WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 042712

The difficulty of forecasting a wildfire season for the Northern Rockies is addressed by an article in which the head of the National Interagency Fire Center's National Predictive Services Program discusses the fire season ahead (1); but predictions are that the Pacific Northwest will have a mild fire season this year (2). Nevada is kicking off Wildfire Awareness Week, which will run from April 28 to May 5, in Carson City (3); while US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell sounded warnings about an active fire season in the western US at a press conference in New Mexico (4); however, fire officials in that state are hopeful that a change in the weather pattern may head off another bad fire season (5); even as firefighters in southern Utah prepare for a busy one (6). Texas Forest Service unveiled a new website which aims to assess the risk of a wildfire in neighborhoods  (7); and six small wildfires reported in Kountze were apparently sparked by a passing train (8). Although rain and cooler temperatures have reduced the wildfire danger, Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources warned that burning restrictions were still in effect in the northwestern part of the state (9); and residents of both Wisconsin and Minnesota were reminded of the current wildfire danger across their region (10). Arson investigators have determined that a 1,400-acre wildfire that briefly threatened homes outside of Michigan's Huron National Forest was set deliberately (11); while firefighters responded to a wildfire in difficult terrain on the grounds of Oakland Cemetery in Princeton, Illinois (12). A dry air mass over Central Florida prompted fire officials to warn of high wildfire danger in Volusia and Flagler counties today (13); but a lack of fire hydrants forced firefighters in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to battle a wildfire on the grounds of Canadian Mennonite University campus with brooms! (14) Scrap metal hunters may be setting wildfires in the Bahamas Islands in order to find discarded metal hidden by brush (15); while fire officials in Andhra Pradesh, India, indicated that they had erected 30 fire watch towers and that more were under construction (16). In a new book entitled "The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia", considers how best to landscape with bushfires in mind (17). And finally, art imitates life at a new exhibition which was inspired by the damage done by wildfires in the UK's Swinley Forest!

(1) Forecast: Northern Rockies could have mild wildfire season

(2) Mild Fire Season Predicted For Much Of Northwest

(3) Wildfire Awareness Week

(4) Feds prepare for another busy US fire season

(5) Weather shift may lessen fire season

(6) Firefighters prepare for 'above average' wildfire season

(7) State unveils new homeowner-helpful wildfire

(8) Six forest fires break out in Kountze

(9) Despite cut in wildfire risk, emergency burning restrictions still in effect in NW Wisconsin

(10) Feds ready for wildfire season in Northland, across the nation

(11) Authorities: Michigan wildfire caused by person

(12) Firefighters toil against brush fire in ravine near cemetery

(13) Sunny skies with high risk of wildfires in Volusia and Flagler

(14) Firefighters use brooms to beat flames in Assiniboine Forest

(15) Scrap metal hunters setting bush fires?

(16) Forest Act blamed for shrinking green cover in Andhra Pradesh

(17) Establishing fire-smart gardens

(18) Exhibition inspired by Swinley Forest fires opens