Housebroken bison; babysitter bank robbery; finger lost at party
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Police in Northern California say they have arrested a dog groomer on suspicion of felony animal cruelty charges after a Dachshund in his care died from internal injuries.
San Mateo Police Department Sgt. Richard Decker says 38-year-old Juan Zarate, of San Francisco, was arrested at a PetSmart in San Mateo Sunday.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports police say Zarate brought the dog to his owner after about three minutes of grooming it and said the 1-year-old Dachshund, which was bleeding from the mouth and breathing with difficulty, was having a medical emergency.
Decker says an on-site veterinarian was unable to save the animal and that an X-ray revealed two broken ribs and a punctured lung.
PetSmart Vice President Michelle Friedman says Zarate has been suspended and that the pet store is conducting an internal investigation and working with authorities.
___
Information from: The San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
- By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press
- Updated
SEATTLE — A patient who was with a group of other patients being escorted by staff at Washington's largest psychiatric hospital escaped Monday and was out for more than an hour before being caught, authorities said.
The 31-year-old male patient at Western State Hospital went missing at about 1:45 p.m., said Lakewood Police Lt. Chris Lawler. Hospital staff discovered that he was gone when they reached their destination, he said.
The patient was being held on a 180-day civil commitment out of Cowlitz County, Lawler said.
"He was considered gravely disabled and flagged as a threat to himself and others," Lawler said. "We were also told he was on active supervision from the Department of Corrections."
Hospital security began a search where he was last seen near the Steilacoom library. He was eventually spotted and taken into custody at about 3:05 p.m. and returned to the hospital.
Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees the hospital, said it is believed the patient left the escorted group through an unlocked door while being taken from a treatment area to a fenced outside activity zone.
In a statement, Cheryl Strange, chief executive officer for the hospital, said information about the incident was still being collected.
Monday's escape follows the April 6 escape of two dangerous patients, including one who was accused of torturing a woman to death. One was caught the next morning but the other made it to Spokane and was on the run for two days before being caught.
At the time, officials said it was a rare occurrence. But an investigation by The Associated Press found that there have been 185 escapes or walk-aways from the 800-bed psychiatric hospital since 2013.
A review of police records revealed that patients bolted out of doors, jumped over fences, crawled out windows, ran away from staff and wandered off after being allowed outside the building. Some returned on their own but others were gone for weeks or months. One was found in Colorado, and another in California. Some made it to nearby cities or far away counties.
At least eight patients committed assaults or other crimes while they were out, the AP found. Others were arrested on outstanding warrants.
Most of the patients were being held on involuntary civil commitments after being found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others due to a mental illness.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GOODYEAR — Authorities say a Goodyear man is facing charges after killing the family dog because he was upset with his teenage daughter's T-shirt.
Goodyear police say 42-year-old Patrick Zane Thompson is jailed on suspicion of animal cruelty, assault, threats against his family and tampering with evidence.
Thompson didn't have a lawyer at his initial court appearance Monday. His bond was set at $20,000.
Officers were called to Thompson's family home Saturday.
Detectives say Thompson became upset with a shirt that his 17-year-old daughter had because he believed it had to do with the devil.
Thompson reportedly burned the shirt in a BBQ traveler parked in a side yard and then did the same to the family's poodle.
Police say Thompson told officers that he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ASH FORK — Authorities have identified the man they say led them on a 100-mile chase on a northern Arizona interstate over the weekend.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety says 36-year-old Raul De La Rosa Giron faces charges of driving under the influence, fleeing authorities and resisting arrest.
DPS spokesman Bart Graves says the Texas man was jailed in Flagstaff.
Authorities say Giron was driving a tractor-trailer to California on Sunday when he turned around and headed back to Arizona on Interstate 40. Officers followed him from Kingman to Ash Fork, eventually puncturing the tires of his vehicle with spikes on the roadway.
The driver ran away and was caught and bitten by a police dog.
Graves says investigators don't know the driver's employer. Graves says he was hauling forklift equipment.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern California authorities say a 31-year-old man is dead following an altercation at a heavily attended music festival.
