WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 042812

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Chuck Bushey, Past President of the International Association of Wildland Fire, announced that his organization was declaring next week Global Wildfire Awareness Week (1). With US Forest Service predicting an active 2012 wildfire season, fire officials in California are worried about the lack of federal resources to fight them (2); while the Bureau of Land Management reported a 700-acre wildfire burning near Mesquite, Nevada (3). An Op-Ed piece from Colorado counsels a balanced approach in forests as a way to reduce the wildfire danger (4); but a small wildfire in Gilpin County forced evacuations of Golden Gate Canyon State Park (5). Although fire officials in Utah feel it will be an average wildfire season for much of the state, the southern part may be more active (6); so Red Cliffs Desert Reserve is using goats to reduce the fire hazard in the area (7). A wildfire blazed across upwards of 10 acres near Whitehall Reservoir in Hopkinton, Massachusetts (8); and a small wildfire was reported outside of Barrington, Rhode Island, on Friday (9). Three years after a devastating wildfire scorched 19,000 acres, destroying 76 homes and damaging about 100 more, residents of Horry County, South Carolina, fear the next blaze (10); and to underscore the danger, South Carolina Forestry Commission reported a wildfire in the Forestbrook community of Myrtle Beach (11). A 37-page report released by Florida Department of Law Enforcement provides little hope that motorists won't run into more visibility problems from wildfires along Interstate 75, where a deadly pileup was blamed on wildfire smoke mixing with fog (12). A report on the crash of a Conair air-tanker in British Columbia, Canada, two years ago points to an optical illusion and an accidental retardant drop which may have combined to cause the accident (13); and a forest scientist from Université Laval in Quebec City discusses his efforts to develop a model to help predict when and where white-spotted sawyer beetles are likely to cause the most damage to dead and dying trees in fire-ravaged areas (14); while firefighters called in airstrikes on a wildfire that began as a cabin fire on Pilley's Island, Newfoundland (15). Fire officials in India reported that recent wildfires in Sakkarebyle, Shimoga and Sirigere were deliberately set (16). Ultramarathon runners will provide testimony at a hearing in Perth, Western Australia, involving a race in 2011 which resulted in numerous injuries due to a bushfire across the course (17); while a new $400 million weather radar established on Tasmania's Mount Koonya will help predict bushfire conditions more accurately (18). And finally, firefighters were called to a very unusual extrication operation on Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord Army base: removing Army paratroopers stuck in trees!

(1) Global Wildfire Awareness Week-April 29 through May 5

(2) US Forest Service predicts active 2012 fire season

(3) Wildfire Burns Near Mesquite

(4) Guest Commentary: Harvesting, replanting best way to a healthy forest

(5) Wildfire in Gilpin County Prompts Voluntary Evacuations

(6) Firefighters Prepare for 'Above Average' Wildfire Season

(7) Firefighting goats

(8) Firefighters respond to Cornell's Pub fire and brush fire in Hopkinton

(9) Firefighters Extinguish Brush Fire

(10) SC coast warily awaits next devastating wildfire

(11) SC Forestry clears scene of fire off Forestbrook Drive

(12) Warning signs on I-75 won't be ready for wildfire season

(13) Optical illusion blamed for Lytton air tanker crash

(14) Quebec forest fires a picnic for bugs

(15) Cabin at root of Pilley's Island forest fire

(16) Recent fire reported in forest ranges manmade: Singh

(17) Bushfire runner Turia Pitt to testify

(18) New weather radar to benefit forecasters

(19) Washington Firefighters Rescue Paratroopers Stuck in Trees