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Yarnell Hill Fire Investigation Ignored Major Mistakes by the State
John Dougherty
John Dougherty | October 16, 2013 | 12:00pm
Former Yarnell Fire Chief Peter Andersen sat under a tree in his front yard having his morning coffee on Sunday, June 30, when the Granite Mountain Hotshots drove past his Glen Ilah home.
"At 8:03, [their] two buggies went by," Andersen says. "Right after they went by, the leaves started to blow. I shook my head. [The state] didn't listen to me."
Andersen, who resigned as Yarnell chief in 2011 after 12 years of service, was aggravated because he had warned an Arizona Forestry Division fire manager the night before that it was crucial to attack the steadily expanding fire in the hills above Yarnell at dawn, before prevailing southwesterly winds picked up about 8 in the morning.
"I said, this being summertime, it will give you three hours . . . without wind at your backs to be able to get this thing under control," Andersen says he told a fire manager.
Seeing the hotshots roll past so late on Sunday morning was yet another signal to Andersen that the Forestry Division was failing to aggressively attack a wildfire that started two days earlier.
See Also: Yarnell Hill Fire: Investigating the Deaths of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots
All the ingredients for fire disaster were present: It was peak summer-burning season, the area had just sustained record-high temperatures, and the landscape was overgrown with chaparral, creating a tinderbox poised to explode.
Andersen says the lack of urgency to put out the fire caused him to wonder whether the state was content to let it burn through the dense chaparral that choked the gaps between massive granite boulders strewn across the Weaver Mountains that flank Yarnell to the west. The east slope of the mountains hadn't experienced a wildfire since 1966.
As the two white Granite Mountain vans drove on a narrow road that led to the base of the mountains, Andersen thought that fire managers were "doing a sloppy job" handling what he and other firefighters knew was a "volatile" situation.
The state's underwhelming effort to control the wildfire collapsed late Sunday afternoon when the prevailing southwesterly winds were replaced by powerful downdrafts from a thunderstorm approaching from the northeast. Weather forecasters issued a warning about the approaching storm to fire managers at 3:26 p.m. The warning was relayed to the Granite Mountain crew.
The 50 mile-per-hour downdrafts from the thunderstorm blew up a fire that had burned about 4,000 acres by 3 p.m. into an 8,000-acre conflagration a few hours later.
The three key environmental factors affecting wildfire behavior fell into perfect alignment: wind, fuel, and topography. The drought-stricken desert scrub, combined with the thunderstorm's powerful winds, generated a wall of flame that surged across relatively flat ground at about 12 miles per hour -- extraordinarily fast for a fire.
The powerful wind bent the 80-foot-high flames nearly parallel to the ground as the fire approached the base of the Weavers. The intensity and speed of the fire accelerated as it entered several box canyons that served as funnels, further amplifying its fury.
For reasons that remain unknown, the Granite Mountain Hotshots left their safe spot in a burned-over area on a ridge sometime after 4 p.m. and dropped down the side of the mountain. About 4:40 p.m., they hiked through dense chaparral at the base of one of the canyons, apparently attempting to reach Boulder Springs Ranch, which had been designated as a safety zone because the owners had cleared a wide swath of vegetation from around the property.
Suddenly, the fire swept around the northern flank of the canyon's wall and surged toward the 19 men, covering the last 100 yards in 19 seconds. The crew had less than two minutes to react to the 2,000-degree firestorm that quickly engulfed their position. There was no chance of survival.
Like tens of thousands of people who've closely examined the circumstances leading up to the hotshots' deaths, Anderson doesn't understand why the crew was in the box canyon in the first place, much less at a time of day when wildfires typically display their greatest intensity and when thunderstorm warnings had been issued.
"Anybody who has ever taken a wild-lands class is warned about box canyons," Andersen says. "You might as well be standing in a fireplace with the flue open."
The question of why the men were there haunts Andersen. And, he says, the lack of substantive conclusions in a report issued September 28 after a state-commissioned investigation into their deaths has left him unsatisfied.
"I think it's a big cover-up, a big snow job," he says. "It tries to take any semblance of blame off anybody."
Andersen evacuated from his home about the same time that the Granite Mountain crew deployed their fire shelters designed to withstand temperatures of about 300 degrees. "The heat was so intense that it was choking me," Andersen says. "I could see [the fire] coming over the ridge . . . and you couldn't see the top of the column of smoke. And it was starting to slowly spin . . . like a slow tornado, throwing embers everywhere."
Three days after the disaster, the Arizona Forestry Division commissioned a "Serious Accident Investigation Team" to review events leading up to the fatal entrapment that inflicted the worst blow to an Interagency Hotshot Crew since such forest-firefighting units were formed nationally in the 1940s.
When the investigation team, headed by Florida State Forester Jim Karels, released its report to the public three weeks ago, the 116-page document's astonishing conclusion was that everybody involved in the Yarnell Hill Fire did everything right -- despite the incineration of the 19 hotshots by flames so hellish that granite boulders fractured.
"The judgments and decisions of the incident management organizations managing this fire were reasonable," the report states. "Firefighters performed within their scope of duty, as defined by their respective organizations. The Team found no indication of negligence, reckless actions, or violations of policy or protocol."
The report concludes that, because of a lack of communication between the Granite Mountain crew and fire managers and other firefighters in the 30 minutes leading up to the hotshots' entrapment, it's impossible to determine why the crew decided to leave the safe burned-over area and descend into the chaparral-choked box canyon -- an action that violated numerous firefighting safety protocols.
"We cannot fully know how they made their decisions prior to their entrapment and fire shelter deployment," the report states. "No crewmembers from the deployment site survived to tell why the crew took the actions they took."
The state Forestry Division's Roy Hall, incident commander in charge of the fire at the time the hotshots perished, praised the report for finding "no smoking gun," according to published news reports.
The inherent contradictions in a report that assigns no blame for the deaths of so many young men reveal what murky standards wild-land firefighters must work under.
On one hand, the National Interagency Fire Center website instructs them always to obey the 10 "Standard Fire Orders" and 18 "Watch Out" situations developed to protect firefighters in the field. Indeed, the center states that the rules are to be strictly followed: "We don't bend them, we don't break them."
On the other, the same agency adopted a policy earlier this year that states the "10 and the 18" are merely "guidelines" that should be incorporated into decision making by experienced wildfire leaders making split-second judgments in an environment with many variables that could change suddenly.
The result is a system that makes it virtually impossible to hold anyone accountable for fatal accidents, that leaves firefighters with no clear directives about how to operate in the field.
"Everybody's lawyering up ... That's why the report's written that way." -- Doug Campbell, a retired Forest Service fire-management officer who's widely respected for developing a wildfire-prediction system used in more than 20 European countries.
"There appears to be a kinder, gentler, and softer approach" to enforcing the 10 Standard Fire Orders, says Dick Mangan, a retired wildfire accident investigator who has participated in many high-profile, wildfire-fatality reviews -- including ones concerning the 1990 Dude Fire near Payson that killed six firefighters and the 1994 South Canyon fire in Colorado that claimed 14 lives.
"I have a hard time understanding that everybody did everything right, and 19 people died," he says.
Regardless of whether the Granite Mountain crew violated orders/guidelines, leading wildfire experts say the state-commissioned investigation report primarily is a diversionary tactic to protect the Forestry Division and other government entities, including the city of Prescott. They say the report seeks to innoculate wildfire managers overseeing Yarnell Hill operations from potential liability from lawsuits and possible criminal charges.
"Everybody's lawyering up," says Doug Campbell, a retired Forest Service fire-management officer who's widely respected for developing a wildfire-prediction system used in more than 20 European countries but not formally adopted in the United States. "That's why the report's written that way."
Mangan, who had hoped before the report was released that it would "let the chips fall where they may," says the Yarnell Hill investigation fails to deliver clear lessons that could be used to prevent future fatal accidents. The report, he says, didn't analyze adequately the state's management of a complex series of events leading to the fatal incident to determine factors that contributed to it.
"There's usually a chain of events -- things that happened that shouldn't have happened" -- that contribute to fatal wildfire incidents, he says. "If you break the chain of events, then the accident doesn't happen."
Wildfire experts interviewed for this story identified key inadequately analyzed factors in the investigation that may have contributed to the tragedy, including:
• The state's failed initial attack on the fire created a situation that later placed hundreds of firefighters at risk to put out a fire that could've been controlled easily.
• Once the initial attack failed, the state dispatched a skeleton management team to direct firefighting operations, but the team didn't have sufficient resources to adequately fight the blaze. When it assumed control, the state's "Type 2 Short" incident-management team lacked "safety officers" and "division supervisors" whose absence may have contributed to a breakdown in communications during the crucial 30 minutes before the hotshots died. • The investigation report didn't thoroughly examine the mental and physical condition of the Granite Mountain crew on the day it was dispatched to Yarnell -- its scheduled day off and the 28th day it had worked in June.
Wildfire experts say it's essential that firefighters and fire-management teams have an acute understanding of environmental forces that can affect the intensity, rate of growth, and direction of wildfires. Failure to understand and recognize these forces, they stress, can lead to catastrophic results. Among the most important factors are topography, fuel temperature, and wind speed and direction.
The art of understanding how a wildfire behaves and predicting what environmental factors can cause it to change suddenly is defined by professionals as "situational awareness."
Experts, including Doug Campbell, say a woeful lack of basic training in wildfire behavior has led to a lack of such awareness among firefighters on the front lines, as well as among managers directing operations.
"If firefighters can make accurate predictions as to the specific time and place where fire-behavior changes will occur, then no attack should fail -- no firefighter should lose [his] life or be injured by fire," Campbell states in his book The Campbell Prediction System.
The Yarnell Hill investigation report, Campbell and other experts say, fails to adequately address what was a clear lack of situational awareness by the state management team from the start of the fire. Instead, it focuses almost exclusively on dead firefighters whose actions and decisions cannot be explained.
The report "is a shell game in so many ways that it does a disservice to what we know about fire management," says Paul Orozco, a retired U.S. Forest Service fire-management officer who participated in the investigation into the deaths of four firefighters in the 2001 Thirtymile Fire near Winthrop, Washington.
There still was more than two hours of daylight after the fire first was reported at 5:41 p.m. on Friday, June 28 -- more than enough time for a quick strike by firefighters before nightfall, wildfire experts say.
Former Yarnell Fire Chief Andersen is convinced that the fire could've been extinguished the evening it started if the Yarnell Hill Fire Department and the state had quickly responded.
"There's a jeep road that goes up there to it," he says. "There's no reason for that [fire] not to have been put out."
But Yarnell had only two firefighters, including a volunteer more than 70 years old, on duty that evening. Dispatch records suggest that the department gave no serious consideration to going up the mountain to fight the fire. No one even answered a state dispatcher's 6:09 p.m. phone call to the Yarnell department.
Yarnell's fire chief at the time, Jim Koile, isn't a Yarnell resident and wasn't in town the night the fire started. Koile resigned October 8 under mounting pressure from outraged residents who believe the department could've done far more to protect their community. Firefighters from the nearby community of Congress were poised to at least attempt to engage the fire with Yarnell's department but were directed by state officials not to respond.
"They basically told us they were working on it," Congress Fire Chief Virgil Suitor says of state Forestry Division representatives. "They told us to stand down because it was up on the rock pile."
There were substantial firefighting resources available nearby in the Prescott National Forest, where the Doce Fire that burned more than 6,800 acres northwest of Prescott was nearly contained. The Granite Mountain crew worked on the Doce Fire from June 18 to 25 and on the West Spruce Fire, near the Doce burn, on June 28 and 29.
A helicopter with a water bucket and handful of firefighters flown to the ridge top could've knocked down the then-half-acre Yarnell Hill Fire on Friday evening, experienced wild-land firefighters and former hotshot crew leaders say.
The investigation report doesn't address why the state didn't ask Prescott National Forest officials or other federal agencies with substantial firefighter resources for immediate assistance to put out the fire.
The Arizona Dispatch Center alerted state Forestry Division assistant fire management officer Russ Shumate about the lightning-caused fire at 5:45 p.m. Shumate has worked in central Arizona since 1995 and is familiar with the Weaver Mountains.
The report doesn't mention Shumate's lackadaisical response to the start of the fire, even though state dispatchers seemed prepared to ramp up the attack immediately.
"Do we need to order additional resources?" the state dispatcher asked Shumate after notifying him about the fire.
"Negative. We might get a crew in there tomorrow," Shumate responded.
Ten minutes later, a Prescott wildfire dispatcher contacted the Arizona Dispatch Center and asked whether the state was "sending any air resources to Yarnell."
"Negative," replied the state dispatcher. Instead, the state requested that an "air-attack" plane still working on the Doce Fire fly over Yarnell and provide an assessment. Air-attack aircraft serve as airborne command centers.
At 6:03 p.m., Arizona dispatch notified Shumate that the Congress Fire Department had been advised to "stand by." Shumate, for the second time, responded that the state "may have a couple of crew(s) ordered for tomorrow."
Nearly an hour after the fire was first reported, a crew member aboard a federal Bureau of Land Management fire engine notified state dispatch that his crew was in contact with a local Yarnell rancher who saw the lightning strike, and "we are going to follow him up to where it is."
The state dispatch log, however, provided no additional information on what happened to the BLM fire engine, stating that radio contact was lost.
There was no other mention of the BLM engine in state dispatch logs until 9:35 p.m., when Shumate stated that it was returning to its base near Wickenburg.
The Yarnell investigation report doesn't provide information on the failed attempt by the BLM engine to reach the fire. Instead, it focuses on a dispatch from the air-attack plane's fire officer, who flew over the fire and reported that it was in a boulder field with no vehicular access and showing little smoke.
According to the investigation report and dispatch logs, Shumate, after talking to the air-attack plane, determined it was "less than a half-acre in size, 80 percent out, active only in one corner with low spread potential and no structures or people at risk."
Shumate told Arizona dispatchers at 7:19 p.m. that the fire was "inactive, not much of a threat" and that he was "not taking action tonight." Shumate also told state dispatch that he was "at [his Prescott] office until further notice."
Shumate, the investigative report states, didn't dispatch firefighters to the scene because he was concerned for their safety moving at night across rugged terrain, where they could be exposed to lightning strikes.
It's unclear how Shumate came to his assessment on Friday evening. State dispatch logs mention that Shumate didn't arrive "on scene" in Yarnell until 6:51 a.m. on Saturday, June 29.
State Forestry Division public information officer Carrie Dennett didn't respond to e-mails sent on October 9 and 12 and to voice messages on October 10 and 12 asking about Shumate's location on June 28.
It would constitute a serious management failure if Shumate wasn't on scene to personally assess the fire on the night it started and then made decisions on how and when to deploy resources, says wildfire expert Paul Orozco.
"It [would be] negligent not to physically see the fire and make a call on it," Orozco says. "This isn't about guessing . . . If you don't get it right, it could kill people."
Once Friday slipped away, former Yarnell Fire Chief Andersen says, the state had another opportunity to put out the fire early Saturday morning -- by deploying effective firefighters and air tankers to drop fire retardant immediately after sunrise. But that didn't happen, either.
Rather than hitting the fire at dawn (5:20 a.m.), Shumate didn't arrive in Yarnell until shortly before 7 a.m. His late arrival was a precursor to a series of mistakes, mechanical failures, weather changes, and other delays that would plague firefighting efforts throughout the day.
The investigation report lays out many of the problems as a series of isolated events. It never mentions the state's failure to quickly apply adequate resources to control what initially was a very small blaze.
