Wall Street Journal (December 10)
Carlos Ghosn’s reported plan to fire CEO Hiroto Saikawa “adds a new twist to the drama inside Nissan…. While that internal investigation was going on, Mr. Ghosn was growing increasingly dissatisfied with Mr. Saikawa’s handling of business problems at Nissan including a slowdown in U.S. sales and repeated quality issues in Japan, say people familiar with the matter.”
Tags: CEO, Dissatisfied, Drama, Fire, Ghosn, Investigation, Nissan, Quality issues, Saikawa, Slowdown, Twist, U.S.
Los Angeles Times (August 16)
“The largest fire in California history continued to grow Thursday while firefighters worked to protect threatened communities…. Conditions have been ripe for the erratic fire behavior that has led to the explosive growth of the Ranch fire, which along with the River fire makes up the 364,145-acre Mendocino Complex fire. The days are so hot and dry that whatever gains firefighters see overnight when the humidity goes up quickly fade when the sun hits the fuels and sucks the moisture out.”
Tags: California, Dry, Erratic, Explosive, Fire, Firefighters, Hot, Humidity, Mendocino Complex fire, Ranch fire, River fire
LA Times (January 11)
California must “break the terrifying pattern of fire and flood….Water and fire can be a lethal combination,” but there is a way forward. “Taxing ourselves to create more open space in the foothills will not stop fires from erupting or rain from falling. It will give city and county planners a powerful tool by which to restrain growth, offer burned-out homeowners a safer option than rebuilding in fire zones, and give those living downhill in the path of the slides some much-needed breathing room.”
Tags: California, Fire, Fire zones, Flood, Foothills, Growth, Lethal, Open space, Rebuilding, Taxes
San Francisco Chronicle (October 9)
“California’s fire season took an apocalyptic turn for too many Sunday as fierce winds and hot, dry air fanned more than a dozen Wine Country fires…. At least 1,500 structures and 10 lives were lost, scores were injured and tens of thousands evacuated, and smoke settled thickly over the Bay Area and beyond.” While containment remains the most urgent matter, “the latest catastrophic wildfires are also a policy problem that should motivate redoubled prevention and mitigation measures.”
Tags: Apocalyptic, California, Catastrophic, Evacuated, Fire, Mitigation, Prevention, Smoke, Wildfires, Winds, Wine Country
Sydney Morning Herald (July 13)
“The Grenfell tower fire in London has opened the eyes of the world to the dangers of building with materials that do not conform to safety standards.” But this comes three years after Australia’s “own wake-up call…when fire ripped through Melbourne’s Lacrosse building.” Since then “all the solutions to the problem have been presented by expert bodies to the Senate inquiry,” yet not enough has been done. An “audit of apartment buildings undertaken by the Victorian Building Authority has shown that half contained non-compliant materials.” It is “time for governments to advance from talking and thinking to actually doing something.”
Tags: Dangers, Experts, Fire, Grenfell, Lacrosse building, London, Melbourne, Non-compliant materials, Safety standards
Bloomberg (July 29)
We need to treat climate change like fire. “You insure your house against fire not because you are certain it will burn down but to guard against the risk that it might. Yes, climate change involves various costs known with reasonable confidence—but it also creates big risks. It’s only rational to insure against them.
Tags: Climate change, Confidence, Costs, Fire, Insurance, Rational, Risk