WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 010711

The Bureau of Land Management is hiring seasonal firefighters to battle wildfires in Nevada in the upcoming fire season (1); and in a follow-up to an article from yesterday's Wildfire NOTD, it turns out that a wildfire that burned two homes in Oklahoma's Pottawatomie County was sparked by a welder (2). A firefighter who set arson wildfires in Montana's Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest has been fined and sentenced to two years probation (3); while the New Jersey Forest Fire Service received numerous reports of wildfire smoke which turned out to be vapor columns emitted by homes and businesses (4). Georgia Forestry Commission has been persuaded not to close a ranger's firefighting station in Madison County during fire season (5). Despite recent rain, the fire danger in Florida remains extreme, prompting the Caloosahatchee Forestry Center to issue some tips on reducing the wildfire danger (6); which could also be useful for residents along the Bay County coast, where high winds have prompted the National Weather Service to issue Red Flag warnings for that area (7); but US Forest Service will begin controlled burns on nearly 3,000 acres today in Apalachicola National Forest in the Panhandle (8). The vegetation on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, which is currently covered in grass instead of trees after a series of wildfires, may be changing back to forest in the near future (9); but forestry officials in Saskatchewan, Canada, will be cutting down an old-growth forest in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park in order to promote forest health through regrowth (10). A 3,000-acre wildfire was reported in Artigas Province in the South American nation of Uruguay (11). An article from Israel provides an update on rehabilitation efforts at Yemin Orde youth center following the devastating wildfire at Carmel (12). Australian arson investigators are digging into a cold case from 2007 when a 'nightmare fire' in Victoria's Framlingham Forest was sparked by an arsonist (13); while the importance of controlled burns in Western Australia is revisited in the next article (14). Wildfire NOTD subscriber David Cant, Manager of Aviation Services for South Australia's Country Fire Service, sent along a video about a bushfire that spread to a nearby factory, requiring air-tankers to swing into action to help firefighters bring it under control (15); and another blaze in Willunga also required the attention of heli-tankers (16). Tasmania Fire Service battled a bushfire on King Island yesterday (17). And finally, Polish firefighters, no doubt used to rescuing cats from trees, this time had to rescue a deer from an ice floe!

(1) Applications sought for seasonal firefighters

(2) Welder's Spark Leads To Wildfire That Burns Homes

(3) Firefighter who started forest fire gets probation

(4) Water vapor columns routinely misidentified

(5) County, state near forest ranger deal

(6) Caloosahatchee Forestry Center officials remind everyone that wildfire safety is a shared responsibility

(7) Winds to generate rip currents on the coast, possible wildfire conditions inland

(8) Apalachicola National Forest Prescribed Burning Today

(9) Reforestation plan takes root: Stimulus funds boost project reduce Peninsula's wild fire risk

(10) Sask. chopping pine trees to save forest

(11) Forest Fire Scorches Large Area in Uruguay

(12) 30 Days Later: Visit to Youth Town Damaged by Wildfire

(13) Framlingham firebug still at large

(14) Burn-offs ‘saved lives’

(15) Huge blaze at Wingfield extinguished

(16) Willunga blaze puts families on edge

(17) Bushfire flares on King Island

(18) Polish firefighters save deer drifting on ice