The Sacramento Bee reports that Sacramento police are treating Sunday's death as a homicide. The name of the victim was not released.
Police and fire were already at Discovery Park to investigate a midafternoon fire that reportedly started when a deep-fryer ignited propane tanks at a vendor booth. Several people were hurt, sustaining burns or other injuries in trying to escape the fire.
Later, some concert-goers approached authorities to say that a man who had been assaulted appeared to be unconscious.
Medics found the man unresponsive. He later died at a hospital.
Some eyewitnesses said the victim was punched by a male suspect. Police are searching for the suspect.
___
Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com
- Updated
HERRIMAN, Utah — Police are investigating after a drunken party in Utah ended with a woman getting her finger shot off and a man beaten unconscious.
The Deseret News reports that Unified police responded to a Herriman house party early on April 24. According to court documents, two men and two women began to engage in sexual activity after the party, but one man later ordered other man to leave at gunpoint.
Court documents say the second man went outside but returned to the house after hearing a gunshot, where he found one woman missing her ring finger.
The search warrant affidavit says the partygoers took the woman to the hospital and then beat the gunman unconscious. His condition was unavailable Sunday.
The warrant says three children were present at the time.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SEVERANCE, Colo. — A Colorado woman is accused of taking two children she was babysitting to a bank robbery.
The Weld County Sheriff's Office says 28-year-old Rachel Einspahr went through the drive through of a bank in Severance with the two children on Friday. She allegedly sent a note through the vacuum tube saying that there was a man in her car who wanted money and was threating to her hurt her children. Investigators say the teller at the Colorado East Bank & Trust in Severance gave her $500.
Sheriff's office spokesman Matt Turner says there wasn't a man in the car with them.
Einspahr was being held in jail Monday but hasn't been formally charged. It's not clear if she has a lawyer yet.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
EAGLE, Idaho — A southwestern Idaho massage therapist accused of groping a woman has been cited with misdemeanor battery.
Forty-year-old Aaron Lee Sundgaard is scheduled to appear in court on June 8 after being cited in April.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says a woman told police that Sundgaard groped her and made sexually explicit remarks at a massage session on March 1 at an Eagle area spa.
Sundgaard no longer works at the spa, and police say they're investigating to find out if other women make similar reports.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GALLUP, N.M. — A Colorado pilot says he was forced to make an emergency landing on a New Mexico highway after encountering mechanical issues.
The Gallup Independent reports that Montgomery Lee says he was on his way to Arizona with a friend Thursday when the plane's engine seized up.
Lee says he realized the airplane wouldn't make it to Gallup Airport and was able to land instead on an empty stretch of U.S. Highway 491, avoiding a potentially rocky field. He says the landing did not damage the plane or injure himself or his passenger.
Lee was able to pull off to the side of the road to avoid affecting traffic.
He says the Federal Aviation Administration is examining the engine to determine the cause of the mechanical failure.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to pay $88 million to settle teacher sex-abuse lawsuits involving 30 children and their families at two elementary schools.
The Los Angeles Times reports Monday that the settlement is the second largest in district history.
Gregory McNair, a senior attorney with LA Unified, tells the Times the settlement was finalized over the weekend.
The two teachers involved, Robert Pimentel at De La Torre Elementary and Paul Chapel III at Telfair Avenue Elementary, are each serving long prison terms after pleading no contest in molestation cases.
Both cases came to light in the aftermath of Miramonte Elementary School and teacher Mark Berndt, who was convicted of committing lewd acts on students over several years. Lawsuits over Berndt brought a $139 million settlement in 2014.
___
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
- The Associated Press
- Updated
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A dozen bison are now living on the plains north of Fort Collins following the birth of two calves last week.
The Coloradoan reports that the calves were born Friday and Tuesday at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space. They arrived just after President Barack Obama signed legislation making the bison the official national mammal.
According to Colorado State University, the calves are the first America bison born on the public lands owned by Fort Collins and Larimer County in 150 years. They are part of the Laramie Foothills Bison Conservation herd, which was released near the Colorado-Wyoming border in November.
