WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 040910


Our first wildfire story today is an update on San Diego's power utility's wildfire billing application to the California Public Utilities Commission (1); followed by a couple of stories out of New Mexico: High Rolls Volunteer Fire Department, which was started to battle forest fires in Otero County, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary (2); and a wildfire was reported near a pueblo in Rio Arriba County (3). Firefighters in Colorado's Chaffee County Fire Protection District battled a wind-driven wildfire that burned hundreds of acres (4); while warmer weather in Oklahoma this weekend will also increase the chance of wind-driven wildfires in that state (5). Fire conditions in the upper 2/3 of Minnesota have prompted fire officials to caution residents about their weekend activities (6); but two environmental groups will be involved in conducting controlled burns on the Indiana Dunes in the northern part of the Hoosier state in order to rid the area of invasive plants (7). A village just south of Chicago, Illinois, has found the ideal vehicle for battling small wildfires along railroad tracks: an ATV! (8) Spring temperatures are increasing wildfires in Tennessee (9); and First Responders in Pennsylvania have reported a number of wildfires that are suspicious in origin (10). The Chief Fire Warden with the Bureau of Forest Fire Control in Massachusetts has warned residents in several western counties of the extreme fire danger there (11); but just as the western US has acres of beetle-killed trees, eastern states like Virginia have lots of trees killed by gypsy-moths(12); a state in which at least one of the wildfires continued to spread on Thursday (13). As rain arrived, firefighters in Western North Carolina got some relief from wildfires that had been running rampant in the area (14); but the commissioner of Florida's Agriculture and Consumer Service reminded residents of that state of the current wildfire danger (15). A township in Ontario, Canada, may bill debris burners whose runaway wildfire cost thousands to extinguish (16); while the Caribbean island of Dominica has already had nearly two dozen wildfires in April, as that entire region suffers through a drought (17). To reduce the incidence of wildfires in state forests, officials on the island nation of Sri Lanka have erected a fire fence around vulnerable vegetation (18). Meanwhile, Down Under, a house in New Zealand's Whangarei Heads was saved from destruction by a bushfire thanks to quick action by local firefighters (19); and there's a bit of a tiff in South Australia, where the state government is requiring construction of water tanks on school campuses deemed at-risk from bushfires (20). To no one's surprise, Queensland's Department of Environment and Resource Management announced that unhealthful air is worsened by bushfire smoke (21). After the power utility blamed for a bushfire in Toodyay, Western Australia, dismissed a study commissioned by residents, calls have gone out for an unbiased study to be done (22); but although the former Victoria Police Commissioner has publicly apologized for leaving the command center just as the Black Saturday disaster unfolded, she may have to appear before the Royal Bushfire Commission to answer further questions (23). A psychologist, who is also a Country Fire Authority volunteer, questions the effectiveness of bushfire warnings in Victoria (24). And finally, an appeal from an Indian newspaper could probably be entitled: Save an elephant - stop bushfires!

(1) SDG&E Wildfire Billings (WEBA) Update

(2) Fire department celebrates 50 years

(3) Elementary fire burns on pueblo

(4) Wildfire scorches 600 acres

(5) Warm and windy this weekend in Oklahoma

(6) Conditions Ripe For Weekend Wildfires

(7) Grants to restore wetlands, help control invasive species

(8) New ATV to aid firefighters

(9) Warm Weather Brings Wildfires

(10) Authorities: Forest Fire Scorches 150 Acres, May Be Intentional

(11) Brush Fire Threat High in Western Massachusetts

(12) Lightning ignites series of wildfires

(13) Bath Co. wildfire grows to 350 acres

(14) Rain helps douse wildfires in WNC, gives firefighters respite

(15) Officials warn of wildfire season

(16) Madoc Township may charge for grass fire fighting costs

(17) 22 bush fires reported for April in Roseau

(18) Action to prevent forest fires

(19) Firefighters save house from Northland scrub fire

(20) Pollution spikes during bushfires

(21) State siphoning school funds `to fight fires'

(22) Toodyay bushfire lawyer calls for independent report

(23) Nixon may front Royal Commission again

(24) Bushfire warnings. How effective are they?

(25) Stop setting fire to forest for undertaking plantation