WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 050412

In Southern California, Camp Pendleton Marine Base will be hosting a wildfire fighting exercise next Thursday (1); while a Fresno firefighting helicopter company has found additional work opportunities in the construction industry (2). The next article, from Oregon, shows that you're never too young to learn how to be Firewise about wildfires (3); but working in conjunction with the Forest Fire Lookout Association, Washington state's Tonasket Ranger District is trying to have a heavily vandalized fire lookout removed (4). A wildfire in Arizona's Tonto National Forest has topped 208 acres burned (5); while another blaze near Fort Bowie that has consumed 1,600 acres is now 80% contained (6). The Colorado Legislature appears to have settled its differences over compensation for survivors of the deadly Lower North Fork Fire (7); and fire crews completely contained a 248-acre wildfire started by a debris burn in Toquerville, Utah (8). Evacuees from the Davis Mountain Resort in West Texas were allowed to go home as firefighters increased containment on two blazes which have burned 24,000 acres nearby (