WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 061511

First up in the news today, Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bill Niccum, Assistant Chief at Los Angeles County Fire Department, sent along an article about their wildfire training session in northern LA County with the following comments:

Hey Mike….This is a snap-shot of LAC’s Rancho Spring Wildland Training…June 13th was day 16 of 24 days of scheduled training concluding June 30th…We are averaging 150-160 FF’s per day and have hosted many of our assisting agencies…Excellent training!............Niccum

Elsewhere in the news, Washington state's Moses Lake Airtanker Base will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on June 22nd (2). Wildfire activity across Arizona is summarized in the next item (3); where some evacuees were allowed to go home as the Wallow Fire was brought to 20% containment (4); but the next article hails back to ferocious wildfires from the 1930s, asking if the same pattern is repeating itself? (5) After dropping three retardant loads on a wildfire outside of Raton, New Mexico, yesterday, the DC-10 departed Arizona's Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for California, having spent five days battling Arizona's wildfires (6); the following article providing more details on both the DC-10 and the 747 VLATs (7). Wildfire activity around New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns National Park is having an impact on tourism (8); but firefighters in Southern Colorado got a break from the weather as humidity increased and winds decreased yesterday (9); and although Idaho is expecting a below-average fire season, the Fire Management Officer for the Boise National Forest cautioned homeowners not to become complacent about the wildfire danger (10). Property owners who've suffered damage due to wildfires in Potter and Randall Counties will receive some pointers from Texas Forest Service on rehabilitating their land at a public meeting in Amarillo on June 28th (11); while a wildfire in Navarro County threatened several homes yesterday, as drought conditions across the state continue to be the worst seen since 1917, according to the Texas Forest Service (12); even as Gov. Rick Perry once again appealed to the federal government for assistance due to the $126.7 million in suppression costs to date, along with the loss of 460 homes, as well as infrastructure losses that includes miles of fencing (13). The US Forest Service received a grilling from US Senators before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in Washington DC yesterday, particularly in regards to their proposed $200 million budget cut and the replacement plan for the air-tanker fleet (16); the following article providing more details on the air-tanker situation, referencing a hearing with Sen. Dianne Feinstein a few weeks ago in which USFS air-tanker problems were cited as being 'unacceptable' (15). Several wildfires in Glynn and Camden Counties, Georgia, caused some highway closures (16); FEMA will pay 75% of the costs associated with a 7,850-acre wildfire burning in that state (17). A video segment from North Central Florida shows the wildfire activity in that region (18); followed by two articles that touch on fires across the state (19)(20); the governor stopping by the fireline in Flagler County to thank firefighters for their efforts, telling everybody to 'pray for rain' (21). Heading to Canada, people who were forced to evacuate by wildfires in Saskatchewan are beginning to head home (22); while Alberta Sustainable Resource Development provided an update on wildfires burning in that province (23). In the aftermath of the UK's Swinley Forest fire, plans to change jurisdiction over woodland fires has drawn fire from the Fire Brigades Union (24); but the Lebanese army called on citizens of that Middle Eastern nation to do their part to reduce wildfires (25). Australian National University won a settlement from their insurance carrier over damage done to their Mount Stromlo complex in Canberra's 2003 bushfires (26); however, lack of funding from the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority is delayed recovery projects in Nillumbik (27). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Chuck Bushey, President of the International Association of Wildland Fire, sent along a reminder about the upcoming AFAC/Bushfire CRC Conference in Sydney, New South Wales, in late August (28). And finally, residents of Florida, already on edge about raging wildfires, now have a new worry: scorpions and cockroaches and ants, oh my!

(1) Firefighters Training For Fire Season

(2) Moses Lake Airtanker Base Celebrates 10th Anniversary

(3) Hundreds of homes evacuated near Sierra Vista

(4) Wallow Fire: 20 percent contained, Nutrioso residents allowed back home

(5) Arizona blaze part of new era — more big wildfires

(6) DC-10 finished with work on Wallow Fire

(7) These Aerial Super Tankers Drown Forest Fires With 20,000-Gallon Waterfalls from the Sky

(8) Loop Fire continues to burn near Carlsbad Caverns (4:35 a.m.)

(9) Slight progress made against wildfires in Colo., N. Mexico

(10) Start preparing your home for summer fires now

(11) Workshop for W. Texas wildfire victims

(12) Brush fire threatens four homes

(13) Texas' unprecedented wildfire season gets even worse

(14) Federal officials get committee grilling over management of wildfires

(15) Forest Service: Ready for fire season, chief says

(16) Wildfires shut south Georgia highways

(17) FEMA authorizes federal funds to help battle Racepond wildfire

(18) Wildfires Ignite in North Central Florida

(19) Firefighters stop lightning-ignited brush fire in Viera

(20) Smoke drifts into White City, Port St. Lucie as firefighters try to beat clock on stubborn brush fire

(21) Governor visits Flagler to thank fire crews

(22) La Ronge-area forest fire evacuees return home

(23) Smoke engulfs Fort McKay as two fires join

(24) Debate rages over forest fire trial

(25) Army calls on all Lebanese to take forest fire measures

(26) Bushfire damages win for ANU

(27) Fire recovery projects smoulder

(28) AFAC/Bushfire CRC Conference 2011, Sydney, Australia, August 29 – September 1, 2011

(29) As drought continues, firefighters battle fires and homeowners fight bugs