WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 120810

Two organizations are coming together to help replant Southern California's Los Padres National Forest, which was ravaged by massive wildfires for several consecutive years (1); while Glenn County Resource Conservation District is conducting meetings to discuss wildfire protection in their area (2). A homeless man has been accused of starting a wildfire that did millions of dollars in damage to homes in Ashland, Oregon (3); and the Deschutes Land Trust has found a nifty way to observe the Christmas spirit and reduce the wildfire threat in their part of Oregon at the same time! (4) Wildfire News of the Day subscriber Dean Lueck, Co-Director, Program on Economics, Law, and the Environment at the University of Arizona, sent along a link to information about their wildfire symposium, which touched on several different areas that wildfires impact (5). With a La Nina effect increasing the wildfire danger, residents of Lubbock, Texas, are keeping an eye out for any blazes (6); while a 65-acre wildfire burning in Alabama's Talladega National Forest is now 60% contained (7). Flagler County, Florida, has received Red Flag warnings from the National Weather Service due to dry, breezy conditions in their area (8); however, as the 2010 fire season comes to a close across the US, the next article looks at how it may go down in history as the least active for over a decade (9). Residents of an Israeli village hard-hit by Israel's massive wildfire are not happy with government officials (10); prompting the Israeli Air Force to accelerate plans to equip a special firefighting squadron (11); but some in the Jewish community living overseas are asking why they should foot the bill (through donations) for something as essential as an Israeli wildland firefighting force (12); even as one official points out that attempts have been made to establish a national firefighting force in the past (13). Some striking photos of aircraft in action over the Israeli wildfires are provided in the next article (14); and members of the US House of Representatives mourned the losses Israel suffered, while praising the assistance other nations provided to fight the wildfires (15). The Palestinian Authority, which sent a firefighting contingent to battle Israel's wildfires, agrees that a regional wildland firefighting force needs to be established (16); while two Turkish CL-215 firefighting aircraft that had battled Israel's blazes were able to head straight home when the Lebanese managed to get a 4-km blaze north of Beirut under control themselves (17); and a contingent of nearly 100 Bulgarian firefighters has returned home from battling blazes in Israel (18). The bushfire threat to three regions in Ghana, Africa, was touched upon by an Environmental Protection Agency representative (19). Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group is asking for a share of the projected $5 million the state government intends to spend on helping communities in Victoria, Australia, prepare for bushfires (20); while the next article takes a look at a Canadian air-tanker pilot's reflections on firefighting in Western Australia (21). And finally, an inventive Orange County Fire Authority firefighter has come up with something that has everybody laughing!

(1) Press Releases: Rebuilding: Wildfire Stricken Los Padres Conifer Forest Gets Another 1,000 Trees to Continue Their Restoration Efforts

(2) Meetings Tuesday on wildfire plan

(3) Homeless man on trial for massive Oregon wildfire

(4) Christmas Spirit Helps Keep A Forest Healthy

(5) Wildfire: Economics, Law & Policy

(6) Beware of wildfires this time of year

(7) Crews battle fire in Talladega forest, 6 miles of Pinhoti Trail closed

(8) Cold blast raises wildfire danger

(9) Wildfire season on track to be quietest since 1998

(10) Fire leaves Ein Hod residents devastated—and angry

(11) Israel's air force to establish fire-fighting squadron

(12) Debate Over ‘Schnorring’ For Fire Trucks

(13) MK Sheetrit: I worked to establish national firefighting service

(14) International Aerial Group Supports Israel's Firefighting Campaign in Mt. Carmel

(15) House of Representatives mourns fire losses

(16) Palestinians back regional firefighting force

(17) Turkish firefighting planes skip Lebanon mission, return home

(18) Bulgarian firefighters return from Israel

(19) EPA boss calls for halt in bushfires

(20) Action, not talk, needed in the Dandenongs this summer

(21) Firefighting from the sky

(22) Firefighter’s invention delivers laughs at CHOC