildfire that continues to spread more than a week after it started, officials said Sunday.
According to preliminary figures, 10 residences and 22 outbuildings were lost in the King Fire as the structures were discovered in the White Meadows area of Pollock Pines, said Capt. Tom Piranio, a state fire spokesman.
Assessment teams were headed back in the rugged, steep terrain to survey more damage in a that has reached 128 square miles, he said.
Smoky conditions from the fire also forced a last-minute cancellation of two popular Ironman events in nearby Lake Tahoe Sunday morning, Ironman operations manager Keats McGonigal said. About 3,000 athletes from around the world were expected to participate but couldn’t because of poor air quality as the fire spread to the Tahoe National Forest northwest of Lake Tahoe over the weekend.
Sierra Leone concludes Ebola lockdown
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – Frustrated residents complained of food shortages in some neighborhoods of Sierra Leone’s capital on Sunday, as the country reached the third and final day of a sweeping, unprecedented lockdown designed to combat the deadly Ebola disease, volunteers said.
While most residents welcomed teams of health-care workers and volunteers bearing information about the disease, rumors persisted in pockets of the city that poisoned soap was being distributed, suggesting that public-education campaigns had not been entirely successful.
The streets of the capital, Freetown, were again mostly deserted Sunday in compliance with a government order for the country’s 6 million residents to stay in their homes.
Spread by contact with bodily fluids, Ebola has killed more than 560 people in Sierra Leone and more than 2,600 across West Africa in the biggest outbreak ever recorded, according to the World Health Organization. The disease, which has also touched Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal, is believed to have sickened more than 5,500 people.
Associated Press
