WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 062509

Two articles from the North County Times lead off our wildfire stories today: a judge in San Diego County, California may decide not to let class-action lawsuits be filed against SDG&E over losses residents sustained from wildfires caused by sparking power lines; while an aerial firefighting exercise elsewhere in that county attracted the attention of residents yesterday. California's budget shortfalls have some firefighters worried that state firefighting resources may thin out, causing 54% of fire departments in the state to intensify their fund-raising efforts; and a wildfire in Kern County, California, burned about 150 acres yesterday. A number of small wildfires kept firefighters busy near Cave Junction, Oregon, yesterday; but the Bureau of Land Management is conducting controlled burns in Utah to prepare for the fire season. Firefighters in Alabama had a 2,500 acre blaze to deal with. A review of the cost of wildfires in British Columbia, from both an environmental and a financial standpoint, is presented in the next article. Still awaiting the monsoon rains, tinder-dry forests in Kashmir, India, are once again on fire. Fearing lawsuits, many Australian communities in bushfire country don't maintain bushfire refuges for their citizens. And finally, Kansas firefighters received a most unusual emergency rescue call!

REGION: Judge may nix class-action status for fire victims

FALLBROOK: Firefighters conduct helicopter training run near Pala

Firefighters Worry about Impact of State Budget Crisis

Cameron Canyon brush fire burns mobile home and an out building

Crews contain wildfires near Cave Junction

BLM using prescribed burns to prevent wildfires

Alabama Forestry Commission investigating south Mobile County fire

Trees, dollars burning up in forest blazes

Fire destroys large forest cover in Kashmir

Councils fear being sued over bushfire refuges

Firefighters rescue iguana from tree