More than 17 hours passed from the initial lightning strike before the state had firefighters helicoptered to within a quarter-mile of the fire at 10:48 a.m. on Saturday, June 29. By this time, the fire was reported at eight acres. Its size was reduced to about two acres shortly after noon.
Not only was the state slow to respond, it sent in an ill-equipped, six-man crew from Lewis State Prison that wasn't trained to handle initial attacks on wildfires (such crews generally are used for mop-up operations), wildfire experts say. But dispatching $1-an-hour-per-man prison crews rather than deploying more experienced firefighters, such as hotshot crews -- which cost about $800 an hour -- is a way for the state to save money fighting forest fires.
Shumate's first mistake was failing to place an order for an air-attack-command plane until 8:33 a.m. A little later, the aircraft broke down before takeoff. A replacement was ordered at 9:26 a.m. The second air-attack plane operated only until noon, when it developed an oil leak and was taken out of service. The plane was repaired a couple of hours later, but Shumate released it from the Yarnell Hill Fire.
In addition to the air-attack plane, Shumate ordered two single-engine air tankers at 8:33 a.m., but they were hundreds of miles away. One of the planes, holding 450 gallons of retardant, took off from the Marana Regional Airport at 9:24 a.m. and another, with 750 gallons of retardant, departed from Wilcox at 9:43 a.m.
The long flight time to Yarnell limited the state's ability to apply retardant on and around the fire early in the morning. The planes each made two drops of retardant near the fire before noon and then landed in Prescott to refuel and for the crew to have lunch. The planes remained on the ground in Prescott for another three hours before flying to an airfield in Wickenburg just after 3 p.m.
Shumate had planned for these planes to use the reloading base in Wickenburg, 41 miles closer than the Prescott base. This would've allowed the state to apply more retardant at quicker intervals at less expense. But the Wickenburg retardant-reloading base wasn't operational until after 3 p.m.
Without the air-attack plane, which Shumate earlier had released from the fire, to report on conditions, he decided to remove two fire-engine crews at 3:40 p.m.
After these reductions in resources deployed to the fire, Shumate then reversed tactics at 4 p.m. and recalled the air-attack plane to do reconnaissance. The plane, however, had flown out of the area and wasn't available for another 40 minutes.
At this point, conditions on the ground were deteriorating rapidly.
Shumate notified state dispatch at 4:15 p.m. that ground crews were "still having trouble catching" the fire, by then estimated at two to four acres with "creeping factors." The recalled air-attack plane, meanwhile, still was more than 30 minutes out -- which meant that a detailed aerial assessment of the blaze couldn't yet be made and that the single-engine air tankers, standing by in Wickenburg, couldn't yet be told where to drop retardant.
Minutes after the air-attack plane finally arrived over the fire, Shumate requested at 4:55 p.m. that a helicopter tanker be sent to Yarnell. This was an indication that ground crews were having serious trouble controlling the fire.
But the order for the "heli-tanker" wasn't immediately processed because of "confusion" between the Arizona dispatcher, Shumate, and the federal regional dispatch center in Albuquerque, the investigation report states.
The state's window of opportunity to put out the Yarnell Hill Fire was closing rapidly.
With each passing minute, the fire gained ground, as wildfires tend to do in the late afternoon. The fire gained energy as it steadily backed down the mountain and moved into a location where topography, available fuels, and favorable winds increased its intensity.
The fire got the upper hand at 5:18 p.m. when it jumped a two-track road that served as a firebreak on the eastern flank and quickly spread over two acres. "That should've never happened," says a former Arizona hotshot crew superintendent who continues to work with federal wildfire crews and asked not to be named.
Shumate knew this meant trouble. At 5:38 p.m., he alerted Arizona dispatch that the fire now posed a threat to Yarnell and Peeples Valley in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Shumate's problems continued to mount. At 5:42 p.m., he learned that the heli-tanker and a large airplane tanker had turned down requests to fly to Yarnell because of dangerous weather conditions.
Three minutes later, Shumate was faced with a crucial decision.
Federal dispatchers offered Shumate the services of one of only two Very Large Air Tankers in the United States. The converted DC-10s are capable of carrying up to 11,400 gallons of retardant. The aircraft, however, are very expensive to operate, costing $12,500 an hour for a full load of retardant. The plane would take off from Albuquerque and would require about two hours of flight time.
The fire's location on a high ridge was an "ideal" target for the big jet because it could've avoided dangerous maneuvers in the mountainous area, says a wildfire air-operations supervisor who asked not to be identified. The big plane could've provided the chance to knock down the fire or at least given ground crews an opportunity to contain the rapidly growing blaze.
Shumate turned down the opportunity to call in the big DC-10 tanker at 5:50 p.m. The investigation report states that he made the decision based on "fire conditions."
Instead of calling in the big jet, Shumate continued to use the single-engine planes, whose effectiveness diminishes as winds pick up. The smaller planes dropped another 5,400 gallons of retardant by the time they were grounded by darkness at 8 p.m. Shumate estimated in his daily "Incident Status Summary" that the state spent about $20,000 on June 29 in its failed initial attack on the Yarnell Hill Fire. After Shumate lost control of the fire, his Forestry Division bosses called in more than a dozen fire-management specialists as part of a "Type 2 Short" team to take over fire operations the next day.
But wildfire experts say this unit was woefully inadequate to handle the explosive situation it soon would face. One state firefighter derisively called these state fire managers the "B" team.
"It just didn't have the horses," wildfire expert Orozco says of the Type 2 Short squad.
Some members of the state's Type 2 Short team arrived in Yarnell on Sunday, June 30, in time for a 7 a.m. briefing. The fire had grown to an estimated 300 to 500 acres overnight. The team didn't include all the division supervisors needed to oversee specific geographic areas of the fire -- or safety officers.
Shumate met with incoming incident commander Roy Hall about 9:30 a.m. to discuss fire conditions. Transitions of management teams ideally take about a day, wildfire experts say. But, in this case, Hall formally took over operation of the fire from Shumate at 10:22 a.m., less than an hour after their briefing began.
The transition was so rushed that the state didn't prepare a written "Incident Action Plan" or accompanying fire maps for the June 30 operations period. These are federal requirements for a Type 2 fire.
The clumsy transition, experts say, left little time for the new team to understand the complexities of the rapidly changing fire. The fire investigation report ignored the shortcomings of the state's Type 2 Short team and the uneven transition.
Less than an hour after taking over, Hall discussed bringing in a full Type 2 team with state Fire Management Officer David Geyer. At 1 p.m., the state belatedly finished a "fire complexity analysis," a critical report that should've been completed immediately after the state's initial attack failed the previous afternoon, Orozco says.
The state then requested a federally managed full Type 2 team. An hour later, it scrapped the plan and requested a federal Type 1 team, the highest-level incident-management unit used for the most complex and dangerous fires. But that team couldn't be on the ground until late the next day.
It was up to Hall's understaffed Type 2 Short team to handle a fire that was rapidly overwhelming available resources. "They were behind the curve," says expert Doug Campbell.
The state's scramble for personnel required it to make a crucial decision that directly affected the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
The lack of sufficient management personnel forced the state to assign Granite Mountain Superintendent Eric Marsh as division supervisor for the southwest flank of the fire. Granite Mountain Captain Jesse Steed assumed immediate command of the crew. Wildfire accident-investigation expert Mangan believes this was a pivotal mistake that weakened fire managers' control and understanding of the hotshots' actions. Marsh, Mangan says, still was in direct charge of the crew as the Division A supervisor and wouldn't need to report to an independent division supervisor who may have challenged his decisions.
"You have taken one link out of the chain of command," Mangan says.
This later would prove critical to when the Granite Mountain crew descended from the safe, burned-over area on top of the mountain into the box canyon filled with live fuel. The crew apparently was headed to the Boulder Springs Ranch, which had been designated during a morning briefing as a safety zone.
During the frantic moments leading up to the crew's entrapment, fire managers were overwhelmed. They were making split-second decisions deploying aircraft, evacuating Yarnell, and calling off firefighters and equipment as the firestorm rapidly intensified. Granite Mountain's location, the investigation report states, wasn't a primary concern because managers believed the crew was in the safe, charred-black area near the top of the mountain.
About 4 p.m., an aircraft crew member got worried after hearing a comment on the plane's radio referencing a crew and a safety zone. The fire officer on the plane asked an operations chief whether radio traffic should be suspended to determine what was happening. The operations chief stated that Granite Mountain was the crew mentioned and that "they're in a good place."
The investigation report states that, soon after, Marsh announced on the radio, "We're going down our escape route to our safety zone."
The airborne fire manager asked, "Is everything okay?" Marsh replied, "Yes, we're just moving."
This was an important moment in the sequence of events that would claim 19 lives. No one from the state's management team followed up on Marsh's comment about moving the crew, according to the investigation report.
There are at least two possible reasons for the lack of response from fire managers: Marsh didn't need to report to a division supervisor since he had assumed that role. And it's uncertain whether a safety officer was on duty at this critical moment, state dispatch records show.
A state dispatcher contacted Marty Cole at 2:24 p.m. and requested that he report to the fire as a safety officer. Cole lives in Chino Valley and faced at least an hourlong drive to reach the incident command center in Peeples Valley.
As with New Times' other request of her, Forestry Division public information officer Dennett didn't respond to e-mails and voicemails requesting information on when Cole and two other safety officers, also requested on the afternoon of June 30, arrived and assumed duties in Yarnell.
Safety officers are principal advisers to incident commanders in fire-management operations.
Among safety officers' primary concerns are extreme fire behavior, escape routes, and safe zones -- the exact issues that Granite Mountain discussed but operational chiefs ignored or misunderstood.
It's vital to note that a safety officer has authority to override chain of command when an immediate threat to life or risk of serious injury is evident.
Expert Mangan, who offers training courses for safety officers, says Marsh's announcement that Granite Mountain was moving from its safe zone in the charred area should've prompted a safety officer, if one was present, to request that Marsh provide more information and possibly stop the crew from moving off the ridge.
"The more people you have involved in a decision like that, the better chance you are going to come up with a better decision," Mangan says.
The intensity and speed of the wildfire as it stormed toward Yarnell stunned the state's management team: "The fire way-outperformed our expectations and surpassed any thoughts we had about our trigger points," one of the two operations chiefs told investigators.
Granite Mountain also didn't predict the fire's eventual path. The hotshots had parked their two vans at the base of the mountain in an area that turned out to be directly in front of the fire after the thunderstorm reversed the inferno's direction 180 degrees. It's possible that the crew's decision to leave its safety zone atop the mountain was related to the threat on their vehicles.
The investigation report states that at 3:50 p.m., an air-attack officer notified Marsh that the fire had reversed direction, was heading quickly toward Yarnell, and could arrive in one to two hours. The air-attack officer also told Marsh that the crew's vehicles may be in the path of the fire.
Marsh told this officer that he had a plan to address the issue. The investigation report, however, doesn't elaborate on what Marsh's plan was. The air-attack plane then left the area because the pilot was approaching the limit of hours he could fly legally in one day.
The exchange between the air-attack officer and Marsh was another opportunity where a safety officer or an independent division supervisor could've played a key role by clarifying Marsh's intentions and advising him to keep the crew in the charred zone.
That Granite Mountain parked its vehicles on ground that later burned and the operations chief's admission that the fire "outperformed our expectations" show that Arizona' wildfire managers failed to anticipate the Yarnell fire's potential intensity and direction during a time of year when monsoon storms are frequent, critics believe.
Basic "situational awareness" of wildfire behavior, Orozco says, didn't occur in regard to the Yarnell Hill Fire.
Sonny "Tex" Gilligan and Joy Collura began their hike up the Weaver Mountains at 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 30. The avid hikers and part-time cave dwellers wanted to get a close look at the fire atop the mountain. They knew the backcountry inside out and were very familiar with the difficulty of hiking through dense desert shrubs.
On their way up the mountain, they bushwhacked through the box canyon where the Granite Mountain crew later perished. The hikers already were at the top of the mountain when they saw the Granite Mountain Hotshots coming up a two-track trail about 9:18 a.m. Gilligan, an experienced outdoorsman and former cowboy and miner, was shocked at the hotshot crew's condition.
"What I saw was a group of men [who] were totally spent. They looked like they were tired. They weren't somebody you would want to fight a fire," Gilligan says. "They needed rest."
The hikers stayed on the mountain until about 2 p.m. with temperatures hovering about 103 degrees. They observed the crew from time to time throughout the day. The crew, they said, didn't appear to be doing much active work.
Gilligan says their inactivity led him to believe that the fire was a "controlled burn." It appeared "they were actually trying to let it go, and they just wanted to clear this brush off this mountain," he says.
Gilligan and Collura saw the fire take off about 12:30 p.m. as it swept over a hill below the mountain in about 14 minutes. Gilligan estimates that it covered about 300 acres in just a few minutes.
"We were looking at . . . rolls of fire, fire jumping up 40, 50 feet in the air," Gilligan recalls. "No way are we were going to hang around there."
Throughout the morning, the hikers watched thunderstorms building to the northeast, near Prescott. Gilligan knew the storms could affect the fire. "When there's a thunderstorm in an area like this, that wind can change quickly, and it can change fast," Gilligan says. "That's where the danger is."
The investigation report doesn't mention what Gilligan and Collura observed about the fire's behavior or about the crew's condition, even though the hikers were the last people to see the Granite Mountain Hotshots alive. Nor does the report provide any details of the crew's workload the previous month, mention that June 30 was the crew's scheduled day off, and that the crew had worked 28 days in June.
"We don't know the condition of the crew [from the report]," says wildfire expert Campbell, noting that this is a crucial missing element in the investigation.
Lead investigator Jim Karels, in an interview after releasing the report, dismissed a statement by federal dispatchers at the Southwest Coordination Center in Albuquerque that the only Hotshot crew available on June 30 initially was the Blue Ridge Hotshots (who indeed were deployed to Yarnell).
Karels insisted that the SWCC never stated that only one crew would be available. "No, absolutely not," he said. (The SWCC has declined to comment.)
The state Forestry Division's dispatch log, however, shows that an Arizona dispatcher requested at 6:21 p.m. on June 29 that the SWCC send two hotshot crews to Yarnell by 6 a.m. the next day. A SWCC dispatcher responded four minutes later, stating, "I can fill one with Blue Ridge. That will be the only [hotshot crew] I have for tomorrow, though."
Karels says the SWCC never turned down a request for Granite Mountain to be sent to the fire, but instead the SWCC "kicked it back" to the state and instructed the state to fill it "internally" with Granite Mountain.
Yet no such exchange between the SWCC and the state Forestry Division appears in Arizona dispatch logs.
Former hotshot supervisors suggest that one reason the SWCC initially stated that only Blue Ridge was available was because Granite Mountain would be working its 13th consecutive day on its scheduled day off. By doing this, the crew would've been unavailable later in the week for an assignment out of the area.
In any case, there's no question that Granite Mountain had only two days off in June and that the Yarnell Hill fire was its 26th day in the month on a fire line. The hotshots spent two days working at the crew station or on "fuels reduction." The crew often worked 16-hour shifts, SWCC records state.
Campbell believes fatigue may have been a major factor in the crew's decision to come off the mountain rather than remain in "the black." Campbell suggests that Marsh and Steed knew that the crew was tired, hungry, and low on water. The option of staying on the mountain all night wasn't appealing, nor was following the long trail down to Yarnell that the two hikers had taken safely a few hours earlier.
Campbell believes the Granite Mountain crew concluded that its best course of action -- one that would allow members to rest and be ready to re-engage the fire the next day -- was to get off the mountain as soon as possible by hiking through the box canyon to the ranch safety zone.
"They knew the rules were against them when they were going downhill in the green," Campbell believes.
But, he says, rules don't always stop hotshots from attempting to accomplish a mission. "The culture of a hotshot crew is a problem," Campbell says. "They aren't one to hold back. They are braver than they ought to be."
E-mail feedback@newtimes.com.


