WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 032510

A study commissioned by firefighters' unions in Orange County, California, has sparked a debate between the Fire Authority and the unions over cutting fire services in the run-up to a meeting tonight to discuss the cuts, in our first wildfire article today (1); while the BE-200 visit to Southern California appeared in the news twice again today, including some video of the Russian-built air-tanker in action (2)(3). A free vegetation chipping operation will be available to residents of San Luis Obispo County next month to help create defensible space around their property (4); but CAL FIRE firefighters are concerned about a fuel break on federal land outside the community of Auburn that needs to be cleaned up before fire season arrives (5). Although Arizonans are enjoying the unusually verdant vistas after an abundance of rain this winter, firefighters fear that wildfires will combine with a $1 million shortfall in state fire agency funding to make this a nightmare fire season (6); so hundreds of First Responders will be participating in a wildfire drill in Prescott tomorrow to prepare (7). Colorado politicians are incensed that fallout from passage of the Health Care Bill has stalled funding for addressing the desperate bark-beetle problem in their state (8). Wildfire NOTD reader Jessica Selensky, from Thermo Gel, passed along a press release about how they teamed up with Canadian firm Absolute Fire Solutions to develop a nifty new gel injection system for helicopter dip buckets that provides a fast response with gel by initial-attack heli-tankers (9). An investigation by a local newspaper of a wildfire in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, last year has had unintended consequences on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) fees (10). A trio of articles from Canada appeared today: a community in British Columbia that is considered to be at high fire-risk is employing provincial and federal funds to clear out volatile vegetation (11); a cemetery in Ontario reported a small wildfire (12); and oil-sands-rich Fort McMurray in Alberta is looking for some more firefighters (imagine if the sands caught on fire from a wildfire - yikes!) (13) The next article takes a look at the wildfire situation on the Caribbean island of Cuba (14); followed by one about yet another wildfire that has been reported in Quezon Province in the Philippines (15). Heading Down Under, officials are estimating that the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court hearing on the 2003 bushfires may continue into next year (16). A Parks Victoria ranger is on the hot seat over setting a backburn that may have contributed to the devastation wrought by wildfires on Black Saturday (17); even as rangers deemed recent burn areas to be too dangerous for camping in the foreseeable future (18). And finally, a conference meeting in Melbourne intends to explore what makes arsonists tick (hopefully before they explode!)

(1) Fire Authority considers cuts while maintaining $100 million reserve

(2) Russian Firefighting Air Tanker Flying into Santa Maria

(3) Russian-made fire plane headed to Santa Maria

(4) Free greenwaste chipping slated in Nipomo

(5) Auburn fire break line untended for 2 years, Cal Fire says

(6) Will Budget Cuts Impact Wildfire Season?

(7) Annual Prescott wildfire drill is Friday

(8) GOP blocks hearing again

(9) Absolute Fire Solutions Introduces New ‘Fast Gel’ Initial Attack Bucket For Helicopter Operators And Fire Agencies

(10) North Myrtle Beach keeps tight grip on public info

(11) Reducing Nelson’s risk of forest fire

(12) Grass fire at Forest Lawn Cemetery

(13) Fort McMurray on national search for workers

(14) Draught causes thousands of wildfires in Cuba

(15) Fire rages near Mount Banahaw

(16) Bushfire hearing set to drag into 2011

(17) Backburn a 'last ditch attempt' to stop fire

(18) Fires close parks to campers

(19) Conference examines how to cut bushfire arson