Few blocks from the uc berkeley campus. The fire chief here told me they will be here all night, they said, trying to make sure these flames stay doused. It started small and got very big very quickly with flames shooting through the roof of berkeleys First Congressional Church going to four alarms within a matter of minutes. When we arrived we found smoke showing from the exterior rooftop. Fire crews went inside to try to make an aggressive interior attack, and we discovered that the fire was running through the attic. Reporter firefighters first tried to combat the flames from the inside but had to make a quick exit when it was clear the roof was about to collapse. We just saw, you know, little flames, but i thought it was containable and they came and put it out real quick. Those flames quickly engulfed the roof and took the chimney out and spread quickly. Reporter once the roof went, all firefighters could do from then on was pour water on the gutted structure from the outside. A D
Coastal study group idea sent back ashore
AUGUSTA A resolution that would have created a 25-member study group to research how best to balance new coastal development with environmental conservation was shot down by a legislative committee last week after concerns over the resolve’s vague language and strong objections from the aquaculture industry.
“I hear the intention, but we had masses of testimony raising a lot of concerns about the way it was written,” said state Rep. Joyce “Jay” Mccreight (D-Harpswell), a member of the Marine Resources Committee.
The resolution, LD 1211, was put forward by state Rep. Lynne Williams (D-Bar Harbor) to “create multi municipal communication, conflict resolution and cooperation” around the state’s bays and waterfront and give smaller towns more say over what happens in their region’s waters.