The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "fire hazard" ...
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Carbon Monoxide at Cove Village
Even though, three people died of carbon monoxide in their apartment complex, the problem went uncorrected for four years afterwards. Also, even when the emergency calls continued to report carbon monoxide problems and a number of people were brought to the hospital, the government inspectors never stepped in to correct the hazard.
Tags: Essex complex; Wiley family; County Fire Department; toxic; Sawyer Realty; firefighters
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Fly Ash: Coal-Fired Dilemma
This series of stories showed how a virtually unknown state environmental policy, blessed by the EPA, let developers sculpt an 18-hole golf course with 1.5 million tons of "fly ash," a contaminant-laden residue left from the burning of coal for electricity, posing a threat to the wells of adjacent homeowners. Fly ash contains heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury, which can pose environmental threats through air and water. Although the EPA has been studying the the environmental;ecological impacts of fly ash for decades, it has twice determined that it doesn't warrant classification as "hazardous waste." The result is that there are no national guidelines for fly ash disposal; regulation is left up to the states, resulting in a hodge-podge of policies.
Tags: environment; EPA; contaminant; coal industry; fly ash; testing; site assessment; homeowners
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Burning Laptops
Dallas' KVTV investigates overheating laptop batteries, eventually leading to a Consumer Product Safety Commission recall of nearly 10 million batteries due to fire hazards. The station received a tip after a consumer's laptop burst into flames, and the subsequent investigation found that lithium ion laptop batteries were susceptible. Experts asserted that the attempt to pack too much power into such a small device was leading to the overheating. Because there had been relatively few fires, this issue was not widely known, nor were the manufacturers taking steps to improve it. The story is ongoing, as technology continues to evolve.
Tags: Laptop; fire; combustible; overheat; computer; battery; consumer; danger
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Ford Fires
The authors investigation showed that the Ford F150 pickup truck was a potential fire hazard due to faulty cruise control switches. Their series of reports also showed that Ford as well as other companies may have known about the problem for the last five years and have hidden it.
Tags: Ford; fire; cruise control switch; Dupont; Texas Instruments; Ford F150; FOIA
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Firefighters Under Fire
This three part series investigates the San Francisco Fire Department based on information revealed from unnamed firefighters. In "Light Duty", hidden cameras show one officer works just 16 hours a week at his full time job, but still gets paid for 40 hours. Other light duty-or injured firefighters-get paid to watch for alarms, a job that could be eliminated and save tax dollars if the system was automated. Light duty officers are supposed to be restricted to one year of this recovery work, but this rule was not enforced. "Fire Raid" shows alcohol and drug use are problems at fire stations. One officer was found on duty with a blood alcohol level above the accepted limit and another tested positive for marijuana. A third officer drove a fire truck while taking medication that warns against operating hazardous machinery. In "EMS Mistake", the paramedic team is accused of not following protocol in response to an accident and causing the victim to be paralyzed. The investigation finds that other on-going investigations accuse paramedics of assault and even leaving a live woman for dead.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FOIA; sunshine law; firefighter; fire department; EMS; emergency medical service; hidden camera; light duty; drugs; alcohol; marijuana
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Fire Hazard: Bush Leaves Nuclear Plants at Risk
Cusac's investigation looks into fire safety protections at several U.S. nuclear plants, as well as the Bush administration's decision to make fire safety a lax issue. The article points out the fact that this decrease in fire protection comes at the point when Al Qaeda's interests are in targeting unidentified nuclear power plants. From the IRE questionnaire: "This article discovered that the reason the Bush Administration was making such a move was because many plants were already in violation of the law and because the nuclear industry threatened widespread rebellion if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tried to enforce the law."
Tags: fire safety protections; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Shearon Harris; Progress Energy
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Children Left Behind
The reporters set out to assess the problems children in Cleveland face. They managed to uncover hazards that even the public officials and community activists who had dedicated their careers to these issues. for example, they found that half a million Ohio Children live next door to a toxic waste site. Another finding was that nearly 1 million children live in poor housing, putting them at greater risk for fires, accidents, and environmental health hazards such as lead poisoning and asthma. They also discovered that babies born to teenage mothers are much more likely to be premature, and these babies had cost the state roughly $161 million dollars in five year. Another finding was that children of color were in most danger, they account for about a quarter of all child deaths.
Tags: toxic waste; poor housing; fires; accidents; environmental health; teenage mothers; teen pregnancy; premature babies; inner-city neighborhoods; Guatemala; African American children; child deaths; Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; Planned Parenthood; Federation for Community Planning; Ohio Department of Health; lead poisoning; poor housing; asthma; Child deaths; food banks; poverty; Rocking Horse Center; birth rate; child mortality rate; hazardous waste sites; Sherwin-Williams; Benjamin Moore; Environmental Health Watch in Cleveland; pollution; youth prison; Youth Health Empowerment Project; STD's; birth control
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"Paterson school buildings: Playing with fire"
The Paterson Public Schools, a state-operated, inner city school district in Northern New Jersey, opened five schools illegally in September 2002. The buildings had faulty fire alarms, missing fire escapes and other safety hazards. For these reasons, they had failed safety inspections. The investigation led to the firing of the head of the district's facilities department and a complete restructuring of the department.
Tags: safety; schools; fire alarm; Paterson; safety inspections
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Hidden threat of junkyards
The Times Union investigates junkyards and the possible health and safety hazards they hold due to gaps in regulations.
Tags: junkyards; environment; EPA; vehicle junkyards; regulations; fires; Department of Environmental Conservation; DMV
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Fly the Fiery Skies
After the Valujet crash, the Clinton administration, the FAA, and the chiefs of the country's largest airlines promised that the installation of fire detectors in many aircraft was a top priority for the industry. Six months later, not one new extinguisher or detector was installed. The problem this poses is particular to smaller planes more than larger but the danger is real. The Halon fire fighting agent present in most planes cannot work correctly in the cargo holds of smaller planes. If there are no detectors or extinguishers, then a fire caused by standard hair products could quickly consume a plane with no warning to the crew until it is too late.
Tags: FAA; fire; fire detectors; fire extinguishers; air crashes; Halon; valujet; hazardous materials