Lead Apostle Samuel Oppong Brenya and Apostle Benjamin Darko in a group picture with the Sunday school children.
Lead Apostle Samuel Oppong-Brenya at the altar.
A section of the congregation during the divine service.
Sunday School Children reciting Articles of Faith after the divine service.
The annual Thanksgiving service in the New Apostolic Church is a special day members show their gratitude and appreciation to their Creator. On the 11th November 2018, the Dunkwa-on-Offin congregation hosted Lead Apostle Samuel Oppong-Brenya on this special occasion. It also marked his last visitation to the Dunkwa Apostle area for the year 2018.
The text word for the service was taken from Genesis 4:4 (NKJV), 'And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering'.
The Lead Apostle urged the gathering to always remember that God expects us to come to Him with pure hearts. We also need to show appreciation to God for the free gifts we are enjoying. Citing the example of Abel, the Lead Apostle explained that Abel came to God with a kind and pure heart for which the Lord also respected his offering.
The Lead Apostle continued by encouraging the members to help the church with her activities and still maintain our faith in Jesus Christ till He returns.
He was assisted on the altar by Apostle Benjamin Darko, District Elder Kingsford Ansah and other district ministers.
Other activities such as recitation of the Articles of Faith, the Ten Commandments and selected bible verse quotations were performed by the Sunday School Children after the thanksgiving service.


