WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 050712

Kelseyville, California, will be hosting their third annual Wildfire Safety Expo to educate residents on the best way to reduce damage to their homes from wildfires (1); and following a 10-acre wildfire that burned in Colusa County over the weekend, CAL FIRE's spokesman warned of the elevated fire danger after a dry winter (2); while Napa Communities Firewise Foundation discusses how better to protect homes from wildfires in that county (3). Wildfire NOTD subscribers Melvin Thornton, District Manager for Oregon's Douglas Forest Protective Association, and George Day, General Manager of EnviroVision Solutions, discuss how things have changed over the hundred years the organization has existed, including their cutting edge wildfire camera system that can spot fires day or night (4). The next article takes a closer look at the Catastrophic Wildfire Protection Act of 2012, which would allow increased grazing and logging on lands administered by US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona to reduce the wildfire danger (5); but citing Colorado's deadly Lower North Fork Fire as the catalyst, New Mexico's governor has unveiled a new wildfire warning system to prevent the same thing from happening in that state (6). Two articles take a look at historic wildfires: the first from 20 years ago when a trio of wildfires cropped up in Brainerd, Minnesota (7); the second discussing wildfires in Michigan from the 1880s forward (8); followed by warnings about the current fire conditions in Michigan (9). Firefighters in Nassau County, Florida, expect a 400-acre wildfire to burn a few hundred more acres before final containment (10); and Florida Forest Service warned that the Treasure Coast is experiencing ideal wildfire conditions at the moment (11); while firefighters in Volusia and Flagler Counties hoped for rain to quench wildfires there (12). Another editorial from Alaska examines wildfire activity in the Last Frontier (13); while Newfoundland, Canada's, Department of Natural Resources was still battling a wildfire in Fortune Bay late Sunday (14). A forest fire in southwestern Serbia continues to burn due to inaccessible terrain (15); but over 6,000 personnel snuffed a wildfire burning in northern China's Hebei Province (16). Heading to Australia, Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment has conducted 160 controlled burns which have treated 65,000 ha of fuel (17); while Queensland Fire and Rescue Service urged rural residents to reduce bushfire hazards ahead of what could be a busy season (18). Western Australia's government has declined to provide compensation to ultramarathon runners badly burned by a bushfire near Kimberley (19). And finally, firefighters from South Carolina's Bluffton Township Fire District have a small request for residents of that area: please stop hiding the fire hydrants!

(1) Third Wildfire Safety Expo to be held May 12

(2) Warm, Windy, Dry Weather Leads To Fire Concerns

(3) Neighbor to Neighbor: Napa Communities Firewise Foundation

(4) Forest protective association celebrates century

(5) Proposed wildfire law addresses forest fuel loads

(6) New Mexico governor to unveil new wildfire-warning system in wake of fatal blaze

(7) This Was Brainerd

(8) Historic wildfires

(9) Wildfire risk elevated by state's dry, warm season

(10) Crews fight Baldwin Bay fire

(11) Treasure Coast is ripe with fire-favorable conditions

(12) Firefighters battle brush fires, hope for rain -- but not lightning

(13) Fired up: Warming season brings danger of wildfires with it

(14) Forest fire keeps Seal Cove on edge

(15) Forest fire rages in southwestern Serbia

(16) Forest fire extinguished in north China

(17) Burn-offs fuel better bushfire protection

(18) Fire chief fears bushfire season

(19) Barnett rules out voluntary compo for burnt runners

(20) Bluffton firefighters: Don't hide fire hydrants