WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030610

San Diego Gas & Electric held a symposium to discuss alternatives to shutting off power to backcountry settlements during Red Flag days, in our first wildfire story today (1); while San Bernardino County has kicked off its 2010 Fire Hazard Abatement Program in an effort to prepare for wildfire season (2). In Central California, CAL FIRE's Amador-El Dorado Chief Bill Holmes is warning county supervisors about the danger debris from winter storms poses in the form of ladder fuels (3); and the $6.5 million Ashland Forest Resiliency Project is set to be signed in Oregon within the next few days (4). A new report from the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy in Oregon charts the convoluted relationship of man, beetles, and forests in the western US (the report can be seen here) (5). A number of firefighter staging areas (known in the business as Designated Dispatch Stations) will be setup by a private firm in Washington state for US Forest Service when fire season begins in the Northwest (6); while a particularly nasty battle is being waged in Minnesota between firefighters and the governor over money he wants to take from the firefighter training budget to help balance the state budget (7). Firefighters in Southern Illinois have advised homeowners to call the fire department before burning debris due to a rash of wildfires in the area that were sparked accidentally (8); and parts of Alabama are once again under a Red Flag warning as cold, dry air floods into the area (9). South Carolina's fire departments will be receiving over $1 million in Stimulus Funds (10); which may be put to use sooner than expected, as the Forestry Commission reported a pair of controlled burns and an out-of-control debris fire (11). The Department of the Interior announced yesterday that a sage grouse whose habitat has been severely impacted by wildfires will not be listed as an endangered species after all (12). As the wildfire situation worsens in Vietnam (19 provinces are at the highest fire danger level), the Prime Minister has directed various government agencies to formulate a coordinated plan of attack on the problem (13). Australia's Royal Bushfire Commission has been informed that the best way to avoid powerlines sparking bushfires is by putting them underground (14); but as bushfire relief efforts continue to wind down in Victoria, another fire aid centre is closing (15). Officials are becoming frustrated over the twists and turns of the Toodyay bushfire investigation in Western Australia (16). Just as the military has elite special forces groups, Queensland also has an EMS equivalent, one of which, the Mackay Whitsunday Special Response Team, is profiled in the next article (17). And finally, firefighters in Texas got what was probably the strangest 911 call they ever received from a homeowner whose house was filling with smoke due to a duck stuck in the chimney!

(1) SDG&E told how it can prevent sparking fires

(2) Fire hazard abatement season begins

(3) Property owners urged to prepare early for wildfire season by clearing property

(4) Ashland forest thinning project could be signed next week

(5) Bark beetle debate adds fuel to the wildfire

(6) Firefighting staging areas named for NCW

(7) Firefighters around the state trying to stop siphoning of training money to budget problems

(8) Crews Try to Keep Fires Under Control

(9) Metro Birmingham forecast: Mild and sunny weekend

(10) Stimulus funds transportation, firefighting

(11) Fires fuel smoke through Pee Dee

(12) Interior: Grouse listing warranted but precluded

(13) PM calls for action against forest fires

(14) Experts have told the bushfires royal commission that powerlines should go underground to stop fires

(15) Pheasant Creek fire aid centre to close

(16) Toodyay bushfire report controversy

(17) Special squad always ready to roll

(18) Firefighters free duck stuck in Santa Fe chimney