With over 20 years' experience in the ICT space, Osibona believes government must build efficiency in terms of how government is run and that technology can help to improve services and provide knowledge based outsourcing in this interview. Excerpt.
Let us focus on digital economy. What is digital economy? Is Nigeria running a digital economy?
A whole revolutionary change is upon us and that is what people call the fourth industrial revolution and this has brought about digital economy. It has changed the way and manner in which traditional business is done, from our daily activities to commercial banks, services, learning and education, distribution etc. However, it is important for to highlight certain aspects that are very key, which we need to establish before we can run a digital economy. One of these is deep penetration of broadband.
The Internet is extremely crucial. It makes it easy to do business. It improves infrastructure, e-government. We need to have a digital payment services and we need digital skills because you cannot have a robust and successful digital economy if you cannot harness or harmonise it. This brings job creation. We have talked about a potential that we want to make a reality, especially by increasing our skilled workforce in the digital and ICT sector. That is the way I would open up the discussion for better understanding.
Each one is a crucial pillar and there is a whole lot of work to be done in that regard. If you look at broadband penetration when this government assumed power, we had about 6% broadband penetration. The target was 30% broadband policy, which is to be achieved before the end of this year. We are now about 22%. So, more work still needs to be done. A huge amount of work has been done.
What is the strategy to meet the target you have set?
There are some work ongoing around the infrastructure companies [Infraco] licensing. The challenge we are facing now is not even funding. The challenges we are facing is in term of multiple taxation, regulations, right of way (ROW) issues; because today we have five fibre cabling companies. The capacity is not our challenge. We need to be deliberate. We need to focus and be determined and be conscious about benefits that are realizable from this investment.
So, we have to go all out to make it happen and we have to look at our spectrum optimization. We have to look at the reuse of spectrum. We have to make sure that the spectrums we have are optimally used. We have to go all out and open up the economy. And to open up the economy means that we have the intent to cater for the infrastructure, and the right business model has to be built to support the sustainability of this kind of investment. So a whole of these things have to be done.
One of the other aspects is digital identity. It is a big project that we already have commenced. It is not that Nigeria never had identity in the past but there were silo identities in different forms. So, part of what we have done to assist the registration again in terms of responsible government approach to harness the different silo identities, hamonise them unto the agency of government that is statutorily mandated to harmonize them and manage identity. Another thing we talked about is the issue insurance data which we shall come to. It relates with biometric identity and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
So, we are putting the necessary strategy in place to develop the roadmap with regards to meeting with stakeholders, organizing workshops and it is so critical to ensure we get total buy-in from the identity agency stakeholders because we don't want a situation whereby there is no harmonisation in terms of understanding not just in the technology sense but in trying to make this happen. So, this is what we focus on. We have our development partners, the World Bank, AfDB, the EU. This has put us in the position as the first in Africa, and the largest in terms of data.
Isn't there anything the government can do to put a stop to multiple taxation and right of Way issue among the layers of the government?
I think this is a challenge for us as a federation. This problem is also universal. It is not unique to us. I remember that the National Communication Commissions [NCC] chairman in the US, mentioned that this is a worldwide challenge. I was relieved. Though ours might be worse but what we must do is that the same way the digital registration is embarking on a massive reform agenda within the civil service, we have to extend this to the states, local governments, and different agencies of government to understand the benefits and importance of digital economy, of technology, of efficiency in terms of the process which is broadband technology.
This is because the recent attitude of the operators is that people are seeing that they can pull cash from them. We have to change this attitude. But the good news is that it is already ongoing. The President chairs the National Economic Committee, which includes all the states. We are having awesome communication. If you've noticed recently, Ogun State hosted a summit and one of the agendas is technology. So the states are supporting this. You know that internally generated revenue is critical to the state governors and they need it. We are looking for better ways and manner around it and we are discussing this with the states.
What other steps are you taking in this direction?
We are also looking for means of meeting the states through subsidy. Though I don't like that word, we are giving a kind of funding, which can come from the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) while the states then allow this to carry on because there are resultant benefits. Also, one of the things we need to do is that for you to qualify for that funding, you also should be able to showcase your digital roadmap as a state or local government, you should be able to use technology for your activities may be for duties payment or for tax collection. You also must embody in terms of school curriculum – 10 courses; and some other conditions. As long as you are meeting these conditions, then you are then qualified to receive the funding because what that means is that we can create competition.
This is because when we come to showcase the success for some states, others will naturally align with the programme. We can't force feed this kind of system. It has to be deliberated upon then follow-up and eventually, it is beginning to yield the desired result. Ogun state has set the agenda to attract business by saying "we are removing Right of Way come and do business here" and that's where we need to get to. We must build efficiency in terms of how government is run but not just only that, we want to build a workforce that can provide services, knowledge based outsourcing, basic process outsourcing. We have crude oil basins in Nigeria but they are all programmed for companies abroad. That is a massive foreign revenue generation.
Is that part of the digital economy?
That is where we need to get to and this is what we call prosperity especially for the young people. This is another opportunity for the young people because this is the fourth industrial revolution. They allow us to be able to play in the global space because the world has become so small. We are competing for jobs with people in China, India, Pakistan and other countries. But we must be ready in terms of digital infrastructure, digital skills. We have to own ours.
And what's encouraging is that Nigerians are naturally smart and clever and brilliant in terms of technology. You just have to visit some places such as the UK, Europe and US, you will observe that Nigerians are among the leading people in technology. So, it is not archaic to us. It is not something that we don't have the ability to handle. You know about what is going on in terms of the startups. There is more to do. As a country, we still have a whole lot more to do.


