WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 020212

In Medford, Oregon, the local airport is moving forward with a $4 million plan to expand the Air Attack Base (1); but it was déjà vu all over again as the Small Business Administration reopened an office in Reno, Nevada, to hand out loans to people who have lost property in a recent wildfire (2). With thousands of drought-stressed pine trees providing potential fire fuel, firefighters in Texas will begin prescribed burns in the Davy Crockett National Forest (3); while Fulton County residents are weighing the effect layoffs in the Arkansas Forestry Commission will have on battling wildfires in their area (4). US Forest Service is continuing controlled burns in Mississippi, including in De Soto National Forest (5); but residents of Gaston County were warned by North Carolina Forest Service about the dangers posed by warmer days and dry fuel (6). With Florida breaking drought records, Volusia and Flagler Counties are particularly concerned about the wildfire danger (7); the situation underscored by a wildfire west of Daytona Beach which was just contained (8); and seeking to avoid fatal crashes like the ones in Alachua County earlier this week, Florida Highway Patrol is monitoring smoke along Interstate 95 from a wildfire near Titusville (9); while firefighters extinguished a wildfire near Hudson which forced the evacuation of two homeless camps (10). A wildfire scorched between 15 and 20 acres in Hawaii's Lapakahi State Park yesterday (11); but officials in the Philippines suspect arson was involved in several wildfires that broke out in Negros Occidental province (12). Fire officials in Mizoram, India, are attempting to wean local farmers off of slash and burn agriculture which has led to deadly wildfires (13); and high winds helped spread a seven-hectare bushfire that was sparked by a falling branch in Wairarapa, New Zealand (14). A new survey showed that people who survived Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires feel a stronger sense of community than the average Australian (15); but after only one person showed up for the annual Country Fire Authority Bushfire Preparation Night at Mount Evelyn Public Hall, a Yarra Ranges counselor was outraged (16); while a man turned himself in to the fire authorities in regards to a 600-hectare bushfire which burned in Meereek State Forest (17). The next article takes a look at the government body responsible for Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, considered to be "a millstone around the neck of DEC", by one report (18); where providential rainfall has helped firefighters complete control lines around bushfires burning near Gascoyne (19). And finally, a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania has a novel solution for controlling invasive weeds in northern Australia which lead to bushfires: elephants!

(1) Medford Airport Releases "A-To-Z" Report

(2) Federal disaster office reopens after second big Reno wildfire

(3) Controlled burns begin in area's national forests

(4) Forestry Commission layoffs may affect area firefighting efforts

(5) Get ready for control burns in the area

(6) Brush fires thrive in dry, warm weather

(7) Record lack of rainfall fuels rising fire danger in Volusia, Flagler

(8) Firefighters contain brush fires west of Daytona Beach

(9) FHP monitoring smoke near I-95

(10) Firefighters extinguish brush fire off U.S. 19 in Hudson

(11) Big Island fire crews put out North Kohala wildfire

(12) Forest fires spread east of Bacolod City; 15 endemic tree species destroyed

(13) Jhum deadline to curb Mizoram forest fires

(14) Forest fire sparked by falling branch

(15) Shared disasters forge common bonds

(16) Apathy over bushfire preparation astounds Yarra Ranges councillor

(17) Man arrested as bushfire rages

(18) Bushfire program 'ineffective'

(19) Gascoyne bushfires under control

(20) Australia could use elephants to control invasive grass