Wolf Steel is undergoing an immediate expansion of its European facilities and personnel to accommodate record growth and the surging demand and success for Napoleon products.
 
Wolf Steel Group's European operations will be moving into a larger 85,000 sq. ft. distribution center located in Geldermalsen, Netherlands, and at the same time the company will also be moving its Austrian division to a larger facility in Weistrach, Austria.
 
In order to enhance and streamline delivery to its customers, Wolf Steel Austria and Wolf Steel Holland will be combined into Wolf Steel Europe BV.
 
"We are very pleased by the success of our Napoleon brand in the European markets we serve," said Wolfgang Schroeter, CEO of the Wolf Steel Group. "The business expansion plans we are announcing today are in response to the growth and demand from these markets, as well as adding capacity to serve our customers better and launch new products in the coming months for which we believe we are uniquely positioned.
 
"This investment signifies Napoleon's on-going commitment to our European market," said Schroeter.

Scientists have unearthed remains of a 300,000-year-old hearth in Israel, providing the earliest possible evidence of humans sitting around fires and cooking meat. Humans, by most estimates, discovered fire over a million years ago, but exactly when we really began to control fire and use it for our daily needs is still hotly debated.

A team of Israeli scientists discovered the earliest evidence - dating to around 300,000 years ago - of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period in the Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin. These findings hint that those prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structure and intellectual capacity, researchers said.

Dr. Ruth Shahack-Gross from the Weizmann Institute identified a thick deposit of wood ash in the center of the cave. Using infrared spectroscopy, she and her colleagues were able to determine that, mixed in with the ash were bits of bone and soil that had been heated to very high temperatures. This was conclusive proof that the area had been the site of a large hearth.

Shahack-Gross tested the micro-morphology of the ash. To do this, she extracted a cubic chunk of sediment from the hearth and hardened it in the lab. Then she sliced it into extremely thin slices - so thin they could be placed under a microscope to observe the exact composition of the materials in the deposit and reveal how they were formed. She was able to distinguish a great many micro-strata in the ash - evidence for a hearth that was used repeatedly over time, researchers said.

Around the hearth area, as well as inside it, the archaeologists found large numbers of flint tools that were clearly used for cutting meat. In contrast, the flint tools found just a few meters away had a different shape, designed for other activities. Also in and around the area were large numbers of burnt animal bones - further evidence for repeated fire use for cooking meat.

The team has shown that this organization of various "household" activities into different parts of the cave points to an organization of space - and thus a kind of social order - that is typical of modern humans. This suggests that the cave was a sort of base camp that prehistoric humans returned to again and again.

"These findings help us to fix an important turning point in the development of human culture - that in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point - a sort of campfire - for social gatherings," she said.

The findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

From msn.news

A Southern California freeway smelled like a cookout when a big rig carrying 76,000 lbs. of beef ribs caught fire. The San Bernardino Sun reports the rear wheels of the truck ignited Saturday night on Interstate 40 in Ludlow.

San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Al Franco says that by the time firefighters arrived, the truck was unhooked from the trailer, which became engulfed in flames.

He says the fire emanated "a wonderful BBQ beef rib odor."

It also shut down traffic for about two hours.

No one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Residential remodeling will continue a gradual climb back up in 2014 from a dramatic fall during the economic downturn, according to experts at a press conference hosted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelers at the International Builders' Show (IBS) in Las Vegas. Remodelers from around the country agreed with the forecast, citing increased demand from homeowners for upgrades to existing bathrooms and kitchens.

NAHB projects that residential remodeling spending on owner-occupied single-family homes will increase 2.5 percent in 2014 over 2013, and another 1.8 percent in 2015.

"Remodelers are regaining confidence in the market as homeowners continue to upgrade their homes and make repairs or replacements that were deferred during tough times," said 2014 NAHB Remodelers Chairman Paul Sullivan, a remodeler from Boston.

"We are predicting slow and steady growth in remodeling activity throughout 2014 and into 2015," said Paul Emrath, NAHB's vice president for survey and housing policy research. "That outlook is consistent with the indicators of future activity in our recent Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey. It's a positive sign that whole house remodels have rebounded somewhat as home equity levels increased in 2013, though traditional bath and kitchen projects remain the most popular remodels."

Repairs and replacements of old components and the desire for upgraded amenities were cited as the top reasons for customers to hire a remodeler, according to a recent NAHB survey. The survey results describe the changes the remodeling market has undergone in recent years, such as the growth in whole house remodels after a dive in 2010.

Fred DuBois died, at the age of 98, on Jan. 29, 2014. He was a partner with Joseph Forshaw III at Forshaw of St. Louis from 1948 until 1974. He pioneered the sale of factory-built fireplaces to homebuilders in the Midwest, and was a co-founder of the Fireplace Institute, a forerunner of the HPBA.

He was later involved in the distribution of Richard LeDroff fireplaces from France, first through Forshaw and later through the Adams Company. An MIT-trained engineer, Fred was well-known in the industry for his technical expertise, his passion for his product, and a wonderful, droll sense of humor.