WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 121611

A Government Accounting Office draft report on Southern California's Station Fire indicated that US Forest Service needed to clarify some policies (the full report can be read here) (1); while the California Public Utilities Commission has once again granted four power utilities the right to bill ratepayers for wildfire liability insurance costs (2). A piece of legislation which would provide a land swap in northern Colorado to improve wildfire protection on the fringes of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest has finally been ramrodded through Congress (3); but citing negligence on the part of the Utah National Guard in battling a wildfire they started, homeowners in Herriman are suing the Guard for compensation (4). In the wake of massive wildfires, Allstate Insurance has asked the Texas Department of Insurance for a 5.7% increase in homeowners insurance premiums due to concerns of future wildfires (5); while Helicopter Association International sent along a reminder about their upcoming trade show in Dallas February 11-14, 2012 (6). Canon Forest Program, which planted over 78,000 new trees in Wisconsin and South Carolina, is profiled in the next article (7). A study from the University of Michigan published in the journal American Naturalist indicates that increasingly bad forest fires in Canada may require some changes in strategy by fire agencies (8); and loggers in Massachusetts are asking the Department of Conservation and Recreation to lift a three-year moratorium on harvesting wood on state land in order to reduce the potential wildfire threat (9). Now that the wildfire season is over, the Russian region of Arkhangelsk tallied up the millions of rubles it paid in suppression costs (10); while the President of the African nation of Ghana requested a review of bushfire prevention laws after learning that 229 bushfires cost 360 million Ghana cedis (roughly $220 million) in 2011 (11). Heading to Australia, the Victorian government indicated that 200 people had participated in bushfire buyback informational meetings across the state since November (12); where a Country Fire Authority volunteer has been sent to prison for nearly 2 years after being convicted of starting nine bushfires on Mt Evelyn in 2010 (13). Fire restrictions across Queensland have eased due to recent rainfall (14); but forecasting a bad bushfire season ahead, the Tasmanian Fire Service has mobilized 5,000 firefighters to deal with it (15). And finally, the battle over axing Smokey Bear has ended with an ursine victory!

(1) APNewsBreak: Confusion cited in Calif. fire report

(2) New commission, same decisions at year-end meeting [North County Times, Escondido, Calif.]

(3) Polis, Udall efforts to get Sugar Loaf Fire Protection district land likely heading to the president

(4) Wildfire Victims File Lawsuit Against National Guard

(5) Allstate rates for Texas homeowners going up

(6) Heli-Expo 2012

(7) Canon U.S.A. Plants More Than 78,000 Trees in South Carolina and Wisconsin Through the Arbor Day Foundation

(8) Predicted Rise of Wildfires in Parts of Canada

(9) Loggers ask state to lift ban on state forest harvests

(10) Arkhangelsk region continues to pay for extinguishing forest fires

(11) Fire outbreaks cost country 360 million Ghana cedis last year

(12) Bushfire land buy-back offers next year

(13) CFA arsonist jailed for 22 months over Mt Evelyn blazes

(14) Fire ban lifted after wet start to summer

(15) Gearing up for fire season

(16) Smokey Bear saved again