Latest news with #fires
CBC
2 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Regina resident rushes north to save his cabin from fires
Regina resident rushes north to save his cabin from fires 8 minutes ago Duration 1:58
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
The princess who 'regularly set fire' to her room in Buckingham Palace, according to a royal insider
There have been several fires at the Royal palaces in recent memory. The Royals were left devastated when Windsor Castle was seriously damaged by a fire in 1992, contributing to what the late Queen referred to as her annus horribilis. Then in 2002 a number of artworks were damaged in Buckingham Palace after a small fire broke out in the East Gallery. But one elderly member of the Royal Family gained a reputation for regularly (and accidentally) causing the blazes in the late 1960s. According to royal biographer Tom Quinn in his book Yes Ma'am – which lifts the curtain on the life of the men and women who serve the Royal Family – Prince Philip 's mother Princess Alice 'regularly' set fire to her own apartment in Buckingham Palace. Agnes Cooke, who worked in the royal kitchen for a number of years, told Quinn that Alice's love of cigarettes was behind her fiery habit. She said: 'Well, there was a lady in waiting who was very friendly with Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, when Alice was living at Buckingham Palace, and they used to smoke cigarettes together in Alice's apartment – so much so that they regularly set fire to it. 'And despite being very grand indeed – a member of one of Britain's oldest and most aristocratic families – this particular lady in waiting used to wander about with a cigarette stuck behind her ear, like a coal miner or a carpenter.' Princess Alice's life is one of the most remarkable in the history of the Royal Family. She was born Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Mary on 25 February 1885 at Windsor Castle in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Shortly after her birth it was discovered that Alice was congenitally deaf but could speak clearly and lip read in several languages. While at the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, she met and fell in love with Prince Andrew, a younger son of the King of Greece – a year later the couple were wed. Alice married into the Greek Royal Family at a tumultuous time with the family exiled from the country in 1921, the same year Prince Philip was born. By 1930 she was hearing voices and believed she was having intimate relationships with Jesus and other religious figures. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic before being treated by Sigmund Freud at a clinic in Berlin. When Charles' grandmother was released from the the sanatorium in 1932, she drifted between modest German B&Bs before she eventually returned to Athens following the restoration of the Greek monarchy. Alice then found herself stranded in Nazi-occupied Greece throughout WW2. Princess Alice with her husband Prince Andrew of Greece. While at the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, she met and fell in love with Andrew, a younger son of the King of Greece – a year later the couple were wed Due to her links to Germany, with her cousin serving as German ambassador to Greece until the start of the occupation, the Nazi soldiers wrongly assumed Alice was sympathetic to their cause. Instead when a general asked Alice if there was anything he could do for her, she bravely responded: 'You can take your troops out of my country.' During the war, she was instrumental in aiding the escape from Greece of several Jews. Alice even hid the Cohen's, Jewish family, on the top floor of her home, just yards away from Gestapo headquarters. When the Gestapo became suspicious and questioned the Princess, she used her deafness as an excuse not to answer their questions and prevented them from entering her property. Following the war, diamonds were used from Alice's tiara so Philip could present a ring to Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen. Alice sold the rest of her jewels to create her own religious order, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, in 1949, becoming a nun. When the future King Charles III was born in 1948, Alice was living on the remote Greek island of Tinos. She went on to build a convent and orphanage in a poor suburb of Athens. The royal remained in Greece until 1967, when there was a Greek military coup. Alice refused to leave the country until Prince Philip sent a plane and a special request from the Queen to bring her home. She spent the final years of her life living at Buckingham Palace with her son and daughter-in-law before she died in December 1969, aged 84. She is buried in a crypt at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Warning after three Leeds bin lorry fires in one week
Fires broke out inside three bin lorries in one week in Leeds, prompting the council to issue an urgent warning about the safe disposal of batteries and the incidents in Burmantofts, Armley and Middleton, waste crews saw smoke emerge from their wagons due to fires caused by discarded barbecues or batteries from vapes or other had to tip the smouldering waste on to the road to enable it to be safely extinguished, following advice from firefighters, a Leeds city Council spokesperson Rafique, executive member for environment, said incorrectly discarded rubbish can cause "danger to our crews and staff, damaged vehicles and inconvenience for residents". No workers were hurt during the fires and the bin lorries, roads and nearby properties were not mess at each location was cleared up as quickly as possible, a council spokesperson the incidents did cause extra expense and inconvenienced neighbours and drivers, they said: "Fires in bin wagons or at recycling centres can be started from the smallest spark or heat source."The council urged people to dispose of batteries or devices like vapes that contain lithium-ion batteries at the place they were purchased from, supermarket recycling points or the advised people to allow disposable barbecues to fully cool down, soak them in water and wrap them in foil before putting them in the bin. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Fires linked to lithium batteries have doubled. Why the delay in dealing with them?
Toxic smoke from the Abilities Group fire Photo: Supplied / Geordie Winlove Why is New Zealand plagued with fires involving lithium-ion batteries, and what's happened to product stewardship regulations for e-waste, including the lithium-ion batteries within laptops and mobile phones? In mid April, the Abilities Group recycling premises on Auckland's North Shore was engulfed in flames. Fire and emergency staff battled the blaze overnight. At one point two firefighters were stranded 10 to 15 metres mid-air when their truck malfunctioned, leaving them stuck in the basket at the top of the ladder, getting showered with burning embers. Neighbours of the suburban recycling centre were told to stay inside and close their windows to avoid toxic clouds of smoke. Two nearby beaches were closed due to potential toxic run-off contaminating the sea. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but speculation from a Fire and Emergency staff member was the culprit could be lithium-ion batteries. Two weeks later a fire broke out in a scrapyard in the Auckland suburb of Ōtara. Again, lithium-ion batteries were suspected. Until investigations are complete, we can't say for sure lithium-ion batteries caused the blazes. However, data collated by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) suggests the number of fires caused by these have more than doubled since 2020 growing from 51 in 2020 to 120 in 2024. So far this year 42 fires have been related to batteries The increase is due to the proliferation of the batteries, which are often found in devices which can be charged, such as mobile phones and laptops. They are also used in power banks, vapes, e-scooters, e-bikes and power tools. If damaged, defective or used incorrectly, these batteries can overheat, catch fire, and even explode. They're so combustible outdoor survival expert Bear Grylls used the battery from a waterlogged phone on his television show to start a fire. "As soon as I cut into the battery, that's going to expose the lithium to the oxygen and that mix of spark heat and oxygen is going to create fire," he tells the audience. A few cuts later white smoke jets out of the battery, and the handful of tinder he's prepared bursts into flames. This propensity for rapid combustion means batteries thrown in with regular rubbish, then later crushed or damaged, can become flashpoints for infernos. This is why fires at scrap yards and inside rubbish trucks have become more commonplace. Keeping batteries out of places where they're likely to get damaged - like landfill or scrap yards - is one way to reduce fires. There's a push to make producers take more responsibility for the products they create, especially when the disposal can cause issues. This might mean educating the public on battery disposal and ensuring there are enough convenient places to stop the batteries ending up in rubbish bins, and a process to safely store, transport and recycle the returned batteries. In some cases companies voluntarily opt to provide the public with options for returning goods when they reach their end of life, but in 2020 moves were made to make schemes compulsory for a range of problematic items. E-waste joined tyres, refrigerants and synthetic gases, farm plastics and agrichemical containers, plastic packaging and larger batteries, such as electric car batteries as priority products for the government. This meant regulated schemes would be set up under New Zealand's Waste Minimisation Act . The act requires product stewardship schemes be set up "as soon as practicable" for priority products, but doesn't give a deadline. To date, only one of the six priority products - tyres - has a regulated scheme in place. The Tyrewise scheme became operational September 2024. Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds told RNZ farm plastics and agrichemical containers were the current focus for the government. "I intend to progress schemes in a measured way to ensure they are well-considered and cost-of-living impacts are limited." She said there are no confirmed dates relating to the e-waste scheme. "The Ministry for the Environment is working with industry and stakeholders on the next steps. I have asked officials to keep me updated on progress, acknowledging that any proposed plan will require time to determine the next steps." Simmonds said the e-waste stewardship scheme hasn't stalled, but it's fair to say some confusion surrounds its current status. Members of a working group who were part of a e-waste product stewardship scheme design project, led by non-profit TechCollect, told RNZ they hadn't been updated since a report was submitted to the Ministry for the Environment in June 2023. "We never really got clear answers about why it wasn't progressing," said Kahurangi Carter. She's a Green party MP now, but at the time she was involved with the working group as a representative of Para Kore, a recycling and waste group with a focus on marae. She was one of 14 group members. Other working group members contacted by RNZ were also unaware of whether anything had happened since the report was submitted. "I'm not sure what happened to it," said Karen Driver, from the Zero Waste Network Aotearoa. Tim Findlay, former owner of Remarkit, a company which repurposed e-waste, said he has no idea what happened since the report was submitted. "I'm not sure what goes on behind the scenes," he said. "Certainly a lot of time and effort went into this latest paper." The paper Findlay was referring to was the 109 page report. It was headed up by not-for-profit TechCollect, who received $320,000 from a Waste Minimisation Fund to lead the design stage of a e-waste product stewardship scheme. TechCollect's head of operations Michael Dudley said the scheme didn't stall after the report was submitted to the Ministry for the Environment in 2023. "Good things do take time, and it has moved at a glacial speed, I suppose, but you know, that's the nature of product stewardship. It is a slow burn and it's important to get the foundations right from the outset." TechCollect spent just over a year completing further work and lodged an application to the Ministry for the Environment to be accredited to run the scheme. "We're in the midst of the assessment process at the moment, and it's an up to 16 week assessment process. So the ball is certainly in the Ministry's court for now," Dudley said. If the ministry's assessment is completed by July and TechCollect receives accreditation, Dudley expects the scheme could be up and running by July 2026. A pilot programme has been running for seven years as a voluntary scheme involving some of TechCollect's members, including well-known brands such as HP, Canon, Dell, and the Warehouse Group. The pilot programme has 39 collection points nationwide where people can drop e-waste free-of-charge. The waste is broken down into different components for reuse and recycling by partners TechCollect works with. Lithium-ion batteries are shipped offshore as there is no infrastructure to recycle them domestically. Dudley said only a "handful" of brands contribute to the voluntary scheme. "It would be fantastic if I had all of the sector and the members supporting us, because we could achieve such a larger scale. I've been having conversations with the sector for the last seven years, and our member base remains the same size that it is. Without regulatory intervention and unfortunately a stick, I don't think you're going to see all of the sector come and do the right thing, organically or voluntarily." If the recommendations in the report are implemented, it would mean a levy would be placed on all electronic products which are manufactured or imported to New Zealand. Dudley wasn't able to give an exact number for what the levy might be, saying the price would be dependent on how much material needed to be recycled. For the Tyrewise scheme the levy is based on the type and weight of tyre. A 9.5kg passenger car tyre has a levy of $6.65 plus gst. The money raised by the levy is used to cover the cost of recycling the product at the end of its life. Dudley described levy setting as a balancing act and said TechCollect has recommended frequent reviews of the levy to ensure it is not too high, or too low. Another member of the working group, Laurence Zwimpfer from the eDay New Zealand Trust, has spent decades trying to get a scheme underway. He said in 2006 he wrote a report for the Ministry for the Environment highlighting the need for a system to deal with e-waste. "We thought it would take six months. Now it's nearly 20 years and we still don't have anything in place." He said lithium-ion battery fires are a consequence of not having something in place. He was a little forlorn when he recently received yet another consultation document, this time asking about extended producer responsibility (EPR) rather than product stewardship. "It starts off: Do you support the proposal for a modern EPR framework?" The consultation is related to the government's work on proposed amendments to the Waste Minimisation Act. One of the key changes which are proposed is changing the product stewardship provisions with extended producer responsibility provisions. Zwimpfer explained the two terms are often used interchangeably, with EPR having more focus on producers paying for recycling, and product stewardship sometimes being more collaborative with community groups, or local authorities being involved in some way. "It's an insult to people that have been involved for 20 years in this process to now go back to say: Do people think this is a good idea?" He worries this new amendment might mean more delays to a formalised scheme. "We're waiting for government, really, and nothing's changed since 2008 when we told them that in 2008 that's still our position. We've got businesses to run. We can't spend all our day sitting around the table, going round and round in circles." Dudley sounds enthusiastic about the prospect of a scheme with a government "stick" behind it in the form of regulations. If TechCollect is successful he believes the public will see an increase in drop-off points from the current 39 to approximately 300. The need for recycling would be communicated with a nation-wide campaign. He said it's his understanding that applications already lodged would continue to be assessed under the current legislation, but he's also confident it meets objectives of an EPR focussed scheme. "We cannot kick the can down the road any further or delay. We've got the solution. We've got the goodwill of industry. Let's not waste it." Fire and Emergency New Zealand's community and education manager Tom Ronaldson said lithium-ion batteries should never be thrown out in the household rubbish and should be taken to a collection facility or a transfer station. These facilities, either run by councils or private entities can be found on a map created by WastMINZ. He urged people to only charge batteries when they are at home and awake and to avoid over-charging devices. "The toxic chemicals produced during a lithium-ion battery fire are harmful to people, so if a battery catches fire or makes unusual sounds like cracking or clicking, leave it immediately and call 111."
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
More than 6,000 people forced to flee as wildfires rage across the Prairies
Darren Sochaski, an outfitting business owner, says he fears his business may have suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage due to fires in Smeaton, Sask. Shelly Lawrence also says there is a lot of uncertainty and uneasiness, not only because they don't know the extent of the damage to her lodge on Piprell Lake in Saskatchewan, but also because her son is battling the flames.