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Виталий Николаевич Климов (род. 1 декабря 1995, Таганрог) — российский регбист, играющий на позиции замка (нападающий второй линии) в команде «Енисей-СТМ».

Биография

Воспитанник таганрогского регби. С 2016 года в основе «Булавы». С сезона 2017 года стабильный игрок основы. В 2019 году перешел в команду «Богатыри» (тогда «Кубань»). В сентябре 2019 года положил попытку родному клубу (победа 76-7). После урезания финансирования в сезоне 2019 года и уходом легионеров из клуба, Виталий становится безоговорочным игроком стартового состава.

В декабре 2019 года получил вызов на учебно-тренировочные сборы национальной сборной. Дебютировал за сборную России 26 ноября 2021 года против команды Чили (27:42) и занёс одну попытку.

Примечания

Регбисты России
Игроки сборной России по регби
Игроки РК «Булава»
Игроки РК «Богатыри»
Игроки РК «Енисей-СТМ»

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Aquamacs have supplied and designed stress free aquarium solutions for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky TV, Hotels, Offices, Nursing Homes, Dentists, Exhibitions, Restaurants and Private Homes.
Cold water set up Requires less equipment. Fish are normally Koi Carp, Goldfish, Moors, Fantails, Orandas or Shubunkins.
Tropical fresh water set up The most popular, and very striking. There are both tropical plants and fish in an amazing array of shapes, sizes, and colours.
Marine set up Considered the ultimate aquarium, playing host to stunning fish, hard and soft corals and invertebrates from all over the world. Where possible we would endeavour to source UK bred fish and UK grown corals.
Wall Mounted Aquariums Require no floor space and become living pictures. Column Aquariums. Require little floor space and are normally made in acrylic, which is stronger, lighter and clearer than glass.
Glass Aquariums Most cost effective for regular shapes and is more scratch resistant than acrylic. There are basically 3 different standard shapes of aquariums. Each shape can have a few variations.
Round – which come in different sizes but usually small scale.
However we can make to measure almost any shape you require.


Where there was want, today there's abundance--food, clothing, automobiles--the wonderful goods of the Ku'damm. Throughout the speech Reagan uses the rhetorical proofs as a form of persuasion and unity, not just the confrontation toward Mr. It was only Capizzi 3. The assistant secretary of state for Eastern European affairs challenged the speech by telephone. The kraft process, invented in the 1870s and first used in the 1890s, is now the most commonly practiced strategy. On June 12th, 1987, millions listened as world leaders gathered in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Berlin.
Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men. But I did not dream it would come down in a year and a half. Reagan was strongly influenced by his mother, who taught him to read at an early age. Yet I do not come here to lament. Kennedy and himself, Reagan turned that unification toward the German people themselves, then to the democratic West. Ronald Reagan Library Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe.
Through all the statements of why this communist control needed to stop, Reagan hoped it would call the people to take a stand on the oppression. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! It didn't happen that way. As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. I was struck by a sign -- the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. Ronald Reagan had a very successful life. Despite getting little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the speech text.
Establishing his purpose and duty, becoming the friend to the oppressed and free, wresting the emotions with sensible logic, powerful diction, a diversified lexicon with tactical inflected tone, intimidating the enemy to cower to the deepest corner of the wall, President Reagan could have even persuaded the apathetic and ignorant. Lincoln built an argument within his speech with a goal set in mind: To establish a common ground or compromise between the North and the South. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safer, freer world. It was an unbelievable event. After the wall was built many Germans still tried to flee the west but not all were successful. We've just been had by the producers of this fantabulous rom-com.
Erected in 1961 to stanch the flow of East Germans seeking to escape the Communist system by fleeing to West Berlin, the wall, a dozen feet tall, completely encircled West Berlin. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was under siege. In 1987, Ronald Reagan used emotion, logic, and intellect to persuade the Soviets that tearing down the wall would help make Berlin prosperous. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the symbol of communist oppression. The diplomat gave me quite specific instructions.
Remarks on Arrival in Berlin. But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on--Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. The declared purpose of the Berlin W all was to prevent W estern ideologies from interfering with East German communism and to hinder the potential disloyalties of Eastern citizens. Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. If an East German guard ever let anybody slip past him to escape to West Berlin, the pilot told us, the guard would find himself forced to explain the footprints to his commanding officer. It makes even the strongest proponents of Soviet power think. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place--a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.
The focus will be on how he utilizes ethos and pathos for these underlying goals. When most people think of Ronald Reagan they. Reagan further inspires his audience by using the common man tactic. They all share a common goal, working to spread freedom through speeches and challenges Moore paraphrase. And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons. We don't know these people, and it's just a movie.
If there is no hope, there is no need to demand change; but if there is hope, change is more likely to be demanded on the grounds that things can get better. Ronald Reagan was elected as the oldest president at sixty-nine years old on November 4th, 1980. It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross. And no inflammatory statements about the Berlin Wall.
Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. He served as governor for the next eight years making massive changes to the California welfare and education system. On June 12th, 1987, millions listened as world leaders gathered in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Berlin. The first chapter covers the basics; like that he was born to a Catholic father, Jack Reagan and a Christian mother, Nellie Wilson Reagan. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.
Ronald Reagan speech, Tear Down This Wall President Ronald Reagan Speech at the Brandenburg Gate West Berlin, Germany 14:20, June 12, 1987 Thank you very much. Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty--that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder. When he hovered over Spandau Prison, the rambling brick structure in which Rudolf Hess was still being detained, soldiers at East German guard posts beyond the prison stared up at us through binoculars, rifles over their shoulders. During the evening of November 9, as the East German state council met in emergency session—a few days earlier there had been peaceful but massive demonstrations throughout East Berlin—Bammel and his oldest son, Karsten, watched television as an East German official held a press conference.


