From Ashes to Altitude: A Wedding Above the Timberline Lodge Fire

Unexpected Fire at Timberline Lodge Disrupts Wedding Plans

Brian Peeters found himself facing ⁣an⁣ unexpected turn of events⁢ on the eve of his wedding ​at Timberline Lodge when fire ⁢alarms blared at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, disrupting the peaceful ​atmosphere.

Surprised by the situation, Peeters couldn’t help but⁣ wonder ⁢how a place with⁢ a century-long fire-free​ history could suddenly be engulfed in ⁢flames, a stark⁣ contrast ‌to its past.

Without ‌a moment to spare, Peeters and his wedding ‌entourage hastily evacuated the lodge, still clad in​ their swimsuits, grabbing essentials as they⁣ made their way to safety amidst the chaos.

Facing the chilling 30-degree weather, Peeters, barefoot ‍and wet from the pool, navigated the⁣ Timberline parking lot, witnessing the flames⁢ licking the lodge’s‍ roof in the⁢ distance.

Stranded without shoes,‌ Peeters recounted the‍ surreal experience of crossing the parking‌ lot, a stark reminder of the unpredictability⁤ of life’s twists and turns.

As the fire blazed through the north wing of the historic⁢ lodge, emergency responders from various departments rushed to the scene, prompting a swift evacuation and closure of the lodge and ski area for inspection.

Initial investigations pointed to embers⁢ from the lodge’s chimney as the likely cause⁤ of the fire, igniting the roof and‌ attic, prompting a thorough examination by‌ federal agencies to determine the exact origin.

Fortunately, all occupants ‍managed to escape unharmed, a ‌silver lining⁣ amidst⁤ the chaos and uncertainty that unfolded that fateful night.

Amidst the ⁢turmoil, ⁢Peeters and his fiancee, along with​ their wedding guests, relocated to Government ​Camp, ⁤seeking refuge at⁤ a nearby Best Western hotel⁣ as‌ firefighters battled⁣ the raging inferno.

Despite the unexpected turn ⁢of events, Peeters and Blanco remained⁣ resolute, ​determined‍ to salvage ⁣their meticulously planned wedding ‌celebration that brought together loved ones from across the ​country.

With‍ family members traveling⁤ from far and wide,​ including ⁢Wisconsin, where Peeters has‌ roots, the couple’s unwavering spirit and unity shone⁢ through ⁤amidst the adversity they faced.

In a⁤ testament to their resilience, the weary travelers made the journey​ back to Timberline to retrieve their belongings, grateful that their possessions remained unscathed by the fire’s destructive path.

While the main lodge remained closed for ⁤inspection, Silcox ‍Hut, a‍ nearby refuge, welcomed ‌the wedding ‌party,​ offering a⁢ glimmer ⁤of hope and continuity amidst the chaos.

Donning his suit⁣ once more, Peeters stood resilient, ready to embark ‌on a new chapter as ⁢he and Blanco ‌prepared to exchange vows at an elevation of 7,000 feet, symbolizing their unwavering commitment and love.

The wedding, a testament to‍ love conquering all obstacles, remained a beacon of hope and joy amidst the unexpected challenges that tested the ‌couple’s resolve.

Timberline Lodge

— Tanner ⁣Todd covers crime‍ and public safety. Reach out to⁣ them at [email protected], or​ call 503-221-4313.

Image source, Alamy

• Author, Sandy Ong
• Role, BBC

• 2 hours ago

In-home water filters (home filters) can remove contaminants from tap water – but are they really necessary, and can they cause unintended harm?

Ms. Shima Chen Si avoids drinking water directly from the tap. Her refrigerator in her home in Northwich, Britain, where she lives with her young family, is equipped with an internal water dispenser connected to a filter (water purification filter). When she’s out and about, she keeps her trusty self-cleaning bottle handy — one that sterilizes water via an ultraviolet chip built into its lid.

“Filtered water tastes better,” Chen Si says. “I can smell and taste the chemicals in tap water.”

Some people find her weird for saying that — including her husband who once gave her a blind taste test (it turns out she can tell the difference between filtered and unfiltered tap water). But as it turns out, Chen Si is not alone in her thinking.

When the nonprofit Environmental Action Group surveyed 2,800 people, living across the United States, half said their tap water was unsafe to drink, with nearly 35 percent purifying their water.

Likewise, according to a 2023 survey of more than 500 people in Britain by the Swedish purification company Tapwater, 42 percent “don’t trust or like the taste of tap water.” A quarter of survey respondents believe their tap water is not clean, and pollutants, chemicals and bacteria are their top concerns. As a result, more than half of Londoners (54 percent) said they use water filters.

