WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 021110

First up in Wildfire News Of The Day, Kristina Hajjar, Director of Communications for Los Angeles County Fire Department, sent along a press release about an event honoring that department's USAR team, which just returned from rescue operations in Haiti (1); but budget woes have grounded a police helicopter used to spot wildfires in Colorado Springs, Colorado (2). Firefighters in the Texas Panhandle decreased the potential wildfire danger in the wake of a snowstorm (3); while fire authorities in New York State are deciding the fate of fire towers that have largely been abandoned as newer, cheaper methods of spotting fires have become available (4). Forest fire wardens in New Hampshire have directed a local church to clean up logging debris around their property due to the fire hazard it poses (which might prove a bit tricky considering the amount of snow on the ground right now!) (5) The Department of Marine Resources will be setting controlled burns on an island in Mississippi (6); while staff at Pisgah National Forest will be educating residents of North Carolina about the benefits of wildfires to the ecosystem (7); even as a wildfire was reported in the Florida Panhandle (8). A Canadian article explores the implications of an Australian study which posits that commercial logging makes forests more prone to wildfires (9). Residents of the Asian island nation of Singapore were alarmed by the smell of nearby bushfires (10). The inadequacy of the fire break around the Victorian town of Marysville prior to the Black Saturday bushfires was highlighted at the Royal Bushfire Commission hearings (11); and a horticulturalist who resides in the Dandenong Ranges argued that comprehensive vegetation clearance needed to be implemented to avert a catastrophic bushfire (12). Residents of that state are also being warned about lightning strikes that can ignite smoldering vegetation which bursts into bushfires, sometimes weeks after ignition (13); but another unexpected side-effect of the Black Saturday bushfires was manifested in the form of irregular schedules for high-school exit exams, or VCEs, in Victoria (14). New South Wales' Rural Fire Service is facing a stiff court battle over a 2001 bushfire in which lawyers argue that RFS failed to sufficiently warn residents of the danger the blaze posed, a case which could have serious implications for other bushfire-related cases across Australia, like Black Saturday (15); while hundreds of bushfire safe havens have been set aside in that state (16). Work on a nickel mine that was disrupted for a month by a Tasmanian bushfire has resumed (17). And finally, though not technically a wildfire article, our last item touches on an issue of great importance to wildland firefighters: a potential solution to the perennial problem of dead batteries impacting radio communications.

(1) L.A. County Fire Chief Recognizes Urban Search and Rescue Team Deployed to Haiti

(2) At least 1 bid for Colorado Springs helicopter

(3) Snow on the Ground... Wildfire Threat Decreases

(4) DEC Releases Adirondack Fire Tower Study and Management Plans for Hurricane Mountain and Jay Mountain Areas

(5) Church told to clean up property

(6) Island fire set to reduce wildfires

(7) Prescribed Fire Awareness Week at the Pisgah Wildlife Center

(8) Brush fire in Point Washington area

(9) Logging makes forests more flammable: study

(10) Burning smell likely due to bush fires in parts of S'pore: NEA

(11) Fire break protecting Marysville was too small to save town, Teague royal commission sees

(12) Dandenongs bushfire hazard plea

(13) Vic warning on 'sleeper' bushfire danger

(14) Marked increase in VCE 'specials'

(15) Fire service knew of threat, residents say

(16) 600 fire safe havens identified in NSW

(17) Nickel drilling resumes after bushfire

(18) Battery-Less Radios Developed