WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 021411

US Forest Service finds itself in environmentalist crosshairs once again as it attempts to reduce the wildfire danger around Lake Tahoe, California, by logging (1); nevertheless, US Forest Service will be conducting controlled burns near South Lake Tahoe Airport (2). A wildfire destroyed 20 homes on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington state over the weekend (3). Texas' Rio Grande Valley will be on high fire alert all week according to the National Weather Service (4); and a powerline transformer is believed to have sparked a 15-acre wildfire that burned in Corpus Christi over the weekend (5). Debris burns by property owners in the Black Hills of South Dakota sparked a pair of wildfires (6); while over 2,000 acres of Alabama's Talladega National Forest will be burned off this week (7). A 4-acre wildfire was reported behind a strip mall in Central Virginia (8); this coming at a time when Virginia Department of Forestry announced a statewide burn ban beginning Tuesday (9). Western North Carolina has been issued a Red Flag warning today (10); even as a wildfire in rugged terrain burned 150 acres in Polk County (11). Firefighters in Horry County, South Carolina, are warning residents that dry, windy conditions will increase the fire danger over the next few days (12); and in Georgia, 23 counties have been advised of high fire danger all day (13). Some potential hydraulic problems with Bombardier air-tankers is cited in a Canadian Mandatory Continuing Airworthiness Information bulletin (14); but a Ukrainian robot that won the top prize at the World Robotics Olympiad in the Philippines holds promise as a potential fire spotter (15). Fire prevention funding shortfalls are impacting protection of India's Bor Wildlife Sanctuary (16); while the Cambodian government hopes that the construction of several forest checkpoints in Battambang Province will reduce the danger from forest fires (17). Heading to Australia, Queensland emergency plans will be discussed at a mayors' summit in March (18); and FESA is battling a slow-moving bushfire near the Macedonia Cultural Centre in Western Australia (19); while several shires in the Wheatbelt District remain on high bushfire alert (20). And finally, here is an opportunity for Western Australians to nominate a bushfire hero!

(1) Enviros sue USFS to block logging at Lake Tahoe

(2) Prescribed Burns Near South Lake Tahoe Airport

(3) Wildfire destroys 20 homes in Washington

(4) Wildfire Threat Remains High

(5) Firefighters battle blaze sparked by transformer

(6) Land Owners Light Wildfires

(7) Forest Service burning 2,020 acres, sending smoke to Cheaha

(8) UPDATE: Wind-whipped brush fire burns 4 acres in South Richmond

(9) Statewide burning ban goes into effect Tuesday

(10) Red flag warning and wind advisory issued for much of WNC

(11) Woods fire burns about 150 acres in Polk County

(12) Horry County Fire Rescue warns of outdoor burning

(13) Dry weather brings wildfire warning

(14) AD: Bombardier

(15) Young Ukrainian Inventors Create Amazing Robots

(16) Funds crunch hits Bor

(17) Battambang gets forest checkpoints

(18) Mayors to meet again over disaster management

(19) Fire burning near the Macedonia Cultural Centre

(20) Shires on alert as bushfire warning remains

(21) Nominate your bushfire hero