Water filters seem to be at the peak of their popularity, especially in North America, Europe, and China. In 2022, the global water purifier market was worth an estimated $30 billion, and is expected to grow more than 7 percent by 2030.

Proponents say filtering water can provide numerous benefits, from removing toxins and pathogens to reducing hardness and improving odor and taste. But is filtered water healthier for you than tap water?

Various choices

For those who prefer to purify their water, there are a variety of systems to choose from: pitcher-style filters, faucet-mounted filters, countertop or refrigerator-attached purifiers, and under-the-faucet sink devices, to name a few.

Simple devices cost just a few dollars, while more elaborate devices — such as Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets that track water use and detect plumbing problems — can cost up to a four-figure sum.

In general, water filters fall into two main groups, says Kyle Postmus, who oversees filter certification at the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), an independent certification organization in Michigan, US.

“Point-of-use filters filter the water just before it enters the cup, while point-of-entry filters treat the water at the point it enters the home or building,” Postmus says.

Filters also vary in the type of materials they are made of and use different techniques – adsorption (chemisorption), ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and mechanical separation are the most common techniques – to rid the water of other particles.

“Different filters can serve different therapeutic goals,” says Detlef Nappi, a professor of civil, building and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University. “There are a lot of nuances.”

The problem is understanding what’s in your water and whether it needs to be treated, then finding the right filter to do it.

The last line of defence

Of course, the potential benefits of purifying tap water depend on where you live in the world.

In developing countries where communities struggle to access clean drinking water, “the main problem we usually worry about is bacteria like E. coli and Legionella,” says Brent Krueger, professor of chemistry and co-director of the Global Water Research Institute at Michigan. Contaminated water can cause diarrhea, a preventable disease that nevertheless kills an estimated one million people annually, nearly half of whom are children under the age of five.

However, water filters can be “very effective at stopping bacteria,” Krueger says.

Kruger and his team have led such efforts in Latin America. In one experiment, they installed filters in homes in 16 villages in the Dominican Republic. This led to a decrease in the incidence of diarrhea, from 25.6 percent to less than 10 percent, which led to other positive effects.

“Children are missing school less, and adults are missing work less, which provides a financial benefit to the family as well,” Krueger says.

Image caption: In Western countries, tap water is already widely filtered to remove harmful contaminants, but some of it seeps through the water

In the Western world, tap water is strictly regulated and generally considered safe. The United States, for example, has legislation that requires suppliers to adhere to certain water quality standards and to treat more than 90 contaminants that can be found in public drinking water.

In Britain, water undergoes multiple rounds of filtration, followed by ultraviolet disinfection and chlorine, before it reaches consumers. The country ranked first in terms of the quality of drinking water and sanitation, according to the 2022 Environmental Performance Index issued by Yale University, a biennial assessment of global sustainability, along with Finland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

“In most of these (Western) countries, the water provider is required to conduct regular testing and disseminate information to the public,” Kruger says.

“Although home filters can be helpful in removing harmful chemicals from water, they sometimes remove beneficial minerals as well.”

However, Kruger warns: “Just because you have a large municipal water system definitely doesn’t mean everything is fine.”

Regulations may limit the amount of lead allowed in pipes, but this does not always extend to that in residential properties – which can be a problem, especially in older homes.

“Rusty pipes are a big problem,” says Nirosa Kumaran, a doctor in London and medical director of health center HUM2N. “I see a lot of lead toxicity from old water pipes.”

In these cases, filters may be useful to remove lead from the water. Additionally, Kumaran says filters can provide a last line of defense against toxins and other chemicals present. “We see residues of some medications — hormone replacement therapy, birth control pills, some psychiatric medications — inside our water system,” she explains. “They come from urine, so when you pee the medication, it gets into the water system.”

Stop chemicals whose effects remain forever

One toxin in tap water that has some experts concerned is a group of more than 15,000 man-made chemicals called PFAS, which stands for perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances.

These substances are also called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment without decomposing, and PFAS are linked to a range of health problems, including cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility.

Image caption Water filters are very useful in parts of the world where drinking water may contain harmful bacteria or parasites

“We’re concerned about very low levels of chemicals, because some PFAS can bioaccumulate in the human body in a very dramatic way,” says Nappi.

“There are low levels of PFAS in almost all water supplies around the world now,” he adds.

For example, at least one PFAS was detected in drinking water samples from 17 out of 18 water companies in England in 2023.

In the United States, PFAS are found in 45 percent of tap water, and it is believed that six out of 10 people are exposed to these chemicals.

Fortunately, filters can help remove these harmful chemicals. In a paper published in 2020, Nappi and his fellow researchers found that reverse osmosis and two-stage filters, which are installed under sinks, were able to remove almost all of the PFAS they evaluated.

