WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030810

As Wildfire News Of The Day begins, Southern California Edison is proceeding with a plan that has been endorsed by various groups, including Don Bremner, Forest Committee Chairman for the Angeles Sierra Club, to run transmission lines through the Angeles National Forest, something which was delayed by the Station Fire last year (1); but statements by California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that CAL FIRE approved a plan to build a San Diego Gas & Electric power facility (and more importantly, that CPUC didn't really consider wildfire data for the area important) has ignited a firestorm of controversy (2). Residents of Colorado were reminded that they can get reimbursements of up to $470 per acre from the state when they create defensible space around their property (3); while the next article takes a look back at the rich history of fire lookout towers that once dotted the landscape in forests across Texas (4). About 2,000 households in Montana have been tapped by a research firm to participate in a national survey of the wildfire danger (5); and a program at a Michigan logging museum will chronicle the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 30's and 40's, including their firefighting exploits (6). Fire agencies in Missouri trained for wildfires in the region (7); but in the wake of some small wildfires sparked by runaway debris fires, residents in Central Pennsylvania are being reminded that the wildfire season has commenced (8). A small wildfire brewed up in Connecticut's Paugnut State Forest over the weekend (9); and despite the fact they just received heavy snowfall a few weeks ago, Long Island, New York, was issued a Red Flag warning over the weekend (10). Northern Alabama is once again under a Red Flag warning today (11); and parts of Georgia were on Red Flag alerts today as well (12). Firefighters in Georgia were kept busy by a number of wildfires this weekend, as the next two stories show (13)(14). Georgia's Forestry Commission is lamenting the loss of $7 million in operating funds, 400 firefighter positions, and loss of a virtually all available tractors during severe budget cuts in the state (15); but after being damaged by wildfires, among other things, camping platforms in Okefenokee Swamp are being refurbished by volunteers (16). Firefighters on Hawaii's Big Island have been battling a wind-driven wildfire since the weekend (17); while fire agencies in British Columbia, Canada, are concerned about receiving only 80% of the usual amount of snowfall this winter, something that could have ominous tidings for the upcoming fire season (18). Tobago added its name to the list of Caribbean islands afflicted by bushfires, reporting nearly double the number normally recorded for this time of the year (19); but Ghana's National Disaster Management Organization, with Dutch funding, is educating school kids on the importance of reducing bushfires in that African nation (20). A wildfire-ravaged park in Vietnam's Lao Cai Province will begin burn area restoration, but only for part of the affected area (21). Heli-tankers are credited with saving structures when a bushfire broke out in the Mahurangi Forest north of Auckland, New Zealand (22). Ten lucky Australian couples who suffered losses from the Black Saturday bushfires will enjoy a mini-holiday in New South Wales courtesy of some folks they never met (23); but a bushfire bunker owner in Victoria is asking about standards for such structures (24). Controlled burn statistics for the past ten years in that region have just been released by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (25); even as an MP from Victoria's Yarra Ranges region is advocating installing the German-designed FireWatch fire detection system in that area, at a time when a competition between three vendors (including FireWatch) is being conducted in the Otways, as reported in Wildfire News Of The Day 2/9 (26). Firefighters north of the Western Australian capital of Perth battled a blaze that has burned over 3,000 acres so far (27); and an electronics engineer who invented a new bushfire alert system is hoping to get federal funding to begin deployment of the system in high-risk bushfire areas of that state (28). And finally, some things are unaffected by age, as proven by a fire truck that still battles forest fires in the Philippines after over 40 years of service!

(1) U.S. Forest Service takes another look at renewable energy project that goes through Station Fire burn zone

(2) Power Play: SDG&E Uses Eminent Domain, Seeks To Take Up To 80 Properties For Powerlink

(3) Enhance forests, protect wildlife: Get emergency supplemental grants

(4) Fire lookout towers

(5) Residents asked to partake in survey

(6) MI event looks at Civilian Conservation Corps

(7) Fire department sharpens skills

(8) Wildfire season returns

(9) Fire reported in Paugnut State Forest

(10) Weather Service issues wildfire warning for LI

(11) Birmingham metro forecast: Sunny and mild

(12) Forest fire danger high today

(13) Berry Forest Fire Under Control, Red Flag Warning in Effect

(14) Weekend Fires Keep W.C. Firefighters Busy

(15) Budget cuts burn forest commission

(16) Volunteers rebuild Okefenokee camping platforms

(17) Big Island firefighters battling brush fire

(18) Low snowpack may bring summer water woes

(19) Tobago bush fires rising

(20) NADMO intensifies anti-bushfire campaign in schools

(21) Restoration plan proposed for fire ravaged Hoang Lien Park

(22) Forest fire closes main highway

(23) Small group to pamper Black Saturday victims

(24) Bunker safety fears

(25) DSE reveals back-burning figures in Yarra Ranges

(26) Call for fire sensors in Yarra Ranges

(27) Firefighters battle blaze near Lancelin

(28) Engineer develops bushfire alert system

(29) ‘Antique’ fire truck still licks blazes in Subic free port