WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 062411

CAL FIRE reported that a wildfire burned between 150 and 200 acres in Los Banos, California, yesterday (1); while a CNN article takes a look at wildfires burning across the Southeast and Southwest (2). A 1,000-acre wildfire broke out in northeastern Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests yesterday (3); and the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag warning for the Flagstaff area today (4); but faced with numerous large wildfires to deal with, Arizona State Forestry Division has mobilized its All Hazard Incident Management Team (5); where, as the 532,639-acre Wallow Fire begins to lose momentum, the next article examines how C-130s using Aero Union's Mobile Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS 2) have been employed (6); but along with the human toll from Arizona's wildfires, the next article takes a look at the impact on endangered species (7); followed by a New York Times article that explores the work of wildfire behaviorists on those wildfires (8); and another that takes a look at the dangerous job of wildland firefighting on the Monument Fire (9). On the technology front, an article from Colorado takes a look at the use of the Simtable, a 21st century approach to the venerable sand table used to simulate the topography of the area in which wildfires are burning (10). A 5,000-acre wildfire destroyed a dozen homes in Comanche County, Oklahoma (11); injuring one firefighter in the process (12). A summary of wildfire activity in Texas is up next (13); where heavy rainfall is being called a 'godsend' by firefighters, who may finally have a chance to get the upper hand on wildfires that have been ravaging the state (14); the cost of those wildfires to their timber industry (estimated to be between 21.4 million and 20.6 million cubic feet) being examined by the next article (15); but despite the damage to infrastructure, power companies are still proceeding with $3.2 billion in transmission line projects (16). An Audubon Magazine article profiles US Forest Service's Fire Sciences Lab at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Montana (17); and the legislative battle to get the fire grants programs funded by the US House of Representatives is chronicled by the next item from Washington DC (18). Firefighters in North Carolina employed a CL-215 firefighting aircraft to deal with a 21,300-acre wildfire burning on Holly Shelter Game Land, as well as a smaller 60-acre blaze that broke through containment lines (19); while the North Carolina Forest Service will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the fire on Saturday (20); even as firefighters in Bladen County plan to conduct burnouts on 2,700 acres to save 400 structures in the path of one wildfire (21). Wildfire smoke from Florida and Georgia are expected to impact Hilton Head, South Carolina, through August (22); while the Georgia National Guard provided bulldozers and a local mower company lent a couple of their mowers to firefighters battling the 267,900-acre Honey Prairie Fire burning in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (23). With 7,000 lightning strikes an hour and 95% of the wildfires in Florida's Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns Counties sparked by wildfires, the rainy season can't get here soon enough for weary firefighters (24); and Ontario, Canada's, Ministry of Natural Resources reported a 500 hectare wildfire burning in the northeastern portion of that province (25). An Australian actress is taking her play, a tribute to Black Saturday bushfire survivors, to Manhattan's New York Fringe Festival (26); while a Country Fire Authority firefighter accused of starting the Murrindindi blaze, one of 2009's Black Saturday bushfires, has quietly been cleared by police (27). And finally, one lucky fawn escaped Texas' Grimes County wildfire and was getting special care at the Wildlife Center of Texas!

(1) Grass fire slows traffic along I-5

(2) Wildfires burn across the South

(3) Arizona Wash fire cuts power, closes roads northeast of Heber-Overgaard

(4) Red Flag Warning in effect today

(5) State sets up initial fire attack team

(6) Arizona’s 532,639-acre Wallow wildfire starts to fizzle

(7) Ecosystem home to endangered wolves, owls and fish hit hardest by hot, historic Ariz. wildfire

(8) Fighting Wildfires With Computers and Intuition

(9) What Monument firefighters face at camp, on job

(10) New 'sandbox' tool gets firefighters into the terrain

(11) Wildfire continues near Medicine Park

(12) Firefighter suffers 'minor' injuries in Okla. fire

(13) Texas Forest Service: Friday Wildfire Update

(14) Rain, falling temperatures help Texas douse wildfires

(15) Forest Service says fire costs staggering

(16) Wildfires haven't affected transmission line projects

(17) The Perfect Firestorm

(18) Reichert Introduces Bipartisan Legislation To Provide Vital Support To Firefighters and First Responders

(19) Thursday's running updates from the Holly Shelter wildfire

(20) Town hall meeting planned on Pender fire Saturday

(21) NC Forest Service plans to burn 2,700 more acres in Bladen to control wildfire

(22) Smoke from Florida, Georgia wildfires likely to impact area through August

(23) Mowers, bulldozers used to slow Georgia fires growth

(24) Wildfire risk rises between Tampa Bay's dry, rainy seasons

(25) Forest fire still burns at 500 hectares

(26) Tribute to bushfire survivors heads to New York Fringe Festival

(27) Firefighter cleared of Black Saturday blaze

(28) The Wildlife Center Of Texas Giving "Bambi" A Second Chance At Life