Postmus, whose organization provides certification for a range of products including water filters, recommends three types of water filters in particular: those powered by activated carbon, ion exchange and reverse osmosis. “We’ve been certifying filters to reduce PFAS for about six years, and we have data to prove they work,” he says.

Buyer awareness

Although filters can be helpful in removing harmful chemicals from our water, they sometimes remove beneficial minerals as well. These elements include magnesium and calcium, as well as iron and manganese, which are eliminated to make the water softer and prevent discoloration.

The filters can also remove fluoride, which some municipalities add to tap water to help fight tooth decay.

In fact, reverse osmosis filters — which Nappi says are one of the most effective types of filtration, “because they take everything out” — are sometimes sold with remineralization capsules that attempt to add beneficial minerals back to the filtered water.

Some people sprinkle a little sea salt in filtered water, but there is currently no evidence that this is effective in restoring lost minerals.

But in fact, it’s important to get these important compounds in your diet, says Kumaran: “We shouldn’t rely on our drinking water as our main source of minerals.”

Another disadvantage of water filters is that they can sometimes cause more harm than good, especially if the capsules are not replaced regularly.

Sponge-like activated carbon filters, in particular, can serve as a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

In a small study conducted in Singapore, which compared tap water with filtered water samples from the same household, the majority of tap water samples had a bacterial count of up to 500 within the local safe limit. By comparison, this number ranged between 9,000 and 25,400 in about 60 percent of the filtered water samples, and the number was highest in water taken from a filter that was a month late for the change (change of capsules).

In another study, water left in the tap or in an under-sink filter – even for one night – was found to have increased bacteria concentrations. To avoid this, it is recommended to wash the filter (through running water) for at least 10 seconds before drinking from it.

“At the very least, if you don’t maintain the filter properly, you won’t get any benefit from it. Or you may actually have worse water coming out of it than what went into it,” says Nappi.

Hydrating the body is most important of all

Ultimately, deciding whether or not to use a water filter depends on understanding the type of water in your area, as well as your level of comfort and acceptance of what’s in that water.

“If you do a little homework, you can often find information about the quality of your drinking water,” says Krueger, explaining that water companies are usually obligated to make test results publicly available for free. Additionally, “you can hire companies to test your water if you’re concerned about that,” he says.

And if you think your tap water is not good, the next step would be to find a filter that suits your home and lifestyle, and can remove the specific contaminants in question.

It’s difficult to recommend a specific type, Postmus says, but what’s important is to make sure whatever you end up buying is certified. “If the device is certified, at least you know it works,” he says.

For Kumaran, staying hydrated goes beyond whether or not a person drinks filtered water. “As a primary care physician, I see a lot of problems caused by dehydration,” she says.

Related

The world‘s educational leaders and policymakers are challenged to lead their communities as artificial intelligence (AI), including education, is becoming increasingly important in society. Understanding AI is critical to crafting effective policies that promote accountability and equity in how AI tools can be accessed, how AI-enabled learning experiences are designed, and how students use AI in the classroom. Integrating AI into society should augment, not replace, human interaction and decision-making.

Innovative AI teaching provides the opportunity to improve equity and help students remain competitive in a changing job market. For example, the International Monetary Fund estimates that 40% of global jobs will be supplemented or, in extreme cases, replaced by AI.

Today’s students can anticipate a future in which they will work with or alongside AI. It is essential that educators and students understand their current power and potential impact. Schools must prepare the next generation of AI designers. AI offers benefits such as personalized learning, effective feedback, and operational efficiency. However, it also poses risks, such as misinformation and loss of critical thinking skills.

AI promises to address many of the persistent problems we see in education, including incomplete learning and teacher burnout.

According to TeachAI, policymakers and educational leaders can prepare the workforce of the future by implementing the following five critical policies to help realize the potential benefits of AI in education while mitigating the risks.

Foster leadership: Create a working group on AI in education with experts, educators, students, community members, and policymakers to guide policy and oversee implementation. Promote AI literacy: Integrate AI concepts into curricula and teach students to critically evaluate AI and its results. Provide guidance: Establish clear guidelines for the safe and responsible use of AI in education. Build capacity: Support educators and staff in integrating AI into teaching, learning, and school management and operations. Support innovation: Fund research and development to advance AI in pedagogy, curriculum and educational tools.

For Colombia, incorporating AI into educational systems constitutes a challenge that will change our dynamics, transforming training processes, so that each student develops their capabilities and solves problems, without this involving wasting what makes us truly human.

Luis Elquis Diaz
@LuchoDiaz12

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