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Most individuals are not familiar with what a certified erosion, sediment, or storm water inspector is. When natural landscape is converted to accommodate houses, subdivisions, shopping centers, and roads in rural areas, or development and redevelopment within cities and towns, these land use conversions or collectively referred to as urbanization.

Three Live Oak women and a dog were displaced from their house on the 300 block of Seventh Avenue after a Tuesday night fire destroyed part of a garage and damaged the rest of the home with smoke. Shortly before 10 p.m., one of the residents at the home walked into the garage and found it full of smoke and on fire, said Mike DeMars, fire inspector for Central Fire. A housemate walked in after smelling smoke and found the first woman standing frozen in the smoke-filled room, DeMars said. "(The first woman) was a bit overwhelmed," DeMars said. After calling 911, the two women told a third housemate to leave the house. Central Fire and Santa Cruz Fire arrived on scene to extinguish the fire, which was in one corner of the garage and spreading to the ceiling, DeMars said. Firefighters extinguished the flames within 10 minutes. The garage, which was attached to the two-story home, had been converted to a living space where one of the women lived, DeMars said. Investigators said the fire was accidental and traced the cause to combustible materials, including a bookcase, that were placed too close to a water heater in the garage, DeMars said. The woman who first discovered the fire may have suffered smoke inhalation but declined treatment, DeMars said. There were no other reported injuries. The home was declared uninhabitable, with fire damage to the garage and smoke damage to the rest of the two-story home. The women and dog were relocated with the help of the American Red Cross Santa Cruz County. DeMars noted that the home did not appear to have any smoke detectors, which could have notified the residents of the fire. Content provided by http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/copsandcourts/ci_25625610/cops-and-courts-april-24-2014-three-women Don't let this happen to you.  Make sure you have working smoke detectors in centralized locations throughout the house.  Contact Scurich Insurance Services today to make sure that you are completely covered in the event of a fire.

From http://www.propertycasualty360.com Halloween is known for tricks, terror and treats. However, hapless party hosts, pumpkin patch proprietors and corn maze meanderers have haunted courts. Read on about 5 claims lawsuits that would send a shiver down the spine of any agent or broker. Haunted Houses The Haunted House Assn. estimates that more than 2,000 haunted attractions operate each year. This seasonal industry leaves a lot of room for disgruntled customers, so owners beware: Insure your attractions properly, or you’re in for a scare. In the case of Deborah Mays v. Gretna Athletic Boosters Inc., defendants operating a haunted house at the Mel Ott Playground in Gretna, La., were taken to court by the plaintiff, Mays, who became frightened when an employee jumped out at her. Mays ran into a cinderblock wall covered with black fabric and needed two surgeries to repair her broken nose. The court found the defendant had “no duty to protect Mays from her reacting in ‘bizarre, frightened and unpredictable ways'” because that is the natural and expected reaction to haunted houses. Duty of care owed to haunted house patrons is different because courts recognize they are intended to scare people and accomplish that end by producing an environment with limited lighting and scary surprises. What do you think of this ruling?

We need trees to exist for many reasons. They keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. They can also lower the temperature by evaporating water that is in their leaves, this can cause it to rain.

...but it doesn’t come without some liability risks. Be safe on Halloween and tak...

From http://beforeitsnews.com “Here are a few pointers to avoid a slip-and-fall lawsuit this Halloween: Keep your driveway clear. If kids will be walking up your driveway, you might want to move that car. This is even more important if your driveway is inclined. And if the recent hurricane drops snow and ice on your driveway, you’ll want to take care to salt up the driveway to avoid a slippery personal injury disaster. Clear your lawn of hidden obstructions. Check out your lawn in the dark the night before trick-or-treaters show up. Take a walk across your yard and see if you come across any items that could cause someone to trip and fall. The last thing you want is a trick-or-treater falling on a hidden object on your lawn. Keep the lights on. It may be tempting to keep your property dark, to lend mood to your decorations. Or, alternatively, if you decide not to give out candy, you might decide to keep the lights off altogether. Rather than keeping your porch lights off, think about just turning off most of the lights inside your house to deter trick-or-treaters. The danger is that if your lawn is pitch black and there is an obstruction on your lawn, trick-or-treaters could injure themselves, and you could potentially be held liable.”

Restaurants are one of the top industries for work place accidents. If you work with restaurant owners then you have probably heard some of the horror stories about some of the accidents that can happen.

Marti Gras, Sci-Fi conventions, and ballet. All things you can enjoy in Dallas this weekend!