Money-Burning Fire at Fed Bank Branch Turns Cash to Ash
- Share via
PORTLAND, Ore. — There was money to burn--literally--in Portland when a fire in a vault at the Federal Reserve Bank branch damaged an undisclosed amount of currency.
Welders working in an upper vault Monday apparently let some hot slag fall through a vent into another vault below, leading to the blaze early Tuesday, fire officials said.
Fire crews had to use a torch to cut their way into the vault, which was sealed by a time lock. The burning money was removed and doused, officials said.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve branch said relatively few $20 bills were singed but declined to give a total amount.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.
California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