The calves are the product of natural breeding and fathered by genetically pure bison owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico's hospitals have been seeing a spike in deaths and emergency room visits caused by methamphetamine.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1TSsOD9 ) that heroin and prescription opioids account for most overdose deaths in New Mexico, but methamphetamine overdose deaths have been climbing since 2008. According to a state Department of Health report, emergency room visits because of amphetamines have nearly tripled from 2010 to 2014.
In 2009 there were 39 deaths involving methamphetamine. In 2014 there were 111. The number of amphetamine- and meth-related visits to New Mexico emergency departments increased from 382 in 2010 to 1,097 in 2014.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Landen says the data suggests methamphetamine use is increasing in New Mexico.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
RENO, Nev. — Reno officials say they have rescued four people from the Truckee River after they fell off a flotation device.
Reno Fire Department Chief Dirk Minore says none of the victims were wearing life jackets but all were conscious and breathing when rescued Sunday afternoon. He says fire officials rescued three of the people and the fourth made it to the shore without help.
They were hospitalized with minor injuries and hypothermia.
Minore says the three women and a man were using a float ring designed for a pool that was insufficient for Truckee River conditions.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SURPRISE — Authorities in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise say a man fatally injured in an explosion in his home was making fireworks before the blast.
Police identified the man killed Sunday evening as 38-year-old Derek Baldwin. Responding officers found him lying on his driveway.
People evacuated from houses adjacent to Baldwin's home were allowed to return after investigators removed materials used in making fireworks.
Evidence markers in neighbors' yards showed where debris landed.
Police say no additional information is immediately available.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
JUNEAU, Alaska — A hiker was rescued from Mount Juneau after he slipped near the peak and tumbled about 200 feet, suffering injuries to his head and shoulder area, authorities said.
Tim Haugh, a 57-year-old from Juneau, was listed in stable condition at a hospital Friday with a broken clavicle and lacerations requiring 15 stitches in his head.
"He's doing OK," his wife told The Juneau Empire from Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Haugh had reportedly used his cellphone to call a friend, SEADOGS leader Bruce Bowler, from the mountainside. Bowler then alerted troopers, who began organizing the search and rescue.
A team of Juneau Mountain Rescue searchers and Capital City Fire/Rescue medics responded to the mountain via helicopter and landed below the hiker. They then hiked up to Haugh, who was able to walk back with the crew to the helicopter and airlifted off the mountain, troopers said.
Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Tod Chambers said two other hikers had come across Haugh and were able to provide troopers with the coordinates to locate him. He said he did not know exactly how Haugh fell, but was told Haugh slipped on the snowpack near the top of the mountain.
Bowler advised other hikers not to go out on the trails alone "no matter how good of shape you are in," as his friend did.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The city of Fairbanks set new record high temperatures over the weekend, including one set more than 100 years ago.
The high recorded Saturday at Fairbanks International Airport was 82 degrees, or 2 degrees warmer than the previous record set on that date in 1915. Fairbanks also set a new record on Friday of 79 degrees, well above the normal high of 60 for this time of year, according to The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
"(Saturday) was the first time we hit 80 degrees this season," National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Metzger said.
Saturday's heat also brought a new record for the low temperature on that day, which was 59 degrees. That was the highest minimum temperature recorded on May 14, breaking the previous record of 52 degrees set in 2005, Metzger said.
Tim Mowry, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry, said the fire service had been prepared for fire activity as temperatures reached the record-breaking numbers. But despite the warmer weather, Interior Alaska didn't see any wildfires.
"That was one good thing with this hot weather, there was no lightning coming with it," Mowry said. "Other than a fire down in Anchorage, things have been pretty quiet, which is a good thing."
The forestry division lifted a burn suspension on Sunday when cooler weather moved in and brought rainfall. Burning is allowed as long as the fire is attended and surrounded by 10 feet of mineral soil, but fire danger remains very high, according to the Division of Forestry website.
Mowry urged people to remain cautious.
Forestry crews worked in Anchorage on Saturday to battle a wildfire that broke out at a park. The blaze was contained at about 2 acres. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
- The Associated Press
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Police in Northern California say they have arrested a dog groomer on suspicion of felony animal cruelty charges after a Dachshund in his care died from internal injuries.
