WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 022010

As Wildfire News Of The Day gets underway, Southern California officials are refusing to help prepare some homes in La Canada for additional debris flows coming out of the Station Fire burn areas because of a jurisdictional problem (1); even as a USGS camera at nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory is keeping an eye on the Arroyo Seco to identify debris flows (2). Restoration work on forest land in Ashland by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is highlighted in the next article (3); while a proposal to the Association of Oregon Counties which argues for increased thinning of forests in that state may also be presented to the National Association of Counties (4). A Colorado firm was awarded $1.7 million in Stimulus funds to help with wildfire projects (5); and young Texans got a taste of wildland firefighting, as the slideshow associated with the next article demonstrates (6). New Jersey's Pinelands Commission has approved a firebreak as a result of wildfires that forced evacuations in 2007 (7); and although wildfires sparked by debris burning are still a problem in North Carolina, at least one county is reporting less wildfires than in the past (8); but firefighters battled a blaze north of Tampa, Florida (9). On the technology front, a software engineer who is also a former Vietnam-era vet and pilot has unveiled a new program that could help air-tanker pilots navigate through hazardous terrain even though smoke obscures their view, and it's a bargain at only $250! (10) Rangers in Vietnam are bracing for more wildfires as conditions continue to be hot and dry there (11). A recommendation that bushfire bunkers become mandatory in high-risk areas has been presented to Australia's Royal Bushfire Commission (12); something that could become important, as an article sent along by Colin Stewart of Thermo-Gel underscores the danger to 38,000 people living in Victoria communities which are facing the same devastation from bushfires suffered by towns destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires (13). And finally, for those looking for something meaningful to do with their lives, consider serving on something patriotic, like one Colorado county's Red, White, and Blue Fire District Board!

(1) On two La Cañada Flintridge blocks, residents face mud threat on their own

(2) Rain, Rain, Go Online

(3) Lessons from the land

(4) Laurance promotes plan to reduce forest fire danger

(5) Foresters land stimulus funding

(6) Learning to fight fire with fire

(7) Fire-break planned along Barnegat-Waretown line

(8) Wildfire activity decreases

(9) Brush fire reported in Brooksville

(10) 'Synthetic Vision'

(11) Reward sought by forest rangers: a green forest

(12) Compulsory bunkers 'could save many lives'

(13) Line of fire: the towns at greatest risk

(14) Four seats open on RWB Fire District Board