The police chief in Santa Maria, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said that the fire was caused by cheap fireworks meant for outdoor use.

BBC: Brazil Santa Maria nightclub fire death toll rises to 240

The chief investigator in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria has said that cheap fireworks meant for outdoor use caused a deadly nightclub fire.

BBC: Brazil fire caused by cheap fireworks, say police

Stock market crashes provide short-term opportunities to buy cheap, but too few investors have the temperament to jump in during a fire sale.

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More seriously, although thinning can sometimes help to limit a fire by removing some of the fuel the fire wants, it is not a process that is neat, cheap or necessarily effective.

ECONOMIST: The fires return

Bangladesh has gotten off the economic mat in recent years with a big push into cheap apparel, a mixed blessing whose downside was horribly brought home in November when a Dhaka garment factory caught fire with 112 workers trapped to die inside.

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We step into that great continuum of mankind that has triumphed over grease flare-ups, cheap margarita mix and wives who wouldn't believe that the grill would clean itself if you just left the fire alone. l Now, 120, 000 years along in our evolution, we have arrived at a time--summer, 2007--when a person can bake the pizza of his dreams, the pizza he damn well deserves, right in his own backyard.

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