San Mateo Police Department Sgt. Richard Decker says 38-year-old Juan Zarate, of San Francisco, was arrested at a PetSmart in San Mateo Sunday.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports police say Zarate brought the dog to his owner after about three minutes of grooming it and said the 1-year-old Dachshund, which was bleeding from the mouth and breathing with difficulty, was having a medical emergency.
Decker says an on-site veterinarian was unable to save the animal and that an X-ray revealed two broken ribs and a punctured lung.
PetSmart Vice President Michelle Friedman says Zarate has been suspended and that the pet store is conducting an internal investigation and working with authorities.
___
Information from: The San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
- By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press
SEATTLE — A patient who was with a group of other patients being escorted by staff at Washington's largest psychiatric hospital escaped Monday and was out for more than an hour before being caught, authorities said.
The 31-year-old male patient at Western State Hospital went missing at about 1:45 p.m., said Lakewood Police Lt. Chris Lawler. Hospital staff discovered that he was gone when they reached their destination, he said.
The patient was being held on a 180-day civil commitment out of Cowlitz County, Lawler said.
"He was considered gravely disabled and flagged as a threat to himself and others," Lawler said. "We were also told he was on active supervision from the Department of Corrections."
Hospital security began a search where he was last seen near the Steilacoom library. He was eventually spotted and taken into custody at about 3:05 p.m. and returned to the hospital.
Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees the hospital, said it is believed the patient left the escorted group through an unlocked door while being taken from a treatment area to a fenced outside activity zone.
In a statement, Cheryl Strange, chief executive officer for the hospital, said information about the incident was still being collected.
Monday's escape follows the April 6 escape of two dangerous patients, including one who was accused of torturing a woman to death. One was caught the next morning but the other made it to Spokane and was on the run for two days before being caught.
At the time, officials said it was a rare occurrence. But an investigation by The Associated Press found that there have been 185 escapes or walk-aways from the 800-bed psychiatric hospital since 2013.
A review of police records revealed that patients bolted out of doors, jumped over fences, crawled out windows, ran away from staff and wandered off after being allowed outside the building. Some returned on their own but others were gone for weeks or months. One was found in Colorado, and another in California. Some made it to nearby cities or far away counties.
At least eight patients committed assaults or other crimes while they were out, the AP found. Others were arrested on outstanding warrants.
Most of the patients were being held on involuntary civil commitments after being found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others due to a mental illness.
- The Associated Press
GOODYEAR — Authorities say a Goodyear man is facing charges after killing the family dog because he was upset with his teenage daughter's T-shirt.
Goodyear police say 42-year-old Patrick Zane Thompson is jailed on suspicion of animal cruelty, assault, threats against his family and tampering with evidence.
Thompson didn't have a lawyer at his initial court appearance Monday. His bond was set at $20,000.
Officers were called to Thompson's family home Saturday.
Detectives say Thompson became upset with a shirt that his 17-year-old daughter had because he believed it had to do with the devil.
Thompson reportedly burned the shirt in a BBQ traveler parked in a side yard and then did the same to the family's poodle.
Police say Thompson told officers that he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
- The Associated Press
ASH FORK — Authorities have identified the man they say led them on a 100-mile chase on a northern Arizona interstate over the weekend.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety says 36-year-old Raul De La Rosa Giron faces charges of driving under the influence, fleeing authorities and resisting arrest.
DPS spokesman Bart Graves says the Texas man was jailed in Flagstaff.
Authorities say Giron was driving a tractor-trailer to California on Sunday when he turned around and headed back to Arizona on Interstate 40. Officers followed him from Kingman to Ash Fork, eventually puncturing the tires of his vehicle with spikes on the roadway.
The driver ran away and was caught and bitten by a police dog.
Graves says investigators don't know the driver's employer. Graves says he was hauling forklift equipment.
- The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern California authorities say a 31-year-old man is dead following an altercation at a heavily attended music festival.
