Word: fire
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...World War II recall kids plastering cars with toilet paper, and tossing onto porches fiery paper bags filled with feces. Huge swaths of this city burned during the 1967 riots, leaving the kind of blighted property that experts say lures prospective arsonists. John Hall, a researcher at the National Fire Prevention Association, said the presence of so many vacant properties presented the ingredients for what's known as "the broken windows syndrome." He says "when people see a collection of abandoned properties in one location, graffiti goes up. The general perception is, 'We've lost control of our neighborhood...
...Detroit officials are taking a number of steps to thwart the risk of arson. The city's fire department, for instance, has canceled off-days for most of its workforce, which has seen its ranks dwindle from 1,325 a decade ago to about 1,098 because of Detroit's financial crisis. As a result, the fire department has been overwhelmed protecting a vast territory. Bing himself visited several fire stations, restaurants and community centers in recent days to encourage residents to be vigilant about reporting suspected arsons. (See pictures of the decline of Detroit...
...there is little evidence that the significant number of vacant homes due to the real estate crisis has led to a surge in arson across the country; incidents of arson have been fairly constant over the years nationwide, according to the National Fire Prevention Association. Still, officials here and elsewhere have been concerned that more owners of foreclosed properties would torch their homes to collect insurance money. Even this city's suburban residents, in past years, have driven cars they could no longer afford into the city, and torched them for insurance purposes...
...fighting literally hangs from cliffs and rocky promontories. White smoke rises from a village across a deep gorge. The screeching whistle of mortar fire echoes in the expansive valley as troops target militants in a village five miles away. Cobra helicopter gunships buzz overhead. Two weeks into its ambitious ground assault on the Pakistani Taliban's heartlands, the Pakistani army has edged its way east and says it is poised to make fresh gains against the Central Asian and Taliban fighters who are hunkered down in the Kaniguram Valley, faintly visible in the distance...
...confident that they are bleeding the militants dry and protecting against their flight to other areas. But a visit to Kotkai - the hometown of Taliban leaders Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, which was cleared by the army last week - was not possible due to the continuing threat of rocket fire from militants nearby. There is no clear idea of either of the Taliban commanders' whereabouts, though there have been unconfirmed reports of Mehsud hiding atop Preghal in Badr Valley, South Waziristan's highest peak. Some observers speculate that he may have shifted into North Waziristan, beyond the scope...