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Register Member Register
Happily Ever After Hours with Director, Producer, and Talent Agent Richard Kraft
Wed, Dec 9 | 5:30pm PT
Join director, producer, and talent agent Richard Kraft for behind-the-scenes stories from his work at Kraft-Engel Management, including Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert (2015), Disney's The Little Mermaid in Concert (2016) and Beauty and the Beast in Concert (2018), Alan Menken's one-man show A Whole New World of Alan Menken, and Kraft's That's From Disneyland! 2018 pop-up exhibition and auction.
Registration for this program will open to the public starting Monday, November 9 at noon.
Richard Kraft has directed and produced several shows at the Hollywood Bowl including Disney's The Little Mermaid in Concert starring Sara Bareilles, Rebel Wilson, Tituss Burgess, and Darren Criss in 2016 and Lea Michele, Harvey Fierstein, Cheech Marin, and Peter Gallagher in 2019; Disney's Beauty and the Beast starring Zooey Deschanel, Rebel Wilson, Taye Diggs, Kelsey Grammer, and Jane Krakowski; La La Land; and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory starring John Stamos, Ingrid Michaelson, Finn Wolfhard, and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Kraft also directed Alan Menken's one-man show A Whole New World of Alan Menken, and directed and produced Evil Dead Live in Concert: A Halloween Experience. Kraft also executive-produced ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney The Little Mermaid Live! starring Auli'i Cravalho, Queen Latifah, and Shaggy. Most recently Kraft directed, wrote, and produced the online special Soundtrack of Our Lives: A Celebration for the film and television music community benefitting the MusiCares COVID–19 relief fund and featuring composers, songwriters, and celebrity guests including Sting, Elisabeth Moss, Catherine O'Hara, Zachary Levi, Patti LuPone, Reba McEntire, William Shatner, John Stamos, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Holly Hunter, Darren Criss, Richard M. Sherman, and many more.
With partner Laura Engel, Richard Kraft is the co-owner of Kraft-Engel Management specializing in representing film, theatre, television, and video game composers, songwriters, and music supervisors. Kraft-Engel clients have been nominated for 77 Academy Awards® and have won 17. Kraft and Engel produced Danny Elfman's Music From The Films of Tim Burton at Royal Albert Hall, PBS' Live From Lincoln Center – Danny Elfman's Music From the Films of Tim Burton, and Disney's Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Live in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl starring Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, Ken Page, and Paul Reubens. Additionally, they executive-produced the Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box CD and DVD box set.
Prior to starting his own company in 1991, Kraft was an agent at ICM and started his career working with several of his musical heroes such as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and Henry Mancini. Kraft once ran Varese Sarabande Records where he executive-produced over 150 soundtrack albums. His award-winning feature-length documentary, Finding Kraftland (2007) played at over 75 film festivals around the world. He is also an über-Disney fan whose That's From Disneyland! pop-up exhibition and auction garnered great attention and money for charity.
Over the course of our closure, we have increased our digital presence to stay true to our mission. Your donations ensure that we can continue opening our museum virtually to the world, and that future generations can continue to be inspired by Walt Disney's life and legacy.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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You are here: Home / How To / 10 Best PDF Editor for Windows to Create, Edit and Fill PDF Documents
10 Best PDF Editor for Windows to Create, Edit and Fill PDF Documents
May 2, 2019 Bashkarla Leave a Comment
When it comes to reading a PDF document, you can open it in almost any browser. In fact, the Edge browser even lets you ink and annotate PDF documents as much as you want. However, if you want to create a PDF document or fill up some tax returns or applications which are generally in PDF format, you need a dedicated PDF editor for Windows 10. So, to help you with that, here are of the best PDF editor of Windows.
Best PDF Editor for Windows
1. Foxit PhantomPDF
When it comes to PDF documents, Foxit is one of the most popular software. PhantomPDF is an excellent PDF editor for Windows 10 that comes with a ton of features. Some of these features include but not limited to text flow across multiple paragraphs and columns, ability to move and manipulate text boxes, add different stamps and watermarks, reorganize pages, collaborative options, ability to protect and sign PDF documents, etc. One of the best things about PhantomPDF is that it has some of the best OCR capabilities. The collaborative options let multiple people work on the same document at the same time no matter what device they are on.
Also, PhantomPDF is compatible with assistive technologies. Which simply means that when you create or edit a PDF document using PhantomPDF, it can be used by the people with disabilities via the assistive technologies.
All in all, if you are looking for a feature filled PDF editor for Windows and don't mind the price tag, give it a try. After all, there is a free full-featured 14-day trial available.
Price: PhantomPDF is a paid software that costs a one-time fee of $129.
Download Foxit PhandomPDF
2. PDF-Xchange Editor
PDF-Xchange is another easy to use and feature rich PDF editor for Windows. Just like PhantomPDF, PDF-Xchange has all the necessary features and more. Those features include advanced annotations, commenting support, OCR support, advanced document manipulation, read aloud, ability to move opened documents to recycle bin, ability to convert CSV to PDF, advanced spell check with a constantly updated dictionary, etc.
The good thing about the PDF-Xchange Editor is that even with all these features, the user interface makes it quite easy to find the option you are looking for thanks to the Windows Ribbon style menu. Moreover, unlike other PDF editors, PDF-Xchange gives you tremendous control over editing PDF documents. Add to that, compared to PhantomPDF, PDF-Xchange is less pricey.
If you want to give the software a try, there is a free trial available. However, some features, when used will place a watermark on the output content.
Price: PDF-Xchange Editor is a paid software that costs you a one-time fee of $43.50 for the regular edition and $54.50 for plus edition.
Download PDF-Xchange Editor
3. PDFescape
PDFescape is a very simple and lightweight application for editing PDF documents in Windows. Though the application is pretty lightweight, it has all the basic features you'd expect from a good PDF editor for Windows. Using PDFescape, you can merge different PDF documents, sign and certify documents, password protect PDF documents, edit text and images, convert to and from PDF, annotate, compress, etc.
What makes PDFescape special is that it lets you publish PDF forms and collect the responses. Additionally, you can also upload PDF documents to the PDFescape cloud. That being said, depending on what version of PDFescape you are using, there are limitations on file upload size and how many files you can store.
PDFescape also comes in the form of a web app. This makes it so that you don't even have to install the software on Windows to use it. This feature is particularly useful if your need is temporary or basic.
Price: The PDFescape online web app is free to use. For advanced features and desktop application, you need to upgrade to the pro version.
Download PDFescape
4. PDFsam Enhanced
PDFsam Enhanced is a PDF editor for Windows 10 with all the basic features you need. With PDFsam, you can do all the regular things like view, create, convert, edit, insert, merging, splitting, review, form filled, OCR, annotations, and form signing. The best thing about PDFsam is that it follows the Microsoft Office design language. This makes it quite easy to use and the ribbon menu helps you find the required options as quickly as possible. Compared to other premium PDF editors, PDFsam looks clean and there is not much learning curve.
That being said, if all you need is merging, splitting, rotating, and extracting then you can use PDFsam Basic. PDFsam Basic is both free and open source.
Price: PDFsam Enhanced is a premium product that costs $39, $49, $69 for Standard, Pro and Pro+ respectively. Depending on what version you choose, the feature set will be different.
Download PDFsam Enhanced
5. PDFelement
PDFelement is another best Windows PDF editor that follows Microsoft Office design language to make things easier for the end user. Compared to other PDF editors on this list, the PDFelement's user interface is pretty clean and snappy. No matter what you want to do, the software responds quickly. Of course, PDFelement has all the necessary and even advanced features. Those features include but not limited to text manipulation, basic image manipulation, basic and advanced annotation, PDF conversion, extraction, merging, and other security features like password protection, document signing, comprehensive permission management, etc.
The best thing is, most of the important features like text manipulation, annotation, and conversion come in the free version. So, if you are looking for a capable free PDF editor for Windows then do give PDFelement a try.
Price: The base version of PDFelement is free. For advanced features like OCR support, automatic form recognition, redaction, batch processing, etc., you need to upgrade to the Pro version. The pro version costs either $69 or $99.
Download PDFelement
6. Xodo PDF Editor
Xodo PDF Editor is a very simple and basic PDF editor for Windows that is aimed at people who are looking to quickly edit or sign a PDF document. Compared to the above PDF editors, Xodo is not as feature rich but has all the basic tools like text manipulation, form filling, document signing, inserting, merging, basic annotation support, etc. Add to that, the user interface is also pretty minimal and easy to use. The best thing is, Xodo is available via Microsoft store for free. In fact, when needed, you can even use the Xodo web app to edit the PDF documents.
Price: Xodo is completely free and has no-ads.
Download Xodo PDF Editor
7. Drawboard PDF
Drawboard PDF is a Microsoft store app with awesome user interface and filled with features. Unlike other apps in this Windows PDF editor list, Drawboard PDF is not only a PDF editor but can also act as a drawing board. As you can guess, Drawboard PDF is a useful software for designers, architectures, etc. Of course, being a PDF editor, Drawboard PDF has all the necessary features you'd expect. Using the free version of Drawboard PDF, you can do all the basic markup and annotation jobs. For advanced features like merging, re-ordering, signing, password protection, etc., you need the pro version.
All in all, if you are looking for a PDF editor that supports Windows 10 Inking with excellent pen support then Drawboard PDF is for you.
Price: The base version of the Drawboard PDF is free. For advanced features, you need to subscribe to their service on a monthly or yearly basis.
Download Drawboard PDF
8. ApowerPDF
ApowerPDF is another simple PDF editor for Windows that has all the basic features. Using ApowerPDF you can do all the basic PDF editing like manipulating text and images, watermarking, splitting and merging, document signing and password protection, simple annotations, commenting, forms, etc. The best thing about the ApowerPDF is that the official website has detailed how-to guides on how to use the ApowerPDF to its fullest potential. This makes it so that even beginners can use the software without any hiccups.
To put it simply, if you are looking for a simple PDF editor that has all the basic feature while having detailed guides and help topics to get you started then do give ApowerPDF a try.
Price: ApowerPDF is a paid software that costs a one-time payment of $59.95.
Download ApowerPDF
9. Nitro PDF Editor
Nitro PDF Editor is yet another powerful yet easy to use best PDF editor for Windows 10. In fact, when it comes to the feature set, it is very comparable to other premium counterparts like PhantomPDF. One of the best things about Nitro PDF is that it lets you add custom design elements like dynamic bookmarks to make the PDFs more usable and customizable. Thanks to the built-in OCR functionality, you can easily scan documents and quickly turn them into PDF with editable elements. In fact, compared to other PDF editors for Windows 10 in this list, Nitro PDF has one of the fastest OCR processing.
Of course, this goes without saying but Nitro PDF editor comes with all the regular bells and whistles like text and image manipulation, editing and merging, page position manipulation, signing & password protection, etc.
So, if you scan documents heavily then you might want to check out Nitro PDF editor. There is a free seven-day trial to give things a try.
Price: Nitro PDF Editor costs $159 per user. There is a free trial with limited features to give the software a try.
Download Nitro PDF Editor
10. AbleWord
AbleWord is a very basic PDF editor that is simple to use and completely free. Though the user interface looks a bit old and follows the WordPad app in Windows 10, it is perfectly functional and clean. As you can tell from the name itself, AbleWord is also a word processor.
Now, compared to all other applications on this list, AbleWord lacks in terms of the PDF editing capabilities. That being said, AbleWord is pretty minimal and uses fewer system resources all the while being fast. So, if your PDF editing needs are simple. i.e. you don't need advanced features like splitting, merging, signing, or OCR capabilities. Do give AbleWord a try and see if it works for you.
Download AbleWord
That is it. If you think I missed any of your favorite PDF editors for Windows 10 then comment below and share it.
How To list, pdf editor, software


