WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 121712

An article from San Diego, California, takes another look at San Diego Gas & Electric's controversial plan to have ratepayers pay for that company's wildfire expenses (1); while firefighters in Northern California doused a small wildfire apparently sparked by a transient camp in Arcata Community Forest (2). Hoping to stave off destructive flooding after a wildfire, residents of Flagstaff, Arizona, have voted $10 million in bonds to thin 11,000 acres of the Coconino National Forest (3). A 100-acre wildfire threatened two neighborhoods in Fort Worth, Texas, over the weekend (4); while McLennan County imposed a New Year's fireworks ban due to the wildfire danger (5). The next article provides an update on a woman whose home was destroyed by wildfires that raged through tiny Bucyrus, Nebraska, in October (6); but having battled 1,227 wildfires which burned 32,990 acres since the beginning of the year, Kentucky Division of Forestry declared the fall fire season officially over (7). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Chuck Bushey, Past President of the International Association of Wildland Fire, sent along a call for papers for an upcoming workshop on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in January 2013 (8). Four years after Victoria, Australia's, Black Saturday bushfires, a horse race evoked memories of what was saved, as well as what was lost (9); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber Nathan Maddock, Communications Officer for Bushfire CRC, sent along their December/January newsletter (10); and as part of Operation Firesetter, police in the Macedon Ranges will have patrols keeping an eye out for bushfire arsonists through April 30th (11). Queensland fire crews are battling a bushfire which has burned 8 km² in the Great Sandy National Park (12); smoke from that fire being blamed for hazy skies in Brisbane (13); while recent bushfires have heavily impacted grazing land along the Gulf of Carpentaria (14). Firefighters in New South Wales managed to open a highway closed by a bushfire burning between Cowra and Boorowa (15); but another 30-hectare blaze was choking motorists on the Golden Highway near Denman (16); however, the state government will not have to pay compensation to plaintiffs in a case revolving around a 2003 bushfire which burned through Australian Capital Territory and parts of New South Wales (17). And finally, firefighters outside of Wilcannia, New South Wales, have a puzzling problem: how do you put out a seemingly inextinguishable flame in the middle of a lake?

(1) Who Should Pay for SDG&E Wildfires?

(2) Suspected transient camp causes fire in old-growth redwood tree in the Arcata Community Forest; blaze closes trail

(3) Bonds target flood threat in Flagstaff

(4) Texas Firefighters Battle Wildland Fire

(5) County cites wildfire risk in New Year's fireworks ban

(6) Living among the ashes: Woman displaced by wildfire moves back to Bucyrus

(7) Fall fire season ends, but caution still urged

(8) Call for Papers - 2nd Cyprus Safety Platform Symposium in Man-made Catastrophes, EUC Cultural Center, Nicosia, Cyprus

(9) Bushfire Horse Wins At Flemington

(10) Bushfire CRC December/January Fire Update newsletter

(11) Hot on the trail of bushfire arsonists

(12) Noosa national park bushfire still burning

(13) Sunshine Coast Bushfire Causes Brisbane Haze

(14) Gulf graziers desperate for fodder after wave of bushfires

(15) Bushfire containment underway

(16) Bushfire choking Golden Highway

(17) NSW avoids compensation for Canberra bushfires

(18) Firefighters baffled by eternal flame