Day: July 10, 2021

A Northern California wildfire exploding through bone-dry timber prompted Nevada authorities to evacuate a border-area community as flames leapt on ridgetops of nearby mountains.The Beckwourth Complex — a merging of two lightning-caused fires — headed into Saturday showing no sign of slowing its rush northeast from the Sierra Nevada forest region after doubling in size only a few days earlier.The fire was one of several threatening homes across Western states that are expected to see triple-digit heat through the weekend as a high-pressure zone blankets the region.On Friday, Death Valley National Park in California recorded a staggering high of 54.4 Celsius. If verified, it would be the hottest high recorded there since July 1913, when the same Furnace Creek desert area hit 56.6 degrees Celsius, considered the highest reliably measured temperature on Earth.California’s northern mountain areas already have seen several large fires that have destroyed more than a dozen homes. Although there are no confirmed reports of building damage, the fire prompted evacuation orders or warnings for hundreds of homes and several campgrounds in California along with the closure of nearly 518 square kilometers of Plumas National Forest.Firefighters work to stop the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, from spreading near Frenchman Lake in Plumas National Forest, Calif., on July 8, 2021.On Friday, ridgetop winds up to 32.2 kph combined with ferocious heat as the fire raged through bone-dry pine, fir and chaparral. As the fire’s northeastern flank raged near the border, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office asked people to evacuate some areas in the rural communities of Ranch Haven and Flanagan Flats, north of Reno.”Evacuate now,” a sheriff’s Office tweet said.Hot rising air formed a gigantic, smoky pyrocumulus cloud that reached thousands of feet high and created its own lightning, fire information officer Lisa Cox said Friday evening.Spot fires caused by embers leapt up to 1.6 kilometers ahead of the northeastern flank — too far for firefighters to safely battle, and winds funneled the fire up draws and canyons full of dry fuel, where “it can actually pick up speed,” Cox said.Nearly 1,000 firefighters were aided by aircraft but the blaze was expected to continue forging ahead because of the heat and low humidity that dried out vegetation. The air was so dry that some of the water dropped by aircraft evaporated before reaching the ground, Cox said.”We’re expecting more of the same the day after and the day after and the day after,” Cox said.The blaze, which was only 11% contained, officially had blackened more than 98 square kilometers but that figure was expected to increase dramatically when fire officials were able to make better observations.Meanwhile, other fires were burning in Oregon, Arizona and Idaho.Firefighter Kyle Jacobson monitors the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, burning in Plumas National Forest, Calif., on July 9, 2021.In Oregon, pushed by strong winds, a wildfire in Klamath County grew from nearly 67 square kilometers Thursday to nearly 158 square kilometers on Friday in the Fremont-Winema National Forest and on private land. An evacuation order was issued for people in certain areas north of Beatty and near Sprague River.That fire was threatening transmission lines that send electricity to California, which along with expected heat-related demand prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday to issue an emergency proclamation suspending some rules to allow for more power capacity.The state’s electrical grid operator also issued a statewide Flex Alert from 4-9 p.m. Saturday, calling for consumers to voluntarily conserve electricity by reducing the use of appliances and keeping the thermostat higher during evening hours when solar energy is diminished or no longer available.In north-central Arizona, increased humidity slowed a big wildfire that posed a threat to the rural community of Crown King. The 63.5-square-kilometer lightning-caused fire in Yavapai County was 29% contained. Recent rains allowed five national forests and state land managers to lift public-access closures.In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little declared a wildfire emergency Friday and mobilized the state’s National Guard to help fight fires sparked after lightning storms swept across the drought-stricken region.Fire crews in north-central Idaho were facing extreme conditions and gusts as they fought two wildfires covering a combined 50.5 square kilometers. The blazes threatened homes and forced evacuations in the tiny, remote community of Dixie about 64 kilometers southeast of Grangeville.