text:
using System;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using Gallio.Common;
using Gallio.Common.Xml;
using Gallio.Runtime.Logging;

namespace Gallio.Runner.Reports.Schema
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Describes a log entry for reporting purposes.
    /// </summary>
    [Serializable]
    [XmlType(Namespace = SchemaConstants.XmlNamespace)]
    public sealed class LogEntry
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the log message severity.
        /// </summary>
        [XmlAttribute("severity")]
        public LogSeverity Severity { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the log message.
        /// </summary>
        [XmlAttribute("message")]
        public string Message { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the log message details, such as an exception.
        /// </summary>
        [XmlAttribute("details")]
        public string Details { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Ба́бкина  () — женская форма русской фамилии .

По данным на 2014 год, фамилия Бабкина занимала 25132-е место по распространённости в мире: её носили 21662 человека.

Распространённость фамилии по странам (2014):

Известные носительницы
 Бабкина, Мария Алексеевна (урождённая Слёзкина; 1893—1957) — советская шашистка (русские шашки).
 Бабкина, Марта Ивановна (род. 1932) — советская актриса, народная артистка Молдавской ССР.
 Бабкина, Надежда Георгиевна (род. 1950) — российская певица.
 Бабкина, Татьяна Николаевна (1927—2004) — Герой Социалистического Труда.
 Бабкина, Элина (род. 1989) — латвийская баскетболистка. Примечания


text:
Hazards to Keep in Mind When Using Tankless Water Heating Systems
Efficient and compact, those are the two features that come to mind when you think about tankless water heating systems. And there's a whole list of other compelling reasons to opt for this modern water heating solution. However, just as other appliances have drawbacks to contend with, so do tankless systems. To begin with, the system fuel source can be dangerous.
Fuel Source Dangers
Granted, there's no pressurized tank to worry about, but that doesn't mean you're entirely safe. Gas is a dangerous fuel, although its fierce energies have been tamed by engineers. Even so, gas leaks are dangerous. Explosive risks exist when gas escapes. Carbon monoxide fumes, which are odourless, could also seep into the air if the system is improperly vented. Some might say an electrically powered unit is safer, but electrical fault currents can also prove lethal, especially if the equipment hasn't been installed by a qualified engineer. To minimize the risk factors, have your tankless water heating system installed and maintained by a seasoned professional.
Just to be clear, tankless water heating systems are modern in every conceivable way. That includes the latest safety features. If there's a worry about a pilot light blowing out, stop worrying now, for tankless appliances use electronic ignition modules. Furthermore, these compact units typically integrate advanced overheating protection mechanisms and thermal monitoring circuits, all of which continually assess the water temperature so that scald risks are practically non-existent. In short, although fuel issues exist, on-demand heating puts a strong focus on safety.
Redundancy-Assured Continual System Monitoring
Some might say that a delay in tap-hot water is in itself a safety feature. The brief pause gives a bather an important few seconds to draw back and avoid a nasty burn. By that logic, on-demand heating would be a little more dangerous because the scalding hot water would be right there at the tap, just as soon as the faucet was turned. Not to worry, though, there are electromechanical and electronic overheating protection systems built into tankless water heating units, and they're continually backing each other up, all while they're continually monitoring the peak temperature of the water as it leaves the confines of the system outlet pipe.
There's no tank to gather sediment, no pressurized storage area to worry about, but there are other matters to remember. First of all, all fuel sources carry their own unique sets of risk factors. Treat them accordingly, and have the equipment maintained. Secondly, on-demand water is hot water, but there are no scald risks here, not with two or more safety features monitoring the water temperature. Again, a maintenance check assures user safety. Overall, tankless models are the safer water heating option.


Classic form and function combine with this handsome writing desk. It features a generous workspace with a convenient tilting mechanism. The oak finish and metal accents combine for a versatile look that suits any traditional space.


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A uniquely designed vest with looks, style and comfort. 200D nylon fabric outer shell, PE foam construction, D-ring kill switch attachment, two 1 body belts, two roomy pockets with flaps. U.S.C.G. approved Type II. Size: Universal. Color: Tan.


text:
Nyquist tops pre-Belmont NTRA poll
by Press Release | Jun 6, 2016 | Breaking, Racing, Regionwide, Triple Crown Trail
Photo of Exaggerator and Nyquist by George Adams.
From a National Thoroughbred Racing Association release
With five-days left before the running of the 148th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park this Saturday, June 11, the third and final jewel of the Triple Crown, there is little movement in either direction in the NTRA's second to last three-year-old poll in week fourteen of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Polls.
Maintaining the number one slot is Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (33 first-place votes, 392 points). Ranked second is Preakness winner Exaggerator (4 first-place votes, 355 points) who is currently on the grounds at Belmont Park preparing for the Test of Champions.
Rounding out the top-ten are: Gun Runner (274); Songbird (3 first-place votes, 270); Mohaymen (196); Cherry Wine (141); Cathryn Sophia (131); Suddenbreakingnews (119); Destin (66); and Unified (54).
The NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll is the sport's most comprehensive survey of experts ranking the generation of Thoroughbreds that includes all Triple Crown contenders. Every week as many as 50 eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll concludes Monday, June 13, following the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown.
In the Top Thoroughbred Poll, the all-time leading money earner in the U.S., California Chrome, remains on top with 40 first-place votes, 400 points after his smashing 3 3/4-length victory in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (Group 1). With earnings of $12,532,650, California Chrome surpassed 2008 Dubai World Cup winner Curlin, who retired to stud with earnings of $10,501,800.
North American champion turf female Tepin (326) remains second in the rankings for owner Robert Masterson and trainer Mark Casse.
Three-time Eclipse Award Champion, Beholder (304) remains third in the rankings after her 1 ½ victory in Saturday's Vanity Mile (GI) at Santa Anita Park with her regular rider Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, her trainer, Hall of Famer, Richard Mandella and owner, B. Wayne Hughes.
Rounding out the field are: Nyquist (235); Exaggerator (176); Effinex (159); Songbird (148); Hoppertunity (95); Melatonin (80); and Catch A Glimpse (39).
The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes Monday, November 7, following the Breeders' Cup World Championships,which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
The full results for both NTRA weekly Thoroughbred polls can be found on the NTRA website.
TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL
TOP THREE-YEAR-OLD POLL
Through June 5
California Chrome
Tepin
Exaggerator
Effinex
Hoppertunity
Catch a Glimpse
Gun Runner
Mohaymen
Cherry Wine
Cathryn Sophia
Suddenbreakingnews
PreviousMartini Glass looks to go from claimer to stakes winner
NextPenn Mile card photo gallery


