WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 031612

California State University Monterey Bay has been given a $32 million NASA grant which would allow them to map wildfires from the air (1); while Republican legislators have drafted Assembly Bill 1506 to repeal Gov. Brown's $150 wildfire fee which affects 850,000 rural dwellers across California (2). In Oregon, the Muddy Sled Vegetation Management Project has opened up portions of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest for thinning (3). Cousins who were accused of accidentally starting Arizona's 538,000-acre Wallow Fire have reached plea agreements in their court case (4); where the Arizona Forest Health Council is considering the pros and cons of legislation by that state which could radically alter the response to wildfires on federal land in the future (5). Mesa County, Colorado, has unveiled a 250-page Community Wildfire Protection Plan (6); and four years on, the Colorado Court of Appeals has sent an insurance settlement case over a 2008 wildfire back to a lower court (7). The Executive Director of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas provided some details on how the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund helps volunteer fire departments across that state (8); but US Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station made some ominous predictions about how changes to the climate in Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest and Yellowstone National Park could increase wildfire activity (9). Unseasonably warm weather has increased the wildfire danger in North Dakota (10); similar conditions bringing the same warnings in Wisconsin, where 70 wildfires have already been reported (11); even as land managers in Minnesota rush ahead plans for an early fire season (12). Firefighters planned to conduct controlled burns in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest over the next month and a half (13); while New York's Department of Environment and Conservation reminded homeowners once again of the fire danger posed by a mild winter (14). Firefighters successfully burned off 1,500 acres in Virginia's Warm Springs Mountain, part of 5,877 acres they plan to burn (15). A rash of wildfires has residents of a community in Pender County, North Carolina, worried (16); while a 12-acre wildfire came close to homes near Asheville (17). Fire authorities in Portugal recorded an astounding 4,186 wildfires in February, which was the driest on record (18); and Vietnam's General Department of Forestry lamented the fact that even by 2020 firefighters in that Southeast Asian country will still be fighting wildfires with obsolete equipment in a nation in which 200 wildfires destroy 2,000 ha of forest every year (19). Wildfire NOTD subscriber David Cant, Manager of Aviation Services for South Australian Country Fire Service, sent along some footage of a spectacular petroleum yard fire with the following comments: "Interesting YouTube clip of our contracted S64E Aircrane used at a waste fuel storage fire to protect exposures. About 500,000 litres of foam was dropped in 2 fuel cycles of the aircraft. All 80 drops were conducted under the strict supervision of our Air Attack Supervisor David Pearce in AS355 Squirrel. David is also a trained urban firefighter and HAZMAT on call officer for our organisation" (20). Margaret River bushfire survivors are calling Western Australia's compensation plan a “complete and utter insult” (21). And finally, firefighters in Napa, California, needed hazard pay as gunpowder ignited in a two-alarm house fire!

(1) CSUMB earns $32M NASA grant to aid study of irrigation, wildfires, crops, floods

(2) GOP bill seeks to repeal Calif. rural firefighting fee

(3) Collaborative approach to forest health

(4) Caleb Malboeuf And David Malboeuf, Arizona Wildfire Defendants, Reach Plea Agreements

(5) Forest Health Council examines bills that seek more state control over federal lands

(6) Sheriff's Office Releases Wildfire Protection Plan

(7) Insurance settlement still contested for 2008 wildfire

(8) A debt of gratitude is owed the true Texas heroes

(9) Climate study warns of possible changes to Shoshone National Forest

(10) Wildfires potential threat in North Dakota

(11) DNR Urges Fire Caution as Weather Gets Dryer

(12) Land managers scrambling to prepare for severe fire season

(13) Controlled burns in Daniel Boone Forest set for next six weeks

(14) Mild Winter Could Mean More Forest Fires

(15) Controlled burns fight fire with fire

(16) Neighborhood On Edge About Frequent Fires

(17) Fairview woods fire evidence of Asheville area drought danger

(18) Driest February sees more forest fires than peak of last summer

(19) Vietnam to fight forest fires manually over next ten years

(20) Editors Extras - Wingfield Fire

(21) Bushfire compensation offer an 'insult': victim

(22) Napa firefighters surprised by fiery salvo