The Sawmill Fire was a wildfire that burned almost 47,000 acres (19,000 ha) of the U.S. state of Arizona. It began on April 23, 2017, at a gender reveal party held in the Coronado National Forest with the detonation by gunshot of a target packed with blue powder and tannerite. Because of hot and arid conditions in the area, the fire spread rapidly and forced the closure of Arizona State Route 89 and Interstate 10 and the evacuation of 100 people. By April 30, the fire was fully contained and evacuation orders were lifted. No injuries or fatalities resulted from the fire, which cost $8,200,000 and required the deployment of over 800 first responders to contain and suppress. No buildings were destroyed by the fire, though the historic Empire Ranch was as little as 50 feet (15 m) from the flames at times. When the source of the fire became public knowledge, it resulted in widespread ridicule of gender reveal parties in concept and practice.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawmill_Fire_%282017%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1869:

Jay Gould, James Fisk and other speculators plotted but failed to control the United States gold market, causing prices to plummet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%281869%29

1945:

Dozens of Jews were injured in the Topoľčany pogrom, one of the worst episodes of anti-Jewish violence in postwar Czechoslovakia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topo%C4%BE%C4%8Dany_pogrom

1992:

After his neighbor identified handwriting samples placed on local billboards by police, Oba Chandler was arrested three years after he committed a triple murder in the Tampa Bay area in Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oba_Chandler

2019:

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously ruled that advice given by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Queen Elizabeth II that Parliament should be prorogued was unlawful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_British_prorogation_controversy

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

veld: (chiefly South Africa) The open grassland or pastureland of South Africa and neighbouring countries. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/veld

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

None of us chose this war. Not the Ukrainians, who knew the crushing toll it would take. Not the United States, which warned that it was coming and worked to prevent it. Not the vast majority of countries at the United Nations. And neither did our people, or the people of virtually every UN member-state, who are feeling the war's consequences in greater food insecurity and higher energy prices. Nor did the Russian mothers and fathers whose children are being sent off to fight and die in this war, or the Russian citizens who continue to risk their freedom to protest against it, including those who came out into the streets of Moscow after President Putin announced his mobilization to chant, "Let our children live!" Indeed, it must be asked: How has this aggression against Ukraine by President Putin improved the lives or prospects of a single Russian citizen? One man chose this war. One man can end it. Because if Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.   --Antony Blinken https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antony_Blinken