WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 121310

A wildfire burned through 900 acres outside of Skidmore, Texas (1); where the wildfire danger continues in the Rio Grande Valley (2); and in the Panhandle as well (3). A spokesperson for Montana's Northern Rockies Coordination Center comments on the 2010 fire season in the next article (4); while wildfires were reported outside of Mobile, Alabama, over the weekend (5); and South Carolina Forestry Commission will be overseeing controlled burns at Joint Base Charleston, a military installation outside of Charleston (6). A 100-acre wildfire that was sparked by a car's catalytic converter has been reported in North Walton County, Florida (7); while the impact of ferocious fires in Alaska's ancient peat blogs on climate change is examined by the next article (8). An award was presented to Russian Post for its efforts in making sure humanitarian aid reached wildfire survivors in that country this past summer (9); and Armenia's firefighters who helped battle those wildfires received honors from the Russian ambassador to Armenia (10). Tony Morris, Wildfire Research Network's Communications Director, sent along an article that has nearly 3 dozen photos from the Israeli wildfires, including close-ups of the CL-215, CL-415, BE-200 and 747 in action (11); followed by reflections of a Canadian aviation journalist on the lessons to be learned by Israel from air-attack on their recent wildfires (12). Although scores of American firefighters have been trained to fight fires in Israel, none of them were called up for duty during the Carmel wildfires (13); and the Israeli Defense Forces offers some facts about their firefighting mission in the next article (14). The head of the Carmel Research Center at Israel's University of Haifa is advising officials to take a "hands-off" approach to rehabilitating areas hard hit by recent wildfires (15); but the next two articles show that even though the wildfire battle may be over, the budget battle to improve Israel's Fire and Rescue Services is about to begin! (16)(17) Researchers from Montana have found out that Maori settlers may have destroyed many of the primeval forests in New Zealand centuries ago with fire (18). Heading to Australia next, at least one Black Saturday bushfire survivor is planning to rebuild his home with a "greener" design (19); but the bushfire danger has gone into the red along South Australia's west coast (20). Bushfire workshops are being offered to homeowners living in Southeast Queensland as bushfire season approaches (21); even as firefighters battled a bushfire in New South Wales' Blue Mountains on Sunday (22). And finally, the Texas Forest Service has given a Smokey Bear Award to... rocker Ted Nugent?

(1) Skidmore Wildfire

(2) Dry Weather Causing Fire Danger

(3) Burn ban on table with wildfire threat

(4) Wet weather dampens wildfire season

(5) Wildfires pop up in Mobile on windy day

(6) Prescribed fires scheduled at North Auxiliary Air Field

(7) 100-acre wildfire in north Walton County (UPDATED)

(8) Are Alaska's wildfires accelerating global warming?

(9) Russian Post Recognised For Humanitarian Wildfire Efforts

(10) Armenian firefighters honored for battling Russia’s fire

(11) Wildfire in Israel

(12) And the moral of the story is...

(13) 100 American firefighters ready to assist in case of war

(14) Five Facts About IDF and Wildfires

(15) More trees could pose new fire hazard

(16) Firefighters demand immediate funding

(17) Accountant General: Best firefighting equipment wouldn't have helped

(18) Deliberately lit fires destroyed forests

(19) After the black comes the green

(20) Code red bushfire warning for SA coast

(21) Come along to free bushfire workshops

(22) Firefighters battle bushfire

(23) Ted Nugent Given Smokey Bear Award