Born and raised in Edo, the son of a low-ranking member of the elite samurai class who served the shogun as a fire-protection official, Hiroshige began to study printmaking as a teenager after the death of his father.
At a hearing last week in the city's ornate Council chambers — its marble and brass a reminder of a more opulent age — neighbors expressed anxiety at the thought of losing fire protection, as union officials told of a young man having a heart attack who had been saved by one of the companies scheduled to close that morning.
Throughout the Kenai, people are clearing some of the 38 million dead trees, answering the call from officials to create a "defensible space" around houses for fire protection.
When Jackie Martin, 57, and her husband, Steve, 61, moved to Cody, Wyo., from Indianapolis in 2008, Cody officials told them straight away, "Don't ever expect fire protection," Mrs. Martin said.
Officials from Cal Fire, the state department of forestry and fire protection, have been assessing the damage and searching for human remains.
Utilities and community development officials then persuaded the city government to expand sewer and fire protection to the site and relocate a section of road to create five acres of developable land adjacent to the factory.
In addition, there are many new areas demanding fire protection.
Adding polypropylene fibers can give it extra fire protection.
"In Washington State, where we have a presence, we get police protection, we get fire protection.
Using energy mitigation money to support volunteer programs for policing and preventing vandalism, Forest Service officials said, could help extend the agency's budgets, which are being sapped by rising costs in other areas, especially fire protection.
Rome had, moreover, neither police nor fire protection.
