Island Of Fire (1990)
The most obvious thing Island of Fire has going for it, is its cast : Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Andy Lau, Jimmy Wang Yu, and Tony Leung Ka-Fai. This is, absolutely speaking, one hell of a line-up, but of course at the time Andy Lau, though having been in countless films already, was still more successful as a singer than an actor, Sammo Hung was on the decline after his break-up with the almighty Golden Harvest Studio, Jimmy Wang Yu was nearing his self-imposed exile from films, and Tony Leung Ka-Fai had never had a leading role before. All in all, Jackie Chan was the only member of the cast to truly be at the height of his popularity (a height he has barely left ever since). However, Chan is not the lead here : Leung is, and even he is sidelined for entire chunks of the film. Actually, if there was to be a real leading role here, it would be the island itself, or rather the prison that is on this island.
Island of Fire (1990)
Ebenezer Stevens supervises further fortification work on Ellis Island for the U.S. War Department. Realizing that Ellis Island was still owned by the Ellis family, he recommends that New York State purchases the island and cedes it to the Federal government
The United States gains ownership of Ellis Island by condemnation procedures carried out by New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. The Governor purchased the island on behalf of the state of New York from the John A. Berry family, and conveyed it to the Federal government at a cost of $10,000.
On the night of July 30th, German saboteurs destroyed the munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New Jersey. The explosion shattered windows at Ellis Island, and damaged the support structure of the arm of the Statue of Liberty. The island was briefly evacuated without injuries.
The Ellis Island Committee submits a report to Secretary Perkins that contains many recommendations including the construction of better facilities for immigrants. The Roosevelt Administration acted on many of the recommendations. Through landfill, the island is increased to its present size of 27.5 acres. Commissioner Corsi resigns; President Franklin D. Roosevelt replaces him with Rudolph Reimer.
Following a lawsuit initiated by the State of New Jersey, the U.S. Supreme Court votes 6-3 to divide the sovereignty of Ellis Island between New York and New Jersey. New York retains the original 3.3 acres, and New Jersey wins the other 24 landfilled acres of the island
Of the 395 passengers and 97 crew on board that night, 158 died in the fire. Of those, 136 were Norwegian citizens. An additional passenger lost their life several weeks later from injuries sustained during the fire.
At first, Oslo Police suspected a Danish lorry driver with former arson convictions who died in the disaster. However, a 2009 investigation found that a number of separate fires had been started on the night.
An unofficial 2013 report stated the lorry driver died in one of the earlier fires, before later fires were ignited. The report said nine crew members were responsible for starting the fires and for sabotaging efforts to extinguish the fires.
Hello. My name is Meine Neves and I live in Cornwall England. It is sad to know someone blame the Scandinavian star crew for the start of the fire in the early hours of April the 7 1990, I was there working as a waiter and I was awake in the ballroom when all started. During the pandemonium I had the opportunity to talk to the suspect arsonist, and know he did not join the captain and other survivors in the last lifeboat, later after 2 very busy hours trying to rescue people (we only retrieved 3 bodies). We including the staff captain and two more crew members were rescued by an helicopter from Sweden. Meine
Battleship Missouri arrived in the Middle East in the first few days of 1991. Her first accomplishment in the Persian Gulf was the disarming of a mine by her Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team on 9 January. She then spent the period between 8-15 January underway in the Persian Gulf conducting a variety of operations. On 17 January, USS Missouri fired her first Tomahawk missile aimed at Baghdad. The next day, she fired thirteen more. By 20 January, the battleship had fired a total of 28 missiles.
Later in the month, she headed north towards Kuwait City, but before she could provide fire support, a mine-free lane six miles long and one thousand yards wide had to be created so the battleship could hit targets further inland. Her EOD team contributed to this effort, bringing their mine disarmament total to ten. She then bombarded Faylaka Island, which was under Iraqi control.
On 24 February, Coalition forces began their ground war for Kuwait. The battleship provided fire support for ground troops. On 25 February, she feinted an amphibious assault on Kuwait. When a Silkworm missile seemed headed straight for the battleship, HMS Gloucester was there to fire two Sea Dart anti-air missiles to intercede. the first time an anti-air missile had successfully engaged and destroyed an enemy missile during combat at sea. In return, the battleship turned her 16-inch guns toward the Silkworm battery and destroyed her target. The land war by the Coalition forces proved a success and the Gulf War ended in a Coalition victory on 28 February 1991.
