WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 122911

With the closure of Camarillo's Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, only one youth correctional facility equipped to train wildland firefighters will remain in California (1); while authorities are trying to determine whether a homeless woman found dead in a Bakersfield encampment is the same one who accidentally started a massive wildfire in the Sequoia National Forest in 2002 (2); and Siskiyou County's Hazard Mitigation Plan is intended to prepare that Northern California county for disasters of the future, including wildfires (3). Prescribed burns by US Forest Service and Flagstaff Fire Department in and around the Coconino National Forest are planned for today (4); while a plan to reduce fuel load in Arizona's Apache Sitgreaves National Forest will be the topic of discussion at a town hall meeting (5). The impact of wildfires on West Texas this year is examined in the next article (6); followed by an article from Forbes Magazine that profiles Texas Wildfire Relief, a charity which supports volunteer firefighters in a state in which 80% of the firefighters are volunteers (7); and another that chronicles how changes in land use across that state influenced the massive wildfires experienced in 2011 (8). The next article takes a look back at wildfires in Montana this past year (9); followed by a study being done in Virginia to seek better ways to protect homes from wildfires in the Central Shenandoah Valley (10). An Argentine holiday tradition of launching sky lanterns on New Year's has been banned in Córdoba province due to the danger of wildfires in that South American nation (11). In Australia, a $500 million plan being proposed by the Victorian Government would require power companies to install remote control devices to shut off electricity on high bushfire danger days (12); even as opposition politicians blamed the government for not implementing all 67 of the Royal Bushfire Commission recommendations (13). Bushfires NT firefighters struggling to contain a 2,000 km² bushfire sparked by lightning near Alice Springs are becoming exasperated as arson bushfires keep cropping up (14); and Country Fire Service reported a bushfire burning north of Adelaide, South Australia, outside the community of Willaloo (15). Despite the fact that two controlled burns have become devastating bushfires in the recent past, Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation plans to conduct a new 2,500-hectare burn in the Mount Franklin National Park (16). And finally, a New Zealand firefighter received a fire call for a familiar address - his own home!

(1) Calif. juvenile offender firefighting camp closing

(2) Homeless woman found dead believed to be same person who started massive 2002 wildfire

(3) Prepping for disaster

(4) Prescribed fires planned around Flagstaff today

(5) Eastern Ariz. forest plans for wildfire recovery

(6) 2011 Top Stories: Standing up to Wildfires

(7) 12 Days of Charitable Giving: Texas Wildfire Relief

(8) From the Ground Up - Wildfires

(9) MT returning heroes, fire season place in Top 2011 stories

(10) Va initiative to study fire risk of living near woodlands, develop practices to protect homes

(11) Holiday tradition banned in Argentina after aerostatic paper balloons cause house fires

(12) Bushfire blackout scheme for high risk days

(13) Opposition slams plan funding

(14) Arson anger

(15) Bushfire burns north of Adelaide

(16) DEC pushes on with prescribed burns

(17) Firefighter called to fire at own home