WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 013012

Improving communications, getting departments to implement fitness programs and more driver training were some of the recommendations to correct problems with wildland firefighting across the southwestern US last year (1). With unusually hot, dry, windy conditions forecast for southern Arizona, firefighters are bracing for another bad fire season (2); and with a dry and windy spring in the offing, fire officials in New Mexico, which saw 967,000 acres burn across the state in 2011, are doing the same (3). Nacogdoches County, Texas, is putting together a meeting to discuss a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (4); but a lack of snow has increased fire danger considerably for Nebraska this winter (5). An Op-Ed piece discusses the five-cents-per-acre tax that would allow Arkansas Forestry Commission to rehire dozens of employees laid off due to budget cuts (6); while people in Cleburne County, Alabama, were warned about smoke from controlled burns in the Talladega National Forest, where US Forest Service plans to light 1,075 acres (7). Although two homes were threatened by an eight-acre wildfire in Volusia County, Florida, no evacuations were ordered (8); but a deadly traffic collision near Gainesville is being blamed on smoke from a wildfire in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park (9); where fire officials have already begun an investigation as to the origins of the blaze (10). Firefighters pronounced a 200-acre wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Molokai 100% contained Sunday night (11). Israel's 'Climate Change and Forest Fires in the Mediterranean Basin' conference boasted speakers from Jordan, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Canada and the US, including Wildfire NOTD subscriber Johann Goldammer, Director of the Global Fire Monitoring Center, who discussed, among other things, how climate change is impacting forest fires in the Mediterranean (12). Wildfires destroyed 32 huts in Uganda's Napak District over the weekend (13); and more wildfires blazed through South Africa's Bainskloof Pass, prompting evacuations (14). The next article gives a snapshot of Vietnam's firefighting force, which is using fines to bolster its capabilities (15). With an estimated three quarters of Victoria, Australia's, rural dwellers having prepared no bushfire evacuation plan, Country Fire Authority officials are concerned that Neighbourhood Safer Places may be overwhelmed during bushfires (16); so firefighters are taking their message to the street at Bendigo Marketplace (17). FESA firefighters have corralled a bushfire which broke containment near Chittering, Western Australia (18); and water bombers also pummeled a blaze near Northam (19). Although a heat wave has abated, Tasmania Fire Service warned people to remain vigilant for bushfires (20). And finally, firefighters in Truro, Massachusetts, had to use a little TLC to get a doe out of a well!

(1) Communications, training hindered firefighters in 2011 US wildfire season

(2) Officials bracing for bad fire season in Southern Arizona

(3) Wildfire season could be as bad as last year

(4) Wildfire Protection Plan on agenda

(5) Fire danger persists without snow

(6) Firefighting isn't free

(7) Forest Service to burn 1,075 acres in Cleburne Co. today

(8) Firefighters battle brush fire in Osteen

(9) Gainesville traffic disaster puts early focus on wildfire threat

(10) Investigation continues for cause of fire at Paynes Prairie

(11) Crews Respond to Large Brush Fire in Kaunakakai

(12) Over 150 participants in an international conference on "Climate Change and Forest Fires in the Mediterranean Basin: Management & Risk Reduction"

(13) Wildfire razes 32 huts in Napak

(14) Homes evacuated as wildfires spread

(15) Fines expected to upgrade firefighting capacity

(16) Bushfire apathy has CFA fuming

(17) CFA takes message to shoppers at Bendigo Marketplace

(18) Chittering bushfire contained

(19) Waterbombers tackle the Wundowie blaze

(20) Tas Fire Service warns conditions ripe for bushfires

(21) Truro firefighters pull deer from well