The Globe and Mail - 02.11.2019

A4 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Firefighters struggled Friday to
contain a big Southern California
wildfire amid shifting winds,
forcing authorities to expand
evacuations as forecasters ex-
tended fire weather warnings in-
to the weekend.
The blaze dubbed the Maria
Fire erupted late Thursday north-
west of Los Angeles during what
had been expected to be the tail
end of a siege of Santa Ana winds
that fanned destructively across
the region, but a tug-of-war de-
veloped between those offshore
gusts and the return of some on-
shore flow from the ocean.
“It has been an uphill battle
ever since,” Ventura County Fire
Chief Mark Lorenzen told a mid-
day news conference. “We are
finding that the winds are start-
ing to change and that presents
its own challenges all by itself.”
Wind shifts expose new areas

of fuel to the fire, bringing “a

pretty significant firefight,” he

said.

The fire burned down the

sides of a mountain bordered by

agricultural land, the small city

of Santa Paula and other com-

munities as it grew to about 36

square kilometres.

Airplanes tried to flank it with

long drops of retardant while

helicopters dropped loads of wa-

ter.

Some 8,000 people were un-

der evacuation orders and 2,

structures were threatened, Sher-

iff Bill Ayub said.

Red Flag warnings for gusts

and very low humidity levels had

been expected to expire Friday

evening, but forecasters extend-

ed them to 6 p.m. on Saturday for

valleys and interior mountains of

Ventura and Los Angeles coun-

ties, citing the withering condi-

tions.

“As recent fire activity has

shown, this remains a dangerous

environment for fire growth,

even with weaker winds than

earlier this week,” the National

Weather Service wrote.

Elsewhere, the state was free

of fire weather warnings and on-

ly a few hundred utility custom-

ers were awaiting restoration of

power that was shut off to wide

areas in an attempt to prevent

blazes involving electrical equip-

ment and strong winds.

In Northern California, more

people were allowed to return to

areas evacuated due to the huge

Kincade Fire burning for days in

the Sonoma County wine coun-

try.

The 313-square-kilometre fire

was 67-per-cent contained, the

California Department of Forest-

ry and Fire Protection said.

The tally of destroyed homes

reached 167 and there were 33

more damaged, Cal Fire said.

Many other structures also

burned.

Historic, dry winds prompted

the state’s largest utility, Pacific

Gas & Electric Co., to initiate four

rounds of widespread pre-emp-

tive shut-offs in Northern Califor-

nia this month to prevent wild-

fires.

But the Contra Costa County

Fire Protection District pegged

the utility’s equipment as the

cause of three smaller fires that

cropped up Sunday in the San

Francisco Bay Area suburbs of

Martinez and Lafayette.

And while the cause of the

Kincade Fire hasn’t been deter-

mined, PG&E reported a problem

with a transmission tower near

the spot where the fire started.

REUTERS

A firefighter battles flames from the Maria Fire in Santa Paula, Calif., on Friday. One official says the fire has
scorched more than 8,000 acres.NOAHBERGER/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

SouthernCaliforniafirefighters

struggletocontainlargeblaze

Authoritiesexpand

evacuationsaswind,

lowhumidityresult

inmoredangerous

conditions

JANIE HAR
JOHN ANTCZAKLOSANGELES

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman, announced

Friday that he was ending his Democratic presidential cam-

paign, which failed to recapture the enthusiasm, interest and

fundraising prowess of his 2018 Senate race.

In an online post, Mr. O’Rourke said, “My service to the

country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee.” He was

scheduled to address supporters later Friday at an event in

Iowa. Mr. O’Rourke was urged to run for president by many

Democrats, including supporters of former president Barack

Obama, who were energized by his narrow Senate loss last

year in Texas, a reliably Republican state. a record US$80-mil-

lion from donors across the country, visited every county in

Texas and used social media and live-streaming video to en-

gage directly with voters. He ultimately lost to incumbent Re-

publican Senator Ted Cruz by 3 percentage points.

But Mr. O’Rourke, 47, struggled to replicate that model in

the presidential primary, and both his polling and his fun-

draising dwindled significantly in recent months.

“Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that

this campaign does not have the means to move forward suc-

cessfully,” he wrote on Medium.

