WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 112811

US Forest Service has posted a map online which shows how wildfires can impact drinking water in the US (1). In the wake of Santa Barbara County officials' victory in getting Santa Maria Air Attack Base restored to a full-time facility, the next article looks at exactly what that means to Southern California (2); while thousands of acres of land owned by Pacific Gas & Electric will revert to the University of California and CAL FIRE as part of PG&E's bankruptcy settlement (3). Forest managers will be conducting controlled burns on 400 acres of Oregon's Ashland Watershed over the next year (4); but the impact on law enforcement of wildfires lit by illegal aliens coming across the Mexican border into Arizona is examined by the next article (the full report can be read here) (5). New Mexico State University is conducting a controlled study of how cattle grazing at four locations in Arizona and New Mexico could reduce wildfire fuels (6); even as the impact of wildfires on Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is being evaluated by experts (7). The efforts of volunteers in Magnolia, Texas, during the horrific Labor Day wildfires were significant (8); while this month's Society for Conservation Biology research symposium at the University of Montana explored the factors (including wildfires) which could radically alter Montana's forests over the next 50 years (9). The next article touches on wildland fires that burned in New Jersey in 2010 (10); but there was trouble in paradise as Honolulu Fire Department firefighters battled a two-acre wildfire near Laie, Hawaii, on Sunday (11). A grass fire southeast of Calgary, Alberta, may force evacuation of Canadian citizens in the fire's path (12). Wildfires cropped up over the weekend in Serbia and Bulgaria (13); followed by more details on the Bulgarian fire, which has scorched hundreds of hectares in Central Balkan National Park (14). As the one-year anniversary of the deadly Carmel Forest fire approaches, the next article looks back on Israel's efforts to rehabilitate the burn area and prevent further such outbreaks (15); but bushfires in Ghana, Africa, are delaying completion of the Rural Electrification Project power transmission towers (16). With windows and doors being most susceptible to Australian bushfire damage, new materials are being used to overcome the problem (17); and in an effort to shock people out of bushfire complacency, the Victorian government has spent $5 million on a new ad campaign (18). A bushfire warning was issued for the area around Nannup, Western Australia (19); bushfire smoke being blamed for an auto accident in Margaret River (20); where a bushfire advice remains in effect (21); even as the entire region was declared a natural disaster zone (22); the next article praising volunteers who saved 300 homes from the blazes (23); but their ranks may be thinning as fewer young people apply for the job, according to the Association of Volunteer Bushfire Brigades (24). And finally, firefighters injuries have risen from an unexpected cause: exercise!

(1) Maps help utilities, others pinpoint solutions

(2) Tankers coming back to town

(3) PG&E will turn over major parcels of land to public agencies

(4) Controlled burns set for watershed

(5) Amid concerns over illegal border crossers, wildland fires sap law enforcement resources

(6) Grazing strategy could be key to reducing wild land fires, researchers say

(7) Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge slowly recovers after monstrous wildfire

(8) One small Texas town’s remarkable volunteer wildfire relief effort

(9) Bugs, fire, politics threaten western Montana forests

(10) Cumberland County reviews 2010 fire stats

(11) Crews battle wildfire above Laie

(12) Wildfire threatens Lethbridge

(13) EFFIS - Current Situation

(14) Vast Wildfire Erupts in Bulgarian National Park, Arson Suspected

(15) One Year After the Carmel Disaster

(16) Bushfires hampering electrification project in Nadowli

(17) Window and Door Bushfire Protection

(18) Ad campaign not as frightening as the terror of a real bushfire

(19) Bushfire Advice remains for Nannup

(20) Bike crash linked to bushfire smoke

(21) Bushfire Advice for Margaret River Fire

(22) The bushfire region declared natural disaster zone

(23) Unsung Hero's of the Margaret River Bushfire

(24) Fighting bushfires low priority for young

(25) One-third of firefighter injuries are exercise-induced