This wildfire began on May 5 in northern Adams County. The fire rapidly spread through grass, needles and brush to the tops of the pine trees close by. Utilized resourced included 38 tractor plows, 25 forest rangers with Type-7 4x4s, three low ground units, six heavy dozers and almost 200 DNR personnel to control and eventually suppress the wildfire. Air resources cooled the flanks for ground crews and dropped water and fire retardant on structures. The fire was finally contained after 3,410 acres had burned. Nine year-round residences, 21 seasonal homes and at least 60 outbuildings were completely destroyed, but an estimated 300 buildings were saved.
On April 14, a wildfire began in northern Marquette County near the Lake of the Woods campground. Between 50 and 100 camper trailers in the campground and 24 homes and outbuildings in the area were directly threatened by the fire but ultimately saved with the help of 17 local fire department engines and tankers, DNR engines, bulldozers, aircraft and air tankers and private bulldozers. The fire eventually burned 572 acres and was determined to have been caused by debris burning.
The White River Marsh wildlife area is a 12,000 acre property located in Green Lake and Marquette counties. A man hunting on the property filled a metal coffee can with charcoal to have in his tree stand to keep warm. On November 20 (the Monday of deer season), he wasn't hunting and the winds were so strong it blew the tree over with the tree stand in it, which dumped the charcoal, resulting in a wildfire burning 4,261 acres.
The Ekdall Church Fire began on April 21 and ran nine miles in less than eight hours. At its widest point, the fire front was 2.5 miles wide. Fifteen DNR tractor plow units, seven fire departments, 27 private, county and National Guard bulldozers as well as scores of volunteers and cooperators from other county, state and federal agencies were utilized in containment of the fire. While 73 homes, cabins and outbuildings were destroyed in the 4,654 acre blaze, another 65 buildings were saved as a result of firefighter actions. The cause of the Ekdall Church Fire was determined to be accidental in nature.
Over 2,000 firefighters worked the Oak Lake Fire, which began on April 22 and included 23 fire departments, 52 DNR fire trucks, 30 DNR tractor plow units and 52 federal, county and privately owned bulldozers. While 159 structures (homes, cabins and outbuildings) were lost in the fire, an estimated 254 were saved as a direct result of firefighter actions. While a cause was never proved for the Oak Lake Fire, it was thought to most likely be equipment related. Note that the Ekdall Church Fire and Oak Lake Fire burned over 16,000 acres in northwestern Wisconsin.
Fifteen tractor plows, 18 bulldozers, 12 fire departments and about 100 men and women worked on the fire, which began on April 27 and burned a total 6,159 acres. Five homes, one house trailer, 10 barns and 84 out buildings were destroyed, but approximately 300 buildings were saved. Total damages were over a million dollars.
On the same day as the Saratoga Fire, a westbound Chicago and Northwestern train began setting fires three to four miles east of Black River Falls and continued igniting areas along the track almost all the way to the city before the train was finally stopped. Calls were immediately sent out to the adjacent areas for additional equipment, but because of the Saratoga Fire, these fires were short on tractor plows. The series of fires ultimately combined together to form one large fire, named Brockway. Later in the afternoon, an illegal cooking fire escaped and joined the railroad fires. The Brockway Fire was finally controlled after burning 17,590 acres with damages over $1,400,000, including the loss of 14 homes.
The mop-up of the Saratoga and Brockway Fires was progressing rather well on the early afternoon of April 30 when two more fires broke out in the Black River Falls area. One fire started when a chain saw exploded in an area of heavy slash. Windy conditions drove this fire fast toward the Village of Brockway and Black River Falls, causing 1,500 people to evacuate. About 75 minutes later another fire, believed to have been intentionally set as a backfire on private property, started alongside the first fire. These fires ended up burning together, threatening to destroy dozens of homes in its path. With the assistance of 63 fire departments, no buildings were lost after the fire consumed 3,037 acres.
The Five Mile Tower fire burned in young pine. Around the same time the Airport Fire started, a family was camping just west of Minong in an area surrounded by jack pine when a spark blew out of their campfire. This fire would eventually burn 13,375 acres of pine forest and was about 15 miles long at its longest point. Embers were reported to have flown over a mile ahead of the fire, causing many additional "spot" fires. The fire was controlled after 83 buildings were destroyed, but over 300 buildings survived the fire. 041b061a72