Firebomber Publications Blog

Wildfire News Of The Day (the Firebomber Publications blog) provides comprehensive international wildfire news. Subscribers include over 10,000 personnel from fire agencies, contractors, and government entities on five continents. "BEST NEWSLETTER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY 32 YEARS IN THE FIRE SERVICE" - San Diego Fire Department Chief Brian Fennessy.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 022809

The prospect of four east San Diego County communities combining their fire services is discussed in our first article in News Of The Day; followed by another from that region in which a Warner Springs development is being delayed due to changing fire codes brought on by the 2003 and 2007 wildfires in San Diego County. As if California didn't have enough problems already, the governor has declared that the state is in a severe drought; but the battle on Capitol Hill over whether to relocate USFS under Department of the Interior is heating up again. Recruiters for seasonal firefighters in Montana are waiting to see how the scarcity of competing jobs affects their hiring this year; while Oklahoma firefighters managed to stop a wildfire short of a home it threatened on Friday. Texas was in the news quite a bit today, as the next five articles show: a trio of bulldozer teams helped firefighters to increase containment of a stubborn wildfire there; Texas Forest Service was forced to evacuate several dozen homes as a fire flared up in Bastrop State Park; later in the day, the Bastrop Fire destroyed ten homes; but a pair of Columbia's Vertol heli-tankers is making its presence felt on the Texas firelines; while USFS is preparing a series of prescribed burns in East Texas, as told by the last article in the group. A small wildfire was quickly extinguished near a Colorado mall. Canadian fire authorities are concerned about 50 wildfires deliberately set near Nanaimo, British Columbia. Indian firefighters were thankful that wildfires didn't devastate a picturesque valley near Imphal; but the next article from India underscores the human factor in forest fires there. Authorities in northern Thailand are concerned about smoke from fires causing respiratory problems for citizens there; while Vietnamese fire authorities are fed up with wildfires sparked by sky lanterns (a small hot-air balloon with a candle inside). The weather is finally giving bushfire-ravaged Victoria a break; but Australian insurance companies are lobbying the government to require mandatory bushfire insurance. Mental health professionals are pleading for volunteers to handle all the distraught callers contacting them since the bushfires began, which is probably not helped any by the statement by the brigadier in charge of search efforts that nearly 40 people are still unaccounted for. But at least amid all the doom and gloom, the Victorian government is offering grants of up to $5,000 to replace tools lost by tradesmen in bushfires.

Officials discuss sharing cities' fire services

County, landowners clash over road access

Drought emergency declared in California

Attempt to move Forest Service across town could spark turf war

Economy may help fill firefighter ranks

Shawnee wildfire blackens 160 acres

UPDATE: Mulberry Canyon Fire 50% Contained

Bastrop Fire 300 Acres and Spreading

Wildfire destroys 10 homes in central Texas

Helicopters can bear much of the load fighting fires

U.S. Forest Service to conduct controlled burns for forest health

Wind-Fueled Wildfire Contained in Pueblo

Firebug setting bush fires

Dzuko valley escapes wild fire disaster

Roots of forest fires run deep

Particles from outdoor fires pose health hazard in North

Forest fires prompt call for ban on open flaming sky lanterns

Bushfire Threat in Australia’s Victoria Eases on Cooler Weather

Compulsory bushfire insurance

Help lines stretched as bushfire trauma takes its toll

At least 37 still missing in Australia fires: army

Tools for Tradies group helps bushfire victims

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