WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 082808

In the news today, the Slide Fire outside of Elko, NV, is about 10% contained, while police have gotten confessions on the Malibu Creek State Park brushfire. A wildfire north of Sacramento is about 70% contained, and fires in the Klamath National Forest are in the final stages of containment. Improving weather allowed firefighters to aggressively attack a central Montana brushfire, but several homes were still being threatened, as the following two stories illustrate. Even Pennsylvania is having small brushfire problems, while lightning ignited some more fires near Moab, Utah. The following story gives an update on wildfires in the Colorado area, where another SEAT crashed fighting a fire. Rich Brooks pens another interesting article about the USFS cutbacks on forestry projects due to, you guessed it, wildfire suppression costs. On the international scene, the World Wildlife Fund advocates increasing the size of cork forests in Portugal to halt desertification of the area (something that could probably help other Mediterranean locales facing the same problem, like Spain's Costa del Sol). Finally, just to show that money speaks louder than common sense, a story out of Indonesia on the rapidly disappearing tropical forests there. Orangutans beware!

UPDATE: East Slide Rock Ridge Fire

Police: 2 Teens Admit To Starting Calabasas Brushfire

Wildfire in far Northern Calif. causes evacuations

Fires near containment; under new management

Crews step up attack on 61K acre Montana wildfire

Nine ranch houses threatened by Montana wildfire

Brush fire chars part of Hawk Mountain

Lightning ignites wildfire near Moab

Pilot injured in single engine air tanker crash

Inland national forests halt projects to offset big bills from fighting wildfires

World Wildlife Fund encourages expansion of cork forests

Palm oil producers in Indonesia reject moratorium on forest destruction