Mr. O’Rourke’s decision comes as the Democratic primary

enters a critical stretch. With three months until the kickoff

Iowa caucuses, polls consistently show a trio of candidates

leading the way: former vice-president Joe Biden, Massachu-

setts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie

Sanders, with Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.,

showing strength in Iowa, as well.

REUTERS

BetoO’Rourkeends

2020presidentialbid

WILL WEISSERT

JULIE PACEWASHINGTON

| NEWS

Most Canadians will be turning their clocks back by an

hour this weekend as the country moves off daylight time.

But there’s a growing push to abandon seasonal time

changes and stick to one time zone year-round.

This week, British Columbia tabled legislation that

would allow the province to move permanently to daylight

time.

It’s unlikely to happen, though, unless U.S. states such as

Oregon, Washington and California follow through on their

own efforts to scrap the semi-annual time change.

Similar bills have been tabled in Ontario and Alberta in

recent years, but neither one passed.

Clocks officially fall back at 2 a.m. on Sunday.

THECANADIANPRESS

CLOCKSTOFALLBACKANHOURONSUNDAY

The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said

on Friday that the panels investigating impeachment could

begin releasing transcripts of closed-door witness deposi-

tions early next week, part of an effort to move the investi-

gation into public view and allow Americans to evaluate the

evidence against President Donald Trump.

Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment probe, said

in an interview with the Associated Press that the commit-

tee will begin releasing the transcripts as it continues to

depose additional witnesses and prepare for public hear-

ings. He said the three panels conducting the impeachment

inquiry have “a number of further depositions” to conduct,

depending on which witnesses show up and co-operate.

Although public hearings on impeachment are expected

to begin this month, Mr. Schiff said it is “hard to know” how

much longer the depositions will take. He said it’s possible

that the closed-door interviews will continue even after the

hearings start, though the panels only have so many staff

who can take testimony at once.

Impeachment investigators have already heard testimo-

ny from a series of current and former administration offi-

cials about Mr. Trump’s handling of Ukraine. They have tes-

tified about Mr. Trump’s repeat-

ed efforts to have Ukraine inves-

tigate political rival Joe Biden

and the Democrats, and about

the administration’s decision

over the summer to withhold

military assistance to the coun-

try.

At least nine witnesses are ten-

tatively scheduled to testify next

week, according to people famil-

iar with the schedule. Among

them is former national-security

adviser John Bolton, who is said to have been concerned

about the role that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giu-

liani, was playing in Ukraine.

House investigators have called Energy Secretary Rick

Perry to testify in the impeachment inquiry. Mr. Perry is the

first member of Mr. Trump’s cabinet asked to appear before

the House. His testimony is scheduled for Wednesday, ac-

cording to an official working on the impeachment inquiry

but unauthorized to discuss it. The person was granted ano-

nymity. But an Energy Department spokeswoman said Fri-

day that Mr. Perry will refuse to testify.

Also on Friday, subpoenas were issued for John Eisenberg,

the lead counsel at the National Security Council, and Brian

McCormack, top aide who worked on energy policy at the

Office of Management and Budget. The two White House

officials had already been asked to appear Monday.

It is unclear how many of the witnesses will appear. The

people requested anonymity to discuss the confidential

depositions.

Mr. Schiff said he hopes Mr. Bolton will show up. The

committees have invited Mr. Bolton to appear on Thursday

but not yet issued a subpoena for his testimony. His lawyer

has said he will not appear without one. When the public

hearings begin, Mr. Schiff said he hopes the testimony will

show “what the President did, why his misconduct is so

serious” and how the “machinery of government” was

pressed to help Mr. Trump influence the 2020 election.

A resolution passed by the House on Thursday will allow

Democrats to conduct the impeachment hearings with up

to 90 minutes of questioning by Mr. Schiff or his staff.

Mr. Schiff said Democrats have heard public feedback

that the five-minute rounds can make it difficult to main-

tain a line of questioning.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Trumpimpeachment

transcriptscouldcome

nextweek,Schiffsays

MARY CLARE JALONICKWASHINGTON

Atleastnine

witnessesare

tentativelyscheduled

totestifynextweek,

accordingtopeople

familiarwiththe

schedule.