A fire in a sixth-floor room at the DoubleTree Hotel near Reid Park on Thursday was put out by an automatic sprinkler system, officials said.

Tucson Fire Department firefighters were dispatched shortly after 4 p.m. to the hotel at 445 S. Alvernon Way and found a fire in a room on the upper-level floor, said Capt. Barrett Baker, a department spokesman.

When firefighters made entry into the room, they confirmed the blaze was out, Baker said. Crews turned the sprinkler system off and put large fans in the room to push the smoke out, he said.

No injuries were reported. Baker said he did not know if anyone was in the room at the time the fire broke out.

For precautionary measures, about 200 people were evacuated from the hotel.

The cause of the fire and a damage estimate were not known.

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Fire in Tucson DoubleTree room forces evacuations

The province intends to implement changes to the BC Building Code that will minimize the citys ability to protect people in the event of a fire, says one councillor.

Thats because the B.C. government has served notice it is working towards a uniform building code that will eliminate municipalities authority to write its own standards.

Coun. Claire Moglove said at last weeks Tuesday council meeting that it will threaten the citys sprinkler regulations which require residential buildings with more than two units and commercial buildings to be outfitted with an indoor fire suppression system.

This purports to take away the right of local governments to have a building code, or aspects of their building code, which are greater than what will be in the provincial building code, Moglove said.

This has specific ramifications for our sprinkler bylaw.

There are 30 other local governments across B.C. that also have local fire sprinkler requirements, including the City of Pitt Meadows whose mayor wrote a letter that was before Campbell River council last week.

Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters wrote that her city has seen positive results with sprinkler requirements that have enhanced public safety, reduced fire service costs, and dramatically reduced fire losses, both human and structural.

Removal of the ability of local governments with such bylaw or policy provisions to continue to ensure such efficient and effective service is unacceptable without an alternative solution that, at minimum, provides them with equal or better results to those obtained by the current system, Walters wrote.

The Fire Chiefs Association of BC says international research evidence shows that use of a fire sprinkler system provides dramatic reduction in loss of life and injuries, according to Don Jolley, first vice-president of the association.

Installation costs are well within the affordable range for builders and home-owners alike and the added life safety cannot be overstated, Jolley wrote.

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Citys fire protection law being threated by province

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For the blind players in "Algorithms," chess is not just a mental game but a tactile one.

Sociologist Ian McDonald's first feature-length documentary profiles three Indian teen boys competing in blind chess tournaments and the mentor who's determined to produce a world champ. Shooting in handsome black-and-white, the filmmaker zeros in as the contenders' fingers read the specially designed board and pieces, and he captures on their intent faces the significance of each move.

McDonald's up-close filmmaking tracks the boys at regional and international meets over three years. The repetition of chess lingo can be mind-numbing, until it becomes a kind of poetry, an incantation: strategy as credo in a subculture that's both strange and familiar.

He visits the players in their homes. One mother, a seemingly overbearing stage parent when first glimpsed in the heat of competition, comes into sympathetic focus as her husband describes the horrendous childhood illness that took their son's sight. Another boy, whose visual impairment is partial, is determined not to be treated differently from the sighted.

As with many stories about children involved in a competitive activity, "Algorithms" is partly a portrait of grown-up hopes channeled through kids. (But where are the girls?) The adult at the center of the film, Charudatta Jadhav, became a chess whiz after losing his vision as a teenager. He'd make a compelling documentary subject by himself. As advisor to the up-and-comers, he's quietly philosophical. His pep talks and his disappointments are never sugarcoated, and they're all the more affecting for it.

"Algorithms."

No MPAA rating.

In English, Hindi, Tamil and Odiya with English subtitles.

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5, Encino.

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'Algorithms' sheds light on blind teen chess players

A video of Nina Pham, the first person known to contract Ebola in the United States, shows the Dallas nurse in good, if emotional, spirits.

"Don't cry! Don't cry!" a healthcare worker in the room says as Pham, sitting up in her hospital bed and wearing a green surgical smock, appears to be tearing up but still smiling.

Pham, 26, was part of the healthcare team in Dallas treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed on U.S. soil. Pham became ill late last week and was diagnosed over the weekend.

The video was recorded shortly before Pham began her transfer for treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. "Come to Maryland, everybody," she says cheerfully.

In the last few seconds of the video, shot in her isolated room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Pham is seen wiping away tears.

"I love you guys," she tells the heavily protected staff in the room with her.

The video was shot by Dr. Gary Weinstein, who thanked her for getting well.

"Thanks for being part of the volunteer team to take care of our first patient," Weinstein tells Pham, referring to Duncan. "It means a lot. This has been a huge effort by all of you guys."

