WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 080912

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tom Lasser, a retired California National Guard Colonel, sent along an announcement about the upcoming Wings, Wheels, and Rotors Expo to be held at Orange County's Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, which will feature copious firefighting apparatus and aircraft from around Southern California (1); followed by a summary of wildfire activity in Northern California (2); which included a blaze near Mono Lake that has burned 1,000 acres and is now 15% contained (3). Lightning strikes have sparked a number of wildfires across Oregon (4); Oregon Department of Forestry reporting that a Butler Aviation DC-7 had to make an emergency landing due to tire damage on takeoff at Medford airport (5). A 45,088-acre wildfire burning in Nevada's Washoe County is now 40% contained (6); while Arizona's Tonto National Forest reported eight lightning-sparked wildfires (7). Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are causing hazy skies along Colorado's Front Range (8); firefighters in Colorado requesting more assistance from US Forest Service in battling a 10-acre wildfire near the Custer County line (9). National Interagency Fire Center officials indicated that Idaho's wildfires are moving out of the grasslands and into the timber, as is typical for August (10); the DC-10 seeing some action over a 30,642-acre wildfire burning in southern Idaho (11). Wildfires in Utah are the focus of the next article (12). Oklahoma's governor will be touring the state today to assess the damage done by recent wildfires (13); even as she considered whether more firefighting resources were needed (14); fire officials in Purcell warning that the wildfire danger persists (15); and a football player from Kansas' Emporia State University coped with the loss of the family's home in Luther, Oklahoma (16); but although 75% of the costs incurred by fire departments will be reimbursed, it may take a year and a half for that money to materialize, further impacting fire departments in hard-hit areas (17); in the meantime, SEATs have been deployed to Stillwater Regional Airport to help with ongoing firefighting efforts (18). Nebraska Emergency Management Agency estimates that $7.5 million has been spent suppressing wildfires in that state (19); while an article from Minneapolis, Minnesota, takes a look at US Forest Service's new, aggressive attack on wildfires, no matter how small (20). Although Canada's Vancouver Island has seen fewer wildfires than usual, officials in British Columbia are warning that a warm-up could change that (21). The wildfire situation in Greece, where a remote resort on Mount Athos peninsula had to be evacuated, is summarized by the next two articles (22)(23). Firefighters in Russia's Siberia are gaining the upper hand on numerous wildfires burning through the region (24); but a Russian helicopter fighting wildfires in southwestern Turkey's Mugla province crashed, killing all five aboard (25). A pair of wildfires outside of Jerusalem, Israel, kept firefighters in the air and on the ground busy (26); while a religious ceremony sparked a three-hectare wildfire in Vietnam's Nghe An province (27). In Australia, Bendigo Bushfire Action Group demanded that Parks Victoria clean up toxic sands left over from the Black Saturday bushfires (28). And finally, a Denver Broncos football player who lost some memorabilia when his grandparent's home burned in Colorado Springs last month received some special mementos from his teammates!

(1) Wings, Wheels, and Rotors Expo

(2) Fires still burning, growing across north state forest, park lands

(3) Fire near Mono Lake at 1,000 acres, 15 percent contained

(4) Firefighting crews battling to stop Oakridge area blazes

(5) Firefighting tanker makes emergency landing, safely, at Medford airport

(6) Lost Fire in northern Washoe County grows to 45,288 acres; 40 percent contained (see map)

(7) Lightning fires throughout Tonto National Forest

(8) Wildfires in Northwest contribute to hazy Front Range skies

(9) UPDATED: North Creek fire estimated at 10 acres; help requested

(10) Firefighters confront blazes in Idaho forests

(11) Crews Make Progress On The Minidoka Complex Fires

(12) Utah’s Pinyon Wildfire jumps lines, renews threat to homes

(13) Officials to assess wildfire damage

(14) Wildfires highlight need for Oklahoma policymakers to look anew at suppression resources

(15) Wildfire devastation

(16) Emporia State freshman rides out wildfire in pond with his father and turtle

(17) Wildfires burn hole through firefighting budgets

(18) NEW: Firefighter air support team sets up in Stillwater

(19) Neb. governor pledges monetary help with wildfires

(20) Forest Service gets more aggressive on small fires

(21) Public advised to be cautious as forest fire risk heats up

(22) Fire at Isolated Greek Community Spreads to Resort

(23) Wildfires in Greece force evacuation of three hotels

(24) Rosleshoz: forest fire fighting situation stabilized in Siberia

(25) Firefighting helicopter crashes in southwestern Turkey, 5 crew members killed

(26) Firefighting aircraft diverted from Even Sapir to Tivon

(27) Votive offering leads to forest fire in Nghe An

(28) Action group demands toxic sands clean-up

(29) Denver Broncos surprise Ben Garland after wildfire claims home