Fire Hazard

To the people on 9th Street, they're a warm tradition. To the fire marshal, they're a flaming threat to the stalls, the stores - and the entire Italian Market. City Council huddled yesterday over the fate of the market's fire barrels. And merchants went away warmed by a committee vote in favor of the cans. "This is the only market that does not have the ability to operate in the cold weather with the support of some type of warming device," Councilman James J. Tayoun said after the committee approved his bill to legalize the barrels.

As international oil company BP moves forward with plans to build a $500 million terminal in Logan Township to import liquefied natural gas, a national debate over the potential danger of the material is intensifying. In several communities across the country where such facilities have been proposed, elected officials and groups of residents have voiced concerns that liquefied natural gas, or LNG, facilities present a catastrophic fire hazard and might become terrorist targets.

WHEN Darby Borough cops found what they said were more than 200 marijuana plants inside Daniel Thomas' rowhouse Tuesday morning, he told them that he was an out-of-work horticulturalist. Technically, that's accurate, police say — if by "out of work" Thomas meant that his massive pot-growing operation featured an automated lighting and irrigation system that could function without his daily participation. "This guy is a major-league grower of marijuana," said Police Chief Bob Smythe, strolling in borough hall through a knee-high forest of pungent cannabis plants, which police had transported, using a rented Budget truck, from Thomas' house on Glen Avon Road.

Hopkins Ford Inc.'s plan to add a painting and service center at the rear of its dealership on The Fairway received a cool greeting from residents who attended last week's Zoning Hearing Board meeting. George P. O'Connell, attorney for Hopkins, told the board that the 23- by 43-foot addition was necessary for the dealership to conduct business efficiently, he said in an interview Thursday. To construct the addition, Hopkins must obtain a variance from the township's 15-foot rear-yard requirement and a special exception for expansion in that zoning district, township zoning official M. Matthew Lahaza said.

DEAR ABBY: I have very nice neighbors who believe in leaving the wild and natural growth on their property. They have posted a sign that claims it to be a "certified natural habitat. " They never weed or cut anything back. At first, it was cared for, but now it has become an eyesore, and people who visit our house have made comments. I have tried to grow border plants to hide the mess, but nothing seems to help. I believe it affects the value of our home. My husband doesn't want me to say anything for fear of hurting their feelings.

Charlie Day says he's just a small businessman trying to turn a buck in the car repair business in Strawberry Mansion. But neighborhood leaders call his operation an eyesore and a fire hazard. The problem is that Day does his work on the sidewalk, on the north side of Dauphin Street near 29th. Neighborhood leaders don't think the auto repair business is particularly appropriate for sidewalk vending. "This place is a grease pit. It distracts from the new mall," complains Maurice Floyd, Democratic leader in the 28th Ward.

THE H STREET FACTORY was a weaving mill and made slipcovers and handbags, among other items, from its opening in 1914 until 1973. 1973: Ayres-Philadelphia manufactures horse clothing there. Ayres acquires a loan, and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) becomes the conduit to get tax-exempt financing. Ayres goes out of business in the early 1980s. May 2006: Warehouse is scheduled for sheriff sale, but sale is postponed six times over the next two years.

The Haverford school board plans to adopt a policy that will prohibit teachers and coaches as well as students from smoking on school grounds. The policy is the result of state legislation passed in December that requires schools to adopt policies prohibiting the use of tobacco in school buildings, facilities, buses and other properties. The state permits schools to provide smoking areas for faculty, maintenance workers and other employees. One student representative attending the work session Tuesday said that students wanted a comprehensive policy restricting employees and visitors from smoking.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources will shut down a Langhorne Borough demolition contractor if he continues to operate without state permits for dumping and burning, a DER official said. Ronsin, an industrial demolition and recycling business that operates on a nine-acre property at 550 N. Pine St., became the focus of concern earlier this month after a fire. A firefighter was injured in the April 4 blaze, which started in a pile of demolition debris. Vernon Jacobs, borough fire marshal, appealed to the Borough Council April 8 for state intervention to determine what chemicals and materials were being stored on the property and whether they were hazardous to the community.

A 571-foot ship loaded with iron-ore pellets that caught fire Feb. 29 on Delaware Bay was being unloaded last night at Camden's Becket Street Marine Terminal, according to the South Jersey Port Corp. The B. Onal, a Turkish-registered ship, had been docked in Wilmington since then while the owners of its cargo, National Material Trading Co., looked for either a buyer or a terminal that would store the cargo. Camden fire officials last night said the ship posed no hazard and required no special efforts from firefighters.

