WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 072012

An Op-Ed piece questions whether air-tankers are worth the $60 million US Forest Service spends on them each year (1); followed by a video segment from CBS News which explores the current fire situation in the West after a century of fire suppression that has allowed fuel to accumulate (2). A look at wildland firefighting assets in Southern California's inland Empire is provided by the next article (3); while a 15-acre wildfire was reported in the foothills of Salinas yesterday (4); and another fire outside of Oroville scorched 30 acres (5); while a small wildfire in the town of Aptos in Santa Cruz County was quickly squelched by firefighters (6); but with an abundance of accumulated fuel and no major wildfires since 2007, experts fear that the state faces a daunting fire season (7). With the shortage of heavy air-tankers this year, Oregon Department of Forestry will be relying more on helicopters (8). Firefighters have contained a lightning-sparked wildfire northwest of Cañon City, Colorado (9); but a trio of wildfires is burning elsewhere (10); while a continuing series on wildfires in the Rocky Mountains looks at some of the reasons why homeowners were taken by surprise by the deadly Waldo Canyon Fire (11); and it turns out that authorities delayed ordering evacuations for two critical hours, giving residents just minutes to get out before flames reached their homes (12); but the plight of wildfire survivors is charted by a Los Angeles Times article (13); followed by an Op-Ed piece which praises GelTech Solutions FireIce product as something which could have completely changed the outcome of Colorado's destructive wildfires (14); in the meantime, Colorado's patchwork of fire restrictions is making it difficult for campers to decide whether they can or can't light fires (15). Texas firefighters had difficulty reaching a woods fire near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (16). Colorado National Guard units practicing demolition operations at Wyoming's Camp Guernsey inadvertently started a wildfire (17); while researchers discussed the impact of wildfires on streams in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park at a barbeque (18); but wildfires in the vicinity of Missoula, Montana, kept smokejumpers busy yesterday (19). An article from Pennsylvania discusses the deployment of firefighting crews from that state to wildfires in the West (20). A House Natural Resources Committee panel hearing spurred by the devastating wildfires across the West discussed forest health in Washington DC (21); and a climate change expert testified before Congress about the impact of Global Warming on wildfires (22). South Carolina Forestry Commission is urging residents of Horry County to guard against inadvertently sparking wildfires (23). In Canada, the British Columbia Forest Ministry has banned fireworks and open fires for the remainder of summertime along the coast (24); and a 48 km² blaze in Northeastern British Columbia was headed towards commercial facilities in Suhm Creek (25); while a 110-hectare wildfire was reported burning on the grounds of Ontario's Canadian Forces Base Petawawa (26); but quick work by firefighters kept a house fire in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island from spreading into the nearby forest (27). Southern Europe is ablaze, as recounted by a video segment from the BBC (28); an update on wildfire activity in Portugal being provided by the next article (29); followed by one about wildfires in Russia's Chelyabinsk oblast that forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 children (30). Heading to Australia, the Victorian government has released a bushfire management plan that helps implement some of the Royal Bushfire Commission's recommendations (31); but a resident of Ferny Creek drew comparisons between the current Bushfire Management Overlay restrictions and the failed 1990s Bushfire Buffer Zones program (32). And finally, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's Stair Climb in Baltimore, Maryland, drew some much younger participants this year!

(1) Air Tankers: No Way to Fight Wildfires

(2) Aggressive fire suppression leaves West a tinderbox, making mega-fires worse

(3) No firefighting aircraft

(4) Wildfire contained in Salinas foothills

(5) Wind whips wildfire on Table Mountain Boulevard

(6) Small wildfire doused in Aptos

(7) Up Next: California’s Wildfire Season

(8) More Firefighting Air Tankers On The Way

(9) Crews working fire northwest of Cañon City

(10) Firefighters battling three fires in Garfield, Rio Blanco counties

(11) Wildfire warnings have gone ignored since 1990s

(12) Tapes show Waldo Canyon fire evacuations delayed two hours

(13) Colorado wildfire survivors surrounded by loss and guilt

(14) Western Wildfires- Horrific, Destructive...and Unnecessary

(15) Tracking fire limits a chore

(16) Firefighters battling blaze near DFW Airport hampered by remote location

(17) Colorado Guard unit starts Wyoming wildfire

(18) Wildfire Impacts on Yellowstone Streams Topic of AMK Ranch Talk Thursday

(19) Smokejumpers dispatched to fire in Rattlesnake Wilderness

(20) PA forest firefighters deployed to Western States

(21) OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Wildfires, forest health come into focus

(22) My Oral Testimony For House Hearing Today On Bark Beetles, Drought And Wildfires

(23) Forestry officials encourage fire-safe measures in high-risk Horry County

(24) Forest ministry bans open fires and fireworks

(25) Wildfire triggers evacuation alert in northeastern B.C.

(26) Forest fire burns at CFB Petawawa

(27) Firefighters keep fire from spreading to woods

(28) Wildfires burn across southern Europe

(29) Portugal's Madeira hit by forest fires

(30) Forest fires in the Chelyabinsk region impede vacationers

(31) Updated bushfire management plan revealed

(32) Warning on restrictions on homes in Ferny Creek

(33) 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Stair Climb a Family Affair