WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 120110

Wildfire News of the Day subscriber Andrew Madsen, Public Affairs Officer for Southern California's Los Padres National Forest, comments on the official end of Ventura County's fire season in our first article today (1); while scores of researchers who have analyzed the impact of climate change on Oregon (including more wildfires) published a new report summarizing their findings (more info is available at this link) (2). The next article is a retrospective on a wildfire which raged through Colorado's Pike National Forest a decade ago (3); followed by an article about a wildfire near Shawnee, Oklahoma, that burned upwards of 150 acres yesterday (4). A letter to the editor of an Odessa, Texas, newspaper postulates a method for battling wildfires in that state (5); this at a time when residents of Hidalgo County have been put under a total burn ban as Red Flag conditions have been forecast for the Rio Grande Valley today (6). Kentucky's Division of Forestry Director is counting the days until fire hazard season ends (7); but a former firefighter in Pennsylvania has been charged with setting wildfires with road flares (8). With the official end of the fall fire season in Virginia, the next article takes a look back at wildfire activity in that state this year (9); however, now that hurricane season is over, Florida disaster managers are preparing for something different: wildfires! (10) Two articles touch on the impact of climate change: as representatives from many nations meet in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss the impact of climate change worldwide, including the devastating wildfires in Russia this past summer, a new report provides more details on the situation (11); even as the journal Nature is set to release a letter which states that those involved in the climate change fight may be on the wrong track (12). And speaking of climate change, an MSNBC report takes a look at the bizarre weather in Brazil's Amazon Basin which could lead to worse wildfires in the future (13). Lebanese troops worked with their Civil Defense Department to try to corral a blaze which burned 1,000,000 m² of forest before finally being contained (14). Fire authorities in Australia are considering a draft of new aerial firefighting procedures put forth by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (15); but not all the ideas of Victoria's incoming Premier for dealing with bushfires have been well received by his constituents, as the next article shows (16). South Australia's Country Fire Service has put rural residents on high alert due to the bushfire danger posed by an abundance of fuel and higher-than-average temperatures (17); while an arson bushfire which has raged south of Perth, Western Australia, for the past two days is finally contained (18). And finally, firefighters in Butler County, Pennsylvania, had something a little bit larger than a cat to get out of a tree!

(1) Fire danger decreases, but need for care remains, fire officials say

(2) Oregon Climate Change: Less Water, More Wildfires

(3) 10 years later, Hi Meadow Fire burn area still growing back

(4) Wildfire scare near Pink

(5) Letter: Idea could invent firefighting equipment

(6) Red Flag Warning has Valley officials on high alert for wildfires

(7) Fire Hazard Season Ends in Two Weeks

(8) Former Central City firefighter sentenced for arson

(9) Fall Fire Season Officially Over

(10) Drought threatening Fla. with possible wildfires

(11) Climate-Related Deaths Doubled in 2010

(12) Rainforest conservation needs new direction to address climate change

(13) Weird weather leaves Amazon forest thirsty

(14) Firefighters put out Iqlim al-Kharroub blaze

(15) Australia ponders standardised firefighting procedures

(16) Baillieu's bushfire-prone land buyback promise sparks anger in Otways

(17) SA Country Fire Service warns of horror season

(18) Arson blamed as residents remain under threat from massive wildfire

(19) Firefighters called to tree rescue with a difference (not a kitten this time but a woman in a truck)