The Sacramento Bee reports that Sacramento police are treating Sunday's death as a homicide. The name of the victim was not released.
Police and fire were already at Discovery Park to investigate a midafternoon fire that reportedly started when a deep-fryer ignited propane tanks at a vendor booth. Several people were hurt, sustaining burns or other injuries in trying to escape the fire.
Later, some concert-goers approached authorities to say that a man who had been assaulted appeared to be unconscious.
Medics found the man unresponsive. He later died at a hospital.
Some eyewitnesses said the victim was punched by a male suspect. Police are searching for the suspect.
___
Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com
HERRIMAN, Utah — Police are investigating after a drunken party in Utah ended with a woman getting her finger shot off and a man beaten unconscious.
The Deseret News reports that Unified police responded to a Herriman house party early on April 24. According to court documents, two men and two women began to engage in sexual activity after the party, but one man later ordered other man to leave at gunpoint.
Court documents say the second man went outside but returned to the house after hearing a gunshot, where he found one woman missing her ring finger.
The search warrant affidavit says the partygoers took the woman to the hospital and then beat the gunman unconscious. His condition was unavailable Sunday.
The warrant says three children were present at the time.
- The Associated Press
SEVERANCE, Colo. — A Colorado woman is accused of taking two children she was babysitting to a bank robbery.
The Weld County Sheriff's Office says 28-year-old Rachel Einspahr went through the drive through of a bank in Severance with the two children on Friday. She allegedly sent a note through the vacuum tube saying that there was a man in her car who wanted money and was threating to her hurt her children. Investigators say the teller at the Colorado East Bank & Trust in Severance gave her $500.
Sheriff's office spokesman Matt Turner says there wasn't a man in the car with them.
Einspahr was being held in jail Monday but hasn't been formally charged. It's not clear if she has a lawyer yet.
- The Associated Press
EAGLE, Idaho — A southwestern Idaho massage therapist accused of groping a woman has been cited with misdemeanor battery.
Forty-year-old Aaron Lee Sundgaard is scheduled to appear in court on June 8 after being cited in April.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says a woman told police that Sundgaard groped her and made sexually explicit remarks at a massage session on March 1 at an Eagle area spa.
Sundgaard no longer works at the spa, and police say they're investigating to find out if other women make similar reports.
- The Associated Press
GALLUP, N.M. — A Colorado pilot says he was forced to make an emergency landing on a New Mexico highway after encountering mechanical issues.
The Gallup Independent reports that Montgomery Lee says he was on his way to Arizona with a friend Thursday when the plane's engine seized up.
Lee says he realized the airplane wouldn't make it to Gallup Airport and was able to land instead on an empty stretch of U.S. Highway 491, avoiding a potentially rocky field. He says the landing did not damage the plane or injure himself or his passenger.
Lee was able to pull off to the side of the road to avoid affecting traffic.
He says the Federal Aviation Administration is examining the engine to determine the cause of the mechanical failure.
- The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to pay $88 million to settle teacher sex-abuse lawsuits involving 30 children and their families at two elementary schools.
The Los Angeles Times reports Monday that the settlement is the second largest in district history.
Gregory McNair, a senior attorney with LA Unified, tells the Times the settlement was finalized over the weekend.
The two teachers involved, Robert Pimentel at De La Torre Elementary and Paul Chapel III at Telfair Avenue Elementary, are each serving long prison terms after pleading no contest in molestation cases.
Both cases came to light in the aftermath of Miramonte Elementary School and teacher Mark Berndt, who was convicted of committing lewd acts on students over several years. Lawsuits over Berndt brought a $139 million settlement in 2014.
___
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
- The Associated Press
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A dozen bison are now living on the plains north of Fort Collins following the birth of two calves last week.
The Coloradoan reports that the calves were born Friday and Tuesday at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space. They arrived just after President Barack Obama signed legislation making the bison the official national mammal.
According to Colorado State University, the calves are the first America bison born on the public lands owned by Fort Collins and Larimer County in 150 years. They are part of the Laramie Foothills Bison Conservation herd, which was released near the Colorado-Wyoming border in November.
