WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 100210

The importance of 'firescaping' to protect homes is discussed by a Southern California expert based in San Diego County (1); but the Sheriff of Beaver County, Utah, is crying foul over what he perceives as the US Forest Service playing politics with the Twitchell Fire (2). Local firefighters were joined by those from nearby Mountain Home Air Force Base when a wildfire sparked by target shooting broke out in Idaho (3); while firefighters in South Dakota's Black Hills National Forest plan to conduct 1,300 acres of controlled burns this month (4). As dozens of counties in Kentucky suffer through a drought, the fall wildfire season has begun (5); and a wildfire that was reported in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, yesterday has now burned 200 acres, as many counties in that state continue to be under a fire weather watch (6). Although several inches of rain fell on a forest fire burning in Virginia's George Washington National Forest, the fire's not out yet (7); even as Washington, DC-based Congressional Fire Services Institute announced National Fire Prevention Week's advent on 10/3 (8). With a nod towards climate change, British Columbia, Canada, is revising its Wildfire Management Strategy to accommodate mega-fires of the future without bankrupting its firefighting budget (9); but now that an Australian power utility is being sued for contributing to the Black Saturday bushfires, the power company, in turn, has decided to sue three government agencies in Victoria responsible for handling bushfire emergencies! (10) Firefighters from New South Wales' Rural Fire Service have issued warnings to residents of that state about the bushfire danger as the season begins (11). And finally, firefighters in Denver had more to battle than just flames in a house: an infestation of bedbugs!

(1) Can landscaping protect my home from wildfire?

(2) Sheriff says politics are putting homes & lives in danger of fire

(3) Target practice linked to wildfire

(4) Prescribed Burns Planned In National Forest

(5) Drought expands; fire season begins

(6) Wildfire burns 200 acres in Oktibbeha County; Fire Weather Watch/Warning continues

(7) Fire Still Burning in the GW Forest

(8) Fire Prevention Week Starts October 3rd

(9) Climate change forces B.C. to update wildfire strategy

(10) State blamed for bushfires

(11) Fuelling concerns: Firies warn region to be prepared

(12) Denver firefighters battle flames, fleeing bedbugs