THE H STREET FACTORY was a weaving mill and made slipcovers and handbags, among other items, from its opening in 1914 until 1973. 1973: Ayres-Philadelphia manufactures horse clothing there. Ayres acquires a loan, and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) becomes the conduit to get tax-exempt financing. Ayres goes out of business in the early 1980s. May 2006: Warehouse is scheduled for sheriff sale, but sale is postponed six times over the next two years.

WHEN Darby Borough cops found what they said were more than 200 marijuana plants inside Daniel Thomas' rowhouse Tuesday morning, he told them that he was an out-of-work horticulturalist. Technically, that's accurate, police say — if by "out of work" Thomas meant that his massive pot-growing operation featured an automated lighting and irrigation system that could function without his daily participation. "This guy is a major-league grower of marijuana," said Police Chief Bob Smythe, strolling in borough hall through a knee-high forest of pungent cannabis plants, which police had transported, using a rented Budget truck, from Thomas' house on Glen Avon Road.

DEAR ABBY: I have very nice neighbors who believe in leaving the wild and natural growth on their property. They have posted a sign that claims it to be a "certified natural habitat. " They never weed or cut anything back. At first, it was cared for, but now it has become an eyesore, and people who visit our house have made comments. I have tried to grow border plants to hide the mess, but nothing seems to help. I believe it affects the value of our home. My husband doesn't want me to say anything for fear of hurting their feelings.

WASHINGTON - Whirlpool Corp.'s Maytag unit is recalling about 1.7 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday, says the company, part of Whirlpool Corp., has received 12 reports of electrical failures in the dishwasher heating element that led to fires and damage. One kitchen fire caused extensive damage, the agency said. No injuries have been reported. The recall includes Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley brand dishwashers with plastic tubs.

Jurors smacked West Chester-based fan manufacturer Lasko Products, Inc., with a $13.5 million verdict yesterday after a faulty fan motor ignited a 2005 blaze that killed a 7-year-old Germantown boy. Lasko, the largest fan manufacturer in the United States, discovered a defect in the China-made motors in their portable fans in 1999 and developed corrective technology in 2004, said the boy's attorney Matthew D'Annunzio. But the company did not alert consumers who already had the defective fans nor report the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission until after Joshua Foster died on June 14, 2005, when the fan in his mother's bedroom caught fire and trapped him inside, D'Annunzio said.

First thing in the morning, in a house so cold the water in the dog's bowl turns to ice, Jacqueline Holmes hurries down to her cluttered kitchen to boil water. Not for a cup of tea, but for her bath, and then her teenage daughter's. The part-time cashier doesn't have money to fix her furnace and hot water heater, so she and her son and daughter are in survival mode, tempting fate with a rigged-up system of staying warm that involves two portable heaters, extension cords, "and, I hate to say it - it's a fire hazard - the stove," said Holmes, 43. On a recent afternoon, all four burners were going full blast while, a few feet away, a towel hung from a clothesline strung across the room and water dripped from a gaping hole in the kitchen ceiling.

It almost seems like a betrayal to skip the mega-events happening in town today and tomorrow: a monumental concert raising awareness about Africa's plight, the Independence Day regatta (also today), and, of course, the continuing Welcome America! events happening all weekend. All told, organizers are guessing that a million souls will be milling about Center City this weekend. A million. But don't fret. That's more than enough people to take your place should you choose to hunker down inside.

As international oil company BP moves forward with plans to build a $500 million terminal in Logan Township to import liquefied natural gas, a national debate over the potential danger of the material is intensifying. In several communities across the country where such facilities have been proposed, elected officials and groups of residents have voiced concerns that liquefied natural gas, or LNG, facilities present a catastrophic fire hazard and might become terrorist targets.

For years before a blazing fire in Southwest Philadelphia left two households homeless and two firefighters injured Tuesday night, neighbors had complained about Doris Douglas' trash-filled twin home, where the fire started. Fire officials said it was a kerosene heater that caused the fire at 918 S. St. Bernard St. Douglas apparently had been trying to refuel the heater while it was running, fire officials said. The fire quickly spread from her three-story home to the adjacent twin at 916 St. Bernard St., home to three generations of the Wakefield family.

The sparks flew after a fire damaged a West Philadelphia church more than four years ago. The fire marshal's office blamed a faulty baptistery heater, stating that the multi-alarm fire began in a tank where members are immersed during baptism. The manufacturer essentially claimed that only God knew what caused the blaze at the Mount Olivet Tabernacle Baptist Church, 42nd and Wallace streets, on Nov. 26, 1994. The church suffered more than $1 million in damage and sued the manufacturer.