Amber Vinson, a second nurse diagnosed with Ebola at the Dallas hospital, was flown to Atlanta and is now hospitalized at Emory.

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Nina Pham, Ebola-infected nurse, sheds happy tears in video

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Murtaugh, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KSVT-TV ) The Murtaugh school district is making room for the future, which involves demolitions and new construction.

To make room for a new elementary school addition to the middle and high schools, the old agriculture shop had to come down.

The new shop will be home to all AG Science and mechanical classes.

"Here in Murtaugh we do a combination of mechanics and science, so currently I teach animal science, plant science and introduction to agriculture. And on the other end, mechanics, we have small engines, beginning welding, advanced welding and agriculture fabrication, said Tyler Johnson, the schools AG Science teacher.

When entering high school, Murtaugh students can choose one of two directions.

"The students have the option to take the business track or AG track, we're probably split down the middle. The introduction to livestock and introduction to plant science are those introductory classes where they find out if that is their passion, or that is something they want to do for a career, so it gives them the opportunity to try all sorts of things out, said Johnson.

The old AG shop was built in the early 1940's and served its purpose.

"Served a lot of people and its done well for us and you always hate to see old buildings go, but it's nice to have new buildings come up and facilitate even more, Said Rod Jones, the schools IT director.

The new AG building is larger than the old one and has room to grow so the school may offer more classes in the future.

"All the science stuff will happen inside the actual classroom. The best part about this is hopefully we will have a greenhouse in a couple of months. Next semester we will change a little bit, we'll have landscape management and we'll have introduction to greenhouse, said Johnson.

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Murtaugh High School AG Shop Nearly Complete

Almost overnight, it seems, developers are stepping forward with bold proposals for big, new office projects in or near Downtown.

Alco Parking President Merrill Stabile announced a plan Oct. 8 to build two 11-story office towers and a 1,227-space parking garage in a lot he owns behind PNC Park.

The next day, Raleigh, N.C.-based Highwoods Properties unveiled a proposal to erect a six-story glass office building on the Monongahela riverfront at SouthSide Works as part of a four-building deal with the Soffer Organization.

And in August, Oxford Development Co. pitched a plan for its Smithfield Street property a 20-story office high-rise that its billing as the most efficient in the city.

Why the flurry of proposals?

Its all about the office market in and near Downtown, local real estate experts say. Its very tight, with top-of-the-line Class A office space tough to find. Developers are hoping to capitalize on the shortage.

Probably whats driving it is the strength of the market. I would think developers would want to take advantage of that if theyre in control of viable sites, said Jon Harrigan, CEO of Pennsylvania Commercial Real Estate Inc., Downtown.

It doesnt hurt to test the waters, he added.

If I were in their situation, I would be doing the same thing. You want to make sure your oar is in the water in case theres an anchor tenant searching for a new home, he said.

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Office building developers busy in Pittsburgh

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In just two years, Clean Water Services turned a two-acre asphalt parking lot into a lush wetland that doubles as a wastewater-treatment facility.

The magical marsh was on display last Saturday, when about 100 people attended the annual Birds & Brew festival at Fernhill Wetlands on Forest Groves southern edge.

We had huge, huge tours, said Sheri Wantland, public involvement coordinator for CWS. Lots of young kids, teenagers.

But the two-acre Lower Treatment Wetlands is just the first act, a model for what CWS officials hope to do with the more highly visible South Wetlands 90 acres that were once home to three sewage lagoons, thousands of birds and hundreds of bird-watchers every year. That all stopped last May, when CWS drained the lagoons and began reshaping them.

The earth-moving finished last Friday, just ahead of this weeks rains, which are the first step toward refilling the now heavily contoured basin. Workers will install heavy pipes and other hydraulic structures over the next few weeks.

By the time the rainy season ends next summer, the new, improved wetland should be full of water again.

According to Wantland, the redesign aims to meet the wastewater-treatment needs of Forest Grove and Cornelius as the cities continue to expand. With the help of a few other cutting edge purification projects, the wetland will keep treatment costs down while also drawing more wildlife.

As the water-resources management utility for the Tualatin River watershed, Clean Water Services not only treats wastewater and manages flood-protection projects, but also maintains healthy rivers and streams for both people and wildlife. Habitat improvement is part of its mission.

Still, the success of the two-acre Lower Treatment Wetlands surprised even the people who created it.

It was pretty exciting to see so many species come into an area that used to be a parking lot. Pretty impressive, said Jared Kinnear, the recycled-water program manager who helped engineer the transformation.

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Projects create 'marsh magic' at Fernhill Wetlands