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Iran’s railroad system came under cyberattack Friday, a semi-official news agency reported, with hackers posting fake messages about train delays or cancellations on display boards at stations across the country.  The hackers posted messages such as “long delayed because of cyberattack” or “canceled” on the boards. They also urged passengers to call for information, listing the phone number of the office of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that the hack led to “unprecedented chaos” at rail stations.  No group took responsibility. Earlier in the day, Fars said trains across Iran had lost their electronic tracking system. It wasn’t immediately clear if that was also part of the cyberattack. Fars later removed its report and instead quoted the spokesman of the state railway company, Sadegh Sekri, as saying “the disruption” did not cause any problem for train services.  In 2019, an error in the railway company’s computer servers caused multiple delays in train services.  In December that year, Iran’s telecommunications ministry said the country had defused a massive cyberattack on unspecified “electronic infrastructure” but provided no specifics on the purported attack. It was not clear if the reported attack caused any damage or disruptions in Iran’s computer and internet systems, and whether it was the latest chapter in the U.S. and Iran’s cyber operations targeting the other. Iran disconnected much of its infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus — widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation — disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the country’s nuclear sites in the late 2000s.  
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The acting head of the Food and Drug Administration on Friday called for a government investigation into highly unusual contacts between her agency’s drug reviewers and the maker of a controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. Dr. Janet Woodcock announced the extraordinary step via Twitter. It’s the latest fallout over last month’s approval of Aduhelm, an expensive and unproven therapy that the agency OK’d against the advice of its own outside experts. Woodcock made the request to the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, the watchdog agency that oversees the FDA and other federal health agencies. The move comes after numerous calls for a probe into the approval from medical experts, consumer advocates and members of Congress. Two congressional committees have already launched their own review. The FDA’s Janet Woodcock speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration building on June 14, 2011.”We believe an independent assessment is the best manner in which to determine whether any interactions that occurred between the manufacturer and the agency’s review staff were inconsistent with FDA’s policies and procedures,” Woodcock wrote on Twitter. Biogen pledged to cooperate with the inquiry. Last month, the health news site Stat reported on the unusually close collaboration between Aduhelm drugmaker Biogen and FDA staff. In particular, the site reported an “off-the-books” meeting in May 2019 between a top Biogen executive and the FDA’s lead reviewer for Alzheimer’s drugs. The meeting came after Biogen stopped two studies because the drug didn’t seem to slow the disease as intended. Biogen and the FDA began reanalyzing the data together, concluding the drug may actually work. The collaboration ultimately led to the drug’s conditional approval two years later, on the basis that it reduced a buildup of sticky plaque in the brain that is thought to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. FDA interactions with drug industry staff are tightly controlled and almost always carefully documented. It’s unclear if the May 2019 meeting violated agency rules. When Biogen and FDA brought the drug before the FDA’s panel of outside advisers in November, the group was nearly unanimous in urging its rejection.  The FDA isn’t required to follow the group’s advice. And the FDA lead staff reviewer — who had been working with Biogen for months on the drug’s data — called it “exceptionally persuasive,” “strongly positive” and “robust.” Backlash from decisionThe consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called for an investigation into the collaboration after the November advisory meeting. The group’s health director, Dr. Michael Carome, welcomed Woodcock’s request for an inquiry. “We’re pleased to see that belatedly she has made this request that should have been made months ago,” Carome said. “The signs of an inappropriate collaboration have been clear to us since November.” The FDA has faced intense backlash since approving the drug, which costs $56,000 a year and requires monthly IVs.  Three of the FDA advisers who opposed the drug resigned over the decision. Among other issues, they protested that the agency did not disclose that it was considering approving the drug on a conditional basis, based on its effect on brain plaque, rather than any actual benefit to patients. Aduhelm is the first Alzheimer’s drug approved in that manner. “I think all the different parts of the decision are worthwhile for an independent investigation,” said Harvard University researcher Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, one of the three advisers who resigned. “The trust that we have in FDA’s ability to make independent decisions is very important.” New labelOn Thursday, the FDA took the unusual step of vastly scaling back prescribing information on the drug. The agency and Biogen announced the new label would recommend that it only be given to patients with mild or early-stage Alzheimer’s. That came after many doctors criticized the original label as too broad, because it said the drug could be given to anyone with Alzheimer’s. Aduhelm hasn’t been shown to reverse or significantly slow the disease. But the FDA said that its ability to reduce clumps of plaque in the brain is likely to slow dementia. More than two dozen other drugs have previously tried that approach without yielding positive results. Biogen is required to conduct a follow-up study to definitively answer whether it really works. Other Alzheimer’s drugs only temporarily ease symptoms. Woodcock has been serving as the agency’s acting commissioner since January. Previously she spent more than 25 years directing the agency’s drug center. While widely respected among government and drug industry circles, she has also been criticized for often pushing aggressively to approve new therapies, even when their benefits aren’t certain.  
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