Blaze

There's so much to praise in the blissful Broadway revival of "Follies," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre on the heels of its numerous Tony nominations, but let's pay homage first to the sheer sophistication of the show itself. After experiencing "Follies" again - an adult entertainment if ever there was one - I flat-out refuse to accept any more jukebox substitutes. One doesn't often talk about architecture when writing about musicals, but the most impressive thing about "Follies," beyond Stephen Sondheim's bejeweled score, is the ingenious way it is constructed.

A 6,600-acre Nevada wildfire burning near the California border was caused by people, fire officials announced Wednesday. Though the exact cause of the Topaz Ranch Estates fire is under investigation, it was ignited by humans, said Rita Ayers, Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center's fire information officer. “It was a private residence burning that exceeded the regulatory standards,” Ayers said, suggesting that a bonfire may have been the trigger.

Philadelphia officials said Tuesday that they've opened investigations into the fire at a vacant warehouse that led to the deaths of two firefighters. The investigations are still in the early phase as officials seek to find a cause for the fire, a spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Seth Williams said by telephone Tuesday. The city is also examining other buildings belonging to the developers who owned the warehouse and similar buildings like the one where the fire started about 3:15 a.m. Monday.

That ray of light you see peeking through all the clouds darkening California's future? That's the sun. More specifically, solar power, in which California is the hands-down national leader. The state's installed solar generating capacity of about 1.2 gigawatts - the equivalent of two big conventional power plants and enough to fill the electrical demand from nearly 200,000 homes for a year - easily outstrips the next 10 highest-ranked states. It's also the fastest-growing solar market in the country.

A fast-moving fire broke out Saturday afternoon in the San Bernardino Mountains, scorching more than 1,500 acres, destroying three houses and threatening 400 other structures, authorities said. The blaze began about 2 p.m in the Lytle Creek area east of Mt. Baldy and west of the Cajon Pass. It spread rapidly northward, threatening ranches and truck farms, among other properties, said John Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. More than 500 firefighters from the Forest Service and San Bernardino were deployed in an uphill effort to contain the flames.

An enormous fire tore through a complex of industrial buildings in South Los Angeles early Wednesday, igniting explosions, collapsing walls and leaving two firefighters with minor injuries. The blaze rocked the neighborhood with debris-laden blasts, according to Eric Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. It took more than 200 firefighters several hours to contain the fire. Firefighters were still at the scene when the sun rose Wednesday, Scott said. Six task forces and up to 100 firefighters are expected to remain at the scene throughout the day because one of the structures may contain dangerous metal alloys, including titanium and magnesium.

Police detained eight unlicensed welders Tuesday in connection with Monday's deadly apartment fire in Shanghai that left 53 people dead and at least 70 injured, city officials said. Investigators believe that the welders may have been using their equipment improperly, sparking a blaze that engulfed a 28-story building in the heart of the sprawling Chinese metropolis. About 17 people remain in critical condition, said Shanghai Deputy Mayor Shen Jun. Family members were reportedly scouring local hospitals for any information on missing loved ones, and aiming their frustration at authorities.

A fire melted hundreds of pounds of chocolate at the landmark Van Duyn chocolate factory Saturday.

George Laguerre was supposed to fly to Haiti on Friday. The charismatic owner of Echo Park's popular Tigeorges' Chicken restaurant had plans to visit the beleaguered nation to see his family and deliver aid through a nonprofit group he heads. Instead Laguerre spent the morning cleaning up damage from an electrical fire that tore through the roof of his restaurant Wednesday night. Nobody was injured in the blaze, and the fire did little damage to the inside of the restaurant.

In March, when I wrote that the tax increase proposals by Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger were unimaginative if not doomed, I got an email from Munger. She did not agree, at least with regard to her initiative. "Unimaginative?" she wrote, inviting me to meet with her. This week, I decided to take her up on her offer after watching Brown admit that the financial mess he told us about in January was nothing compared to the mess we're in now. Frankly, I don't know how the January estimates were so far off the mark, with a $9-billion hole turning into a $16-billion hole in less time than it takes to grow tomatoes.

A brush fire burning in the Acton area Tuesday afternoon disrupted Metrolink service and forced the closure of Soledad Canyon Road, officials said. The blaze had burned at least one structure and scorched about 20 acres near the 4700 block of West Crown Valley Road. The blaze has burned at least 40 acres, officials said. Fire crews were battling to protect structures threatened by flames as four helicopters dropped water on the blaze. Metrolink said lines were closed north of the Via Princess station.

Philadelphia officials said Tuesday that they've opened investigations into the fire at a vacant warehouse that led to the deaths of two firefighters. The investigations are still in the early phase as officials seek to find a cause for the fire, a spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Seth Williams said by telephone Tuesday. The city is also examining other buildings belonging to the developers who owned the warehouse and similar buildings like the one where the fire started about 3:15 a.m. Monday.

Federal forester Steve Bear stood on a fire-stripped slope of the San Gabriel Mountains last week, trying to find just one pine sapling, any sapling, pushing through the bright green bedspread of vegetation. It would give him hope after a year of disappointment. Last April, U.S. Forest Service crews planted nearly a million pine and fir trees to try to reclaim land scorched clean by the devastating Station fire. Most of them shriveled up and died within months, as skeptics had predicted.

It has the makings of a trash-film lover's idea of heaven. In this corner, the filmmaking team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, credited as Neveldine/Taylor, purveyors of willful, gleefully disreputable movies like "Crank" and "Crank 2: High Voltage. " They are smart enough to know better and self-consciously shameless enough to go there anyway. And in this corner is Nicolas Cage, who has over time transformed into a performer of such ridiculous earnestness that it is impossible to unravel whether he gets it or not. Cage is the opposite of irony.

Diana Ross has never won a Grammy. Though nominated 12 times for her work with the Supremes and for her solo efforts, the singer behind pop classis such as "Baby Love" and "Upside Down" has never taken home the award. This Saturday, she will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Recording Academy along with Gil Scott-Heron, the Allman Brothers, Glen Campbell, George Jones, Antonio Carlos Jobim and the Memphis Horns, at an invitation-only ceremony the night before the Grammy telecast.

A fire swept through a building in the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, killing 23 people including five children, police said Wednesday.

A blaze at a San Diego continuation school Saturday caused $225,000 damage to the two-story structure and sent a firefighter to the hospital for treatment of burns on his neck. It took nine fire units 30 minutes to put out the 3 p.m. blaze at the school in the 1000 block of 10th Avenue, Capt. Jeff Frazier said. Frazier said the fire, which is under investigation, caused an estimated $125,000 damage to the building and burned up $100,000 of its contents.

A case whose sad twists and turns perplexed authorities for more than two years took a last, tragic turn Sunday when what was left of missing Utah stockbroker Susan Powell's family died in a powerful and apparently murderous fire. Her two young sons had just arrived for a supervised visit with her husband, Josh Powell, when an explosive fire ripped through his home near Graham, Wash., killing him, 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charles. Authorities said Josh Powell, who has been a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance from their Utah home during a snowstorm, is believed to have set the fast-moving blaze.

Meryl and Glenn, together again at last! This year's Oscar race marks the first time in more than two decades that the towering talents of cinema - Streep and Close - have been pitted against one another (Streep for “The Iron Lady,” Close for “Albert Nobbs”) . In the last clash of the contemporary titans, 1989's awards marathon, it was Streep in “A Cry in the Dark” and Close in “Dangerous Liaisons.” (Both went home empty-handed, thanks to “The Accused's” Jodie Foster.)