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EDM Friday Briefing: Record-Breaking Cold Forecast Beginning Sunday

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Emergency and disaster management briefing for November 8, 2019: Over two million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken has been recalled for possible foreign matter contamination; the bloody body of a woman and a bomb threat prompted a partial evacuation of a Simi Valley community; a pilot is dead after a small plane crashed into a home in California; the Kincade Fire is now fully contained and all evacuation orders have been lifted; a hijacking alarm that disrupted operations at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Wednesday was a false alarm; 37 people are dead and dozens are feared missing after an ambush near a Canadian-owned gold mine in Burkina Faso; Australia is struggling to respond to calls as unprecedented wildfires burn along a large stretch of seaboard in New South Wales; and the NWS is forecasting a cold front Sunday through Tuesday that is likely to set records in many locations.

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1) A recall has been issued for over two million pounds of ready-to-cook, fresh and frozen chicken products, due to possible foreign matter contamination — specifically, metal. Based in Gentry, Arkansas, Simmons Prepared Foods shipped the products to institutions that include distributors, hospitals, restaurants and schools in eight states. The products being recalled include chicken legs, wings and whole chickens, but do not include products sold in stores.

2) An evacuation was ordered in a gated community in Simi Valley, California, on Thursday night after a homeowner returned home to a woman’s body and a bomb threat. When the man came home, he called 911 after finding a woman in a pool of blood and suffering from some type of trauma. Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene and also discovered writing on the wall that indicated a bomb was inside the home. The message prompted the evacuation of about 47 neighbors, along with a shelter-in-place order for the rest of the community, while the Simi Valley Police Department SWAT Team, the Ventura County bomb squad and a crisis negotiation team investigated the incident.

3) A single-engine plane crashed into a home in Upland, California, on Thursday morning, killing the pilot and setting the house on fire. A father and toddler, the only occupants of the home at the time of the crash, were able to escape uninjured. Authorities found a parachute among the wreckage, which is standard on the Cirrus SR22, the type of aircraft that crashed into the home.

4) Cal Fire has declared that the Kincade Fire, which consumed an estimated 77,758 acres, is now fully contained. The fire, which began nearly two weeks ago in Sonoma County, damaged or destroyed at least 400 structures — half the property losses from all wildfires this year. All evacuation orders have been lifted; however, a Sonoma County Public Health Warning is still in place and residents should be sure to follow all safety precautions when returning home.

5) Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport operations ground to a halt on Wednesday after a hijacking alarm was activated by mistake. The incident originated on an Air Europa aircraft that was scheduled to depart for Madrid, Spain. The airport, Europe’s third busiest, ground to a halt and parts of the airport were closed off, causing confusion among passengers as the Dutch Royal Military Police and other emergency services swarmed the scene. About an hour later, it was reported that a pilot on the flight to Madrid had activated the hijacking alarm by mistake.

6) An ambush at a Canadian-owned gold mine in Burkina Faso has left at least 37 dead and dozens missing. Five buses with a military escort were attacked on a road en route to the mine in Boungou on Wednesday, leaving at least 60 people injured. Semafo, the Quebec-based owner of the mine, noted that although the mine remained secure, operations were suspended following the attack.

7) There are about 100 wildfires burning in Australia, 17 of which were considered dangerous and uncontained by firefighters. According to fire officials in New South Wales, the number of fires at the current emergency level is unprecedented, with many calls for help going unanswered. The blazes span about 620 miles along the seaboard. Many of the wildfires have breached containment lines, even with the help of about 70 aircraft, as emergency services struggled to cope with mounting needs.

8) The National Weather Service (NWS) is forecasting unseasonably cold weather next week, which could set records. A cold front is set to hit the central and eastern United States beginning on Sunday, then plunging all the way into the Deep South and over to the East Coast by Tuesday. The NWS also noted that temperatures are likely to fall below freezing in locations all the way to the Gulf Coast, with intense cold in the Plains states — with some locations possibly falling below zero.

 

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