WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 082611

In Southern California, CAL FIRE battled a five-acre wildfire in the northern part of San Diego County which was sparked by a car fire (1); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker LLC, sent along a notice of their availability to fight wildfires (2); and Wildfire NOTD subscriber Jon Keeley, a Research Ecologist with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, sent along two items of interest: a summary of a new statistical tool and the study itself (3)(4); but a wildfire in the Stanislaus National Forest has scorched 1,000 acres, closing Highway 140 into Yosemite National Park (5); followed by an article in which Wildfire NOTD subscriber Britt Gourley, CEO of air-tanker giant Aero Union, hit back at rumors and innuendo swirling around their current status (6); while an eight-acre wildfire was reported in Clearlake Park yesterday (7); but the California Correctional Peace Officers Association testified that more violent inmates may be allowed to participate in inmate wildfire crews as less-violent inmates become fewer in number in the prison population (8). The importance of Douglas Forest Protective Association's high-tech wildfire detection system came to the fore as hundreds of lightning strikes rained down on Oregon's Umpqua National Forest (9); while officials in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest breathed a sigh of relief that lightning strikes didn't spark wildfires in Western Washington state (10). Firefighters continued to expand containment on a 3,000-acre wildfire burning northeast of Reno, Nevada (11). In the aftermath of Arizona's Wallow Fire, US Forest Service has determined that a spacing of 50 to 100 trees per acre greatly reduces the incidence of crown fires (12); followed by the saga of fire suppression in the US, as told by a fire lookout in New Mexico's Gila National Forest (13). Firefighters are continuing to monitor a 471-acre wildfire that burned near Durango, Colorado (14). Adverse weather conditions spawned several wildfires that burned in Oregon, north central Idaho, Montana, and northwest Wyoming yesterday (15); but more favorable weather conditions are allowing firefighters to corral those blazes today (16). A wildfire has burned between 30,000 and 35,000 acres in the vicinity of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Energy Center (17); but a 10-acre field fire was quickly doused by firefighters in Salt Lake City, Utah (18). Two wildfires in Armstrong County, Texas, kept firefighters busy yesterday (19); and wildfires outside of West, one of which was nearly contained, brewed up again overnight (20). Firefighters have brought containment to 50% on the 5,764-acre Hole in the Wall Fire burning in Montana and Wyoming (21); but the potential of a lightning storm igniting more wildfires in Montana's Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest has caused fire officials to postpone prescribed burns planned for the area (22); even as firefighters already battling 12 wildfires in South Dakota feared that lightning strikes from an approaching storm could spark new ones (23). A wildfire burned between 40 and 60 acres outside of the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin (24); while the next article takes a detailed look at the wildfire burning in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (25); followed by another that examines a 60-acre wildfire burning in Florida's Guana Wildlife Management Area (26). Heading to Canada, British Columbia Forest Service has air and ground forces on standby anticipating weekend wildfires (27); but although there are still 10 wildfires burning in Northeastern Ontario, no new starts have been reported (28). In the Mediterranean Basin, numerous wildfires continued to burn in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Montenegro, Albania, and the North African nation of Algeria (29); the next article providing more details on the heat wave which is sparking wildfires in Eastern Europe (30); where Greece is receiving help from France, Italy, and Spain in fighting a major blaze near the Turkish border, as the next two articles show (31)(32); followed by one that takes a closer look at how the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and the Monitoring and Information Centre worked together to safeguard Europe from wildfires (33). In Australia, representatives of Victoria's Country Fire Authority were informing businesses in the Dandenongs how to prepare for bushfires (34); while in Queensland, the Gympie Regional Council was debating issuing permits for a 600-hectare sports park which some feel could increase the bushfire danger in the region (35). New South Wales' Rural Fire Service has advanced bushfire season by one month due to the extreme danger this year (36); but despite concerns that a new block of housing outside of Sydney could be endangered by bushfires, development will be allowed to go ahead (37). A man has been sentenced to prison for tossing Molotov cocktails into vegetation outside of Adelaide, South Australia, in 2009 (38); while Western Australia's opposition government is on the defensive over a damning report on FESA's performance battling the Roleystone-Kelmscott bushfire (39). And finally, we've all seen social-buying websites popping up on the Internet, but now there's one for fire departments!

(1) RAINBOW: Car fire spreads to hill; stopped at 5 acres

(2) 10 Tanker CWN Available Within 24 Hours. 2 DC10's = 8 MAFFS

(3) A New Statistical Tool for Delineating Fire Seasons in California

(4) The Application of Prototype Point Processes for the Summary and Description of California Wildfires

(5) Mariposa County fire grows to 1,000 acres; Highway 140 closed

(6) Air-tanker firm fighting to survive

(7) Fire in Clearlake Park burns several acres; no homes harmed

(8) Calif. inmate firefighter crews fuel controversy

(9) Lightning sparks fires on Umpqua National Forest

(10) Overnight thunderstorms fail to spark forest fires

(11) New fire burning northeast of Reno has charred 2,500-plus acres

(12) Study finds thinning slows wildfires

(13) How humans added fuel to the wildfires of New Mexico

(14) Firefighters to keep eye on Sambrito 2 fire

(15) Crews rush to corral wildfires in Northern Rockies

(16) Gains made on fires scorching Western states

(17) T-17 fire grows to 35,000 acres

(18) 2-alarm field blaze doused by Salt Lake City firefighters

(19) Wildfires burning in Armstrong County

(20) Large Central Texas Wildfire Rekindles

(21) Progress Made on Hole in the Wall Fire

(22) Change in weather postpones more prescribed fires near Montana-Idaho border

(23) Firefighters Battling Wildfires In Western SD

(24) Firefighters battle blaze in Town of Peshtigo

(25) Firefighters awed by Dismal Swamp blaze's potency

(26) Lightning strikes with severely dry weather causing wildfires in Guana Reserve

(27) Fire danger peaks with city days away from driest August ever

(28) 10 active forest fires in Northeastern Ontario

(29) EFFIS - Current Situation

(30) Heat Wave Triggering Wildfires in Eastern Europe

(31) Wildfire raging in Evros

(32) Greece receives EU help to fight fires

(33) Fighting forest fires in Europe – how it works

(34) Safety our business

(35) Park plan meets resistance

(36) Early start to bushfire danger period

(37) Unit block safe from bushfire

(38) Man threw firebombs into scrub

(39) Ripper defends Labor's management of FESA

(40) FireRescue1 Launches First Social-Buying Deals Site for Firefighters