WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 020211

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tom Stephenson, Fire Captain and Helicopter Crew Chief for San Diego Fire-Rescue's Air Operations Division, sent along an article in which he was interviewed about their swift-water rescue training program conducted along some chilly Southern California beaches - surf's up! (1) Homeowners in Morgan County, Colorado, have been invited to a Community Wildfire Protection Plan meeting towards the end of February (2); while a third defendant has been sentenced for starting a wildfire in 2009 in Montana's Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (3). Concerns by locals that the wildfire mitigation plans for Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest could alter the landscape unfavorably have caused officials to reconsider how they will deal with overgrown vegetation in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area (4); but residents of Virginia and North Carolina may have some smoky skies ahead as firefighters conduct controlled burns in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (5). The head of the Georgia Forestry Commission feels that a confluence of factors, such as budget cutbacks, not only in their state, but in their neighbors, could have a catastrophic impact on future wildfires (6); while Florida Division of Forestry firefighters battled a 25-acre wildfire apparently started by an illegal burn barrel fire outside of Gainesville (7). As Country Fire Authority grappled with several Australian bushfires, a particularly large one in East Gippsland, Victoria, required the attention of Elvis (an S-64 Erickson Aircrane) along with 500 firefighters, 41 tankers and 9 bulldozers, supported by 13 other aircraft (8); that article followed by a photo gallery from those bushfires in the next item (9). In an update to yesterday's article about the Victorian government delaying release of a powerline report related to bushfires, controversy is beginning to brew as the government announced that the report will not be available until September now (10); but although there were fears that Black Saturday bushfire survivors would lose much of their support when the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority program wound down in July, the Premier has agreed to continue funding (11). Strike Force Tronto is chasing after firebugs as New South Wales' Yengo National Park continues to burn, one of 72 bushfires currently active in that state (12); where firefighters were able to keep bushfires burning in Lane Cove National Park away from homes outside of Sydney (13); this coming at a time when that whole area is experiencing high temperatures, and consequently, high bushfire danger (14); a situation further complicated by would-be arsonists, as the next two articles show (15)(16). And finally, some weird science shows how Australia's wildfires of 2006 led some Gippsland lakes to glow two years later!

(1) San Diego firefighters train for swift-water rescues

(2) Public invited to wildfire planning meetings

(3) Dillon man sentenced for involvement in Birch Creek fires

(4) Less cutting, burning possible in fire plan

(5) Smell smoke? It’s fire

(6) Legislative Notebook: Budget cuts to increase response times to wildfires

(7) Illegal burn leads to 25-acre brushfire near Jonesville

(8) Crews work to contain bushfires

(9) Your photos of the fires

(10) Bushfire report 'delayed to September'

(11) Support renewed for 2009 bushfire survivors

(12) Arson squad hot on trail of valley firebug

(13) Sydney bushfire kept away from homes

(14) Firefighters brace for NSW bushfires

(15) Teens caught starting Sydney grassfires during heatwave

(16) This is the season to squash firebugs

(17) Why Australian mountain wildfires in 2006 caused these lakes to glow in 2008