WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030310

The Wildlands Residents Association will be conducting a fundraiser in San Marcos, California, for the local volunteer fire department that will feature some stunning photographs by a local mountaineer who visited Pakistan (1); while a professor at California's Humboldt State University educates students on the finer points of wildfires at one of only three university fire labs in the US (2). The next article discusses a study from Oregon State University (mentioned in Wildfire NOTD some weeks ago) that contradicted some common assumptions about the impact of Global Warming on wildfires and vice-versa (3). The Arizona Wildfire & Incident Management Academy will be conducting courses in various aspects of wildland firefighting later this month (4); but they could get some live-fire experience right now over at Fort Carson, Colorado! (5) Controlled burns will be conducted in Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest over the next few days (6); while firefighters in Illinois are taking a high-tech approach to training by using new fire simulation software they purchased with Assistance to Firefighter Grant money (7). The West Virginia Division of Forestry is reminding residents that, although they've had substantial snowfall, the fire season is now in effect until May 31st (8); and since about 3 million acres burned across Alaska last year, it proved to be a windfall financially for firefighters compared to 2008 (9). The Caribbean island of St. Lucia is reporting an increase in bushfires, as other islands in that region have also done (10); and firefighters in Costa Rica are making preparations for a new fire season along their Pacific Coast (11). A conference on dealing with wildfires in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor is underway in Antalya, Turkey (12). The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources has reported another wildfire, this time in the province of Iloilo (13); while firefighters on the island of Borneo are warning residents of the fire danger as dry weather persists (14). Although the flames have abated in the massive bushfire that burned on New Zealand's Otago Peninsula, firefighters are still racing against time to extinguish remaining hot spots (15). The DC-10 put on a show over Victoria's Enfield State Forest where it bombed controlled burns as part of the evaluation program for its suitability fighting bushfires in Australia (16); but more personal testimony before the Royal Bushfire Commission sketched the terror residents faced as the bushfires approached on Black Saturday, as related by the next two stories (17)(18). Firefighters in Western Australia protected a dozen homes in danger from a bushfire (19); while a bushfire that scorched about 15,000 acres has finally been contained (20); but farmers who were hard hit by bushfires that burned across their land last year are protesting a proposed effort to cut aid payments by the government (21). Our next article provides a pilot's-eye view from a FESA Helitac helicopter battling a blaze in Western Australia (22). And finally, a story from Detroit, Michigan, that adds another 'Watch Out' to the things to be aware of when parking apparatus: locomotives!

(1) Mountaineer to showcase adventures to raise firefighting funds

(2) Burn Notice

(3) Understanding Pyrodiversity

(4) Wildfire Academy classes are filling up

(5) Fort Carson Wildfire

(6) Prescribed burns begin today in Mark Twain forest

(7) Wheeling firefighters to get virtual training equipment

(8) Forest fires

(9) Busy season equals big payout for Interior Alaska firefighters

(10) Bush fires increase!

(11) Firemen Prepare For 2010 Forest Fire Season In Guanacaste

(12) OSCE co-hosts Antalya seminar on preventing wildfires

(13) Wildfire affects hectares of land in Iloilo

(14) Firemen on alert in view of dry weather

(15) Fire still poses significant threat

(16) Air tanker trialed on prescribed burns

(17) Victim described Kinglake 'holocaust', bushfires Royal Commission told

(18) Fire survivor tells of nine people's fatal decision to stay and fight

(19) Bushfire threatens Nambeelup homes, east of Mandurah

(20) Yandi Station bushfire contained

(21) Farmer on the brink as drought aid cut

(22) Fighting Busselton's bushfire from above

(23) Firefighter slammed for parking rig on train track