text:
More pain for Fiona Stanley Hospital as AMA lashes ICT
A senior doctor and Australian Medical Association WA branch representative has lashed the ICT capability of Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH), telling a parliamentary inquiry that the electronic patient record frequently crashes, support for IT applications is inadequate and discharge summaries being issued to GPs are "appalling".
Ian Jenkins, an intensive care specialist at FSH, director of ICU at Fremantle Hospital and chair of the AMA (WA) inter-hospital liaison committee, said there were also grave concerns over inadequate bed numbers, inadequate staff and a lack of stability in management positions at the hospital and within WA Health.
In a written submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the transition and operation of services at FSH, Dr Jenkins outlined the findings of a survey of 668 doctors about aspects of the commissioning and operation of the hospital.
Almost 60 per cent said the commissioning had been handled poorly or very poorly, with 71 per cent saying the resolution of operational issues that have arisen since its opening have been handled poorly or very poorly.
Sixty-seven per cent of senior doctors and 55 per cent of junior doctors felt that new systems at the hospital have led to patient care and safety being compromised.
Sixty-eight per cent said they did not feel that IT systems were assisting in providing efficient, high-quality care to patients and only 26 per cent felt that the outpatients department was functioning to a desirable standard.
The submission follows the findings of an independent review of the operational and clinical care at FSH, carried out by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) and MMK Consulting and released last month.
It found that IT systems such as the the patient entertainment system, cardiac telemetry system and clinical and administrative software were causing problems for clinicians and patients, with the BOSSnet digital medical record (DMR) taking up to 15 minutes to open up the applications required and the outpatients booking system also causing problems.
Dr Jenkins' submission named IT as the first area of concern, saying that BOSSNet had caused a "significant reduction" in efficiency.
"It is untried in major Australian hospitals, is supported by a relatively small company, does not interface as installed with all the other applications and frequently crashes or freezes on users," he wrote.
"Should the vendor not be able to continue to support there is severe clinical risk, as transfer of information to a new application will be difficult, time-consuming and expensive."
Dr Jenkins said support for IT applications through the "interwoven labyrinth" of Serco, the outsourced provider that is in charge of non-clinical IT, Health Information Network, the WA Health agency in charge of clinical IT, and ICT infrastructure provider BT "is often tedious to obtain and slow to produce results".
"There was inadequate training in use of the new systems and inadequate support on site during commissioning.
"Outages are extremely frequent – when notifications of 'planned' outages are given it is with 15 minutes to about eight hours' warning – hardly planned.
"A review of the Health Department's ability to provide modern effective healthcare applications to new and redeveloped sites is desperately needed."
Dr Jenkins also harshly criticised the lack of engagement with GPs, saying there had been "a shameful neglect" of the vital role primary care plays in keeping patients with chronic disease out of hospital.
"[No] engagement with the primary care sector in the catchment area and the issuing of appalling discharge summaries – appalling because of poor ICT applications and because of enormous workload thrust upon junior medical staff," he wrote.
"The AMA would welcome meaningful engagement and dialogue in this area – it can only reduce costs, reduce admissions and improve patient safety and outcomes."
WA Health Minister Kim Hames told the ABC that while there still some problems with the ICT, he believed the problems raised by Dr Jenkins had been addressed.
"But as soon as they happen, they are high priority, fixed straight away and it's not an issue for the staff," Dr Hames said.
"I think the efficiency of the [IT] system is 80 to 90 per cent and that it's working very well in most instances."
Under a stabilisation strategy developed by WA Health earlier this year, the same systems will be rolled out at the new Perth Children's Hospital and other redevelopments. The new Midland Hospital, due to open in November to replace Swan District Hospital, is using different systems.
BOSSnet, developed by Adelaide-based Core Medical Solutions, has been used successfully by Barwon Health in Victoria for many years and has also been rolled out at Epworth Healthcare in Melbourne.
Fiona Stanley was originally planned to be Australia's first fully digital hospital, but the complexity of its best-of-breed IT systems and their estimated 158 different interfaces not only delayed the opening of the hospital but have had to be significantly scaled back.


The decision by Syracuse to self-impose a postseason ban for this year has been controversial to say the least. On one hand it shows that the school understands how serious the allegations against it are, but the decision to announce this self-imposed ban for one of its weaker teams in recent memory seems a little disingenuous. If this had been a Syracuse team that would have been a NCAA Tournament team (not necessarily a high seed either) the announcement might have been viewed as more significant, but it seems like the school is essentially banning itself from something it would not have been invited to anyways. Of course, all of this is assuming that the NCAA won't hit the school with more sanctions when it makes its own announcements, but given the way the NCAA is handling the North Carolina case we would not hold our breath.
While Syracuse was not a realistic postseason team this year, Kansas State certainly is although those chances have been dropping recently. Things got worse for the Wildcats when the school announced that Marcus Foster and Malek Harris had been suspended indefinitely for an unspecified violation of team rules. Losing Foster, the team's leading scorer (14 points per game) and best player, is obviously a huge loss and it showed in the team's loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday. The question for Kansas State is how long Foster in particular will be out since this is the second time that he has been disciplined this season. If he is out for a prolonged period of time, Bruce Weber can forget about making the NCAA Tournament.
While Ohio State's place in the NCAA Tournament is more secure than Kansas State's, we are not sure how long they can maintain that security if Marc Loving misses much more time. Loving, the team's second-leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, was suspended prior to Wednesday night's loss at Purdue. The school did not give an explanation outside of that Loving had "temporarily lost his privilege to wear the Scarlet and Gray." Given the wording we would assume that Loving will be back relatively soon and although the Big Ten is down this year, D'Angelo Russell needs more than just cursory support if he wants to have a memorable March.
Kent State also suffered a big albeit apparently temporary loss this week when they announced that Jimmy Hall, who leads the team in scoring (15.1 per game) and rebounding (7.5 per game), would be out for at least a week after being diagnosed with mononucleosis. The Golden Flashes currently are tied for first in the Eastern Division of the Mid-American Conference (four-way tie in a six-team division), but lost their only game without Hall (a one-point loss at Western Michigan on Wednesday). Unlike the other teams we mentioned they don't have a shot at an at-large bid so as long as Hall is back and healthy for the conference tournament it probably won't matter in the end.
Recently, we mentioned how a court had ruled that Geno Ford owed Kent State $1.2 million for getting out of his contract early. Now it is a college coach (Gib Arnold) who is going after his former employer (Hawaii) for the $1.4 million that they owe him. Arnold is essentially challenging the charges levied against him by the NCAA (including two Level I allegations) and says that the school owes him the full $1.4 million due to him based on his contract as he was fired without cause (reason for challenging the NCAA allegations) rather than the $346,000 that they paid him (presumably based on the idea that there was cause for the firing). His official statement goes into a little more detail about the issues at hand, but we think in the end it will be difficult for Arnold to win his case fighting on two fronts (the NCAA and Hawaii).
Although the Warriors' 74-70 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday was not the biggest upset of the weekend – that distinction went elsewhere – it was certainly among the most surprising, even if virtually no one could watch it. Few programs have had the rug pulled out from under it quite like Hawaii has to start 2014-15, with an ongoing NCAA investigation leading to the firing of its head coach and the departure of its best player, each within three weeks of the team's season opener. To make matters worse, would-be contributor Sammis Reyes – a Chilean freshman who initially left the program amid coach Gib Arnold's firing – was forced to redshirt after breaking his hand last Tuesday. And yet, despite all the attrition and adversity and general weirdness, interim head man Benjy Taylor and his guard-heavy lineup managed to gash the Panthers for 1.3 points per possession on Friday night and topple an ACC opponent for the first time since 2012. Could it be the prelude to a season-long rally? Maybe, maybe not. But either way, considering everything Hawaii has been through over the past month, it is one impressive victory.