The calves are the product of natural breeding and fathered by genetically pure bison owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico's hospitals have been seeing a spike in deaths and emergency room visits caused by methamphetamine.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1TSsOD9 ) that heroin and prescription opioids account for most overdose deaths in New Mexico, but methamphetamine overdose deaths have been climbing since 2008. According to a state Department of Health report, emergency room visits because of amphetamines have nearly tripled from 2010 to 2014.
In 2009 there were 39 deaths involving methamphetamine. In 2014 there were 111. The number of amphetamine- and meth-related visits to New Mexico emergency departments increased from 382 in 2010 to 1,097 in 2014.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Landen says the data suggests methamphetamine use is increasing in New Mexico.
- The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — Reno officials say they have rescued four people from the Truckee River after they fell off a flotation device.
Reno Fire Department Chief Dirk Minore says none of the victims were wearing life jackets but all were conscious and breathing when rescued Sunday afternoon. He says fire officials rescued three of the people and the fourth made it to the shore without help.
They were hospitalized with minor injuries and hypothermia.
Minore says the three women and a man were using a float ring designed for a pool that was insufficient for Truckee River conditions.
- The Associated Press
SURPRISE — Authorities in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise say a man fatally injured in an explosion in his home was making fireworks before the blast.
Police identified the man killed Sunday evening as 38-year-old Derek Baldwin. Responding officers found him lying on his driveway.
People evacuated from houses adjacent to Baldwin's home were allowed to return after investigators removed materials used in making fireworks.
Evidence markers in neighbors' yards showed where debris landed.
Police say no additional information is immediately available.
- The Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska — A hiker was rescued from Mount Juneau after he slipped near the peak and tumbled about 200 feet, suffering injuries to his head and shoulder area, authorities said.
Tim Haugh, a 57-year-old from Juneau, was listed in stable condition at a hospital Friday with a broken clavicle and lacerations requiring 15 stitches in his head.
"He's doing OK," his wife told The Juneau Empire from Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Haugh had reportedly used his cellphone to call a friend, SEADOGS leader Bruce Bowler, from the mountainside. Bowler then alerted troopers, who began organizing the search and rescue.
A team of Juneau Mountain Rescue searchers and Capital City Fire/Rescue medics responded to the mountain via helicopter and landed below the hiker. They then hiked up to Haugh, who was able to walk back with the crew to the helicopter and airlifted off the mountain, troopers said.
Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Tod Chambers said two other hikers had come across Haugh and were able to provide troopers with the coordinates to locate him. He said he did not know exactly how Haugh fell, but was told Haugh slipped on the snowpack near the top of the mountain.
Bowler advised other hikers not to go out on the trails alone "no matter how good of shape you are in," as his friend did.
- The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The city of Fairbanks set new record high temperatures over the weekend, including one set more than 100 years ago.
The high recorded Saturday at Fairbanks International Airport was 82 degrees, or 2 degrees warmer than the previous record set on that date in 1915. Fairbanks also set a new record on Friday of 79 degrees, well above the normal high of 60 for this time of year, according to The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
"(Saturday) was the first time we hit 80 degrees this season," National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Metzger said.
Saturday's heat also brought a new record for the low temperature on that day, which was 59 degrees. That was the highest minimum temperature recorded on May 14, breaking the previous record of 52 degrees set in 2005, Metzger said.
Tim Mowry, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry, said the fire service had been prepared for fire activity as temperatures reached the record-breaking numbers. But despite the warmer weather, Interior Alaska didn't see any wildfires.
"That was one good thing with this hot weather, there was no lightning coming with it," Mowry said. "Other than a fire down in Anchorage, things have been pretty quiet, which is a good thing."
The forestry division lifted a burn suspension on Sunday when cooler weather moved in and brought rainfall. Burning is allowed as long as the fire is attended and surrounded by 10 feet of mineral soil, but fire danger remains very high, according to the Division of Forestry website.
Mowry urged people to remain cautious.
Forestry crews worked in Anchorage on Saturday to battle a wildfire that broke out at a park. The blaze was contained at about 2 acres. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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