| Click the button below to search for articles... View News Items from prior months... June 2021 July 2020 June 2016 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 July 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 February 2010 January 2010 | Most Fire Deaths Result in Homes with No Smoke Alarms CAL FIRE Reminds Californians to Check Their Smoke Alarms Sacramento - While a 2010 study by the National Fire Protection Association found that 96 percent of all homes have at least one smoke alarm, nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. To help reduce the number of home fire fatalities, CAL FIRE is reminding all Californians to make sure they have working smoke alarms in their homes. "Smoke alarms give you and your family an early warning when there is a fire so you can quickly get outside," said State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover, CAL FIRE-Office of the State Fire Marshal. "Smoke alarms save lives, but they must be in good working order and must be tested." Smoke alarms should be installed inside every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. While most smoke alarms come with 10-year batteries, CAL FIRE recommends that you test your smoke alarm monthly to ensure it's in good working order. Replace all smoke alarms after 10 years. Families should also practice with their children what to do when there is a fire. Every family should set down and create an escape plan with an outside meeting place. If the alarm goes off crawl low to the ground under the smoke and exit the home quickly. A neighbor's yard or a sidewalk mailbox are common meeting places to ensure that everyone gets out safely. Families should practice home fire drills regularly. Working smoke alarms increase the chance of surviving a home fire by 50 percent. A smoke alarm is a small price to help keep you and your family safe. Published: 03/15/13 TIME TO SELL YOUR OLD CAR BUSINESS IS BOOMING AT SCRAP YARDS - TIME TO SELL YOUR OLD CAR 4 Mar, 2013 Scrap Metal Investment With the uncertainty of the US budget crisis in the midst of a down economy, selling off junk cars and other large appliances for scrap metal has become an interesting endeavor in terms of investments and portfolio diversification. As the price of both scrap and precious metals are on the rise, there is increasing activity at all levels of the supply chain with an interest in acquiring scrap for money. Industry Makeup The beginning of the supply chain can be a crude and grueling enterprise. Men and women across the United States wake up at very early hours of the morning to travel to different communities in search of unwanted metals in garbage bins, storage units, public property, or left out on the side of the road for pickup. These metal hunters have been coined as "scrappers", ending their days at dusk by traveling to junkyards that offer cash for specific types of metal and other materials. In the UK, these are known as "scrapyards" while in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand they are referred to as "wrecking yards". Junkyards will store, crush, and compact purchased metals and then re-sell them to firms that specialize in reforming. Reforming the metals often involves melting them to their original form, and then reproducing them into different products. Many of these products are reintroduced to the market, and often wind up back in junkyards, cycling through the industry. As a result, the metal scrap industry is one of the most highly recycled in the world. According to a report, "Business is booming at scrap yards, where recycling and metal dealers are seeing a growing number of homeowners and non-traditional clients making the extra trip to cash in their used bikes, old tools and discarded soda cans. The scrap yards also have their share of regular customers, including contractors, who consider what they expect to earn in scraps when they bid for a job, and peddlers, who drive around retrieving metal discards." Indeed, a common junkyard in any given American city or town can net $3 for an old bike, $20 for the copper parts inside of an old air conditioning unit, $40 for a cast iron bathtub, and a few hundred dollars for an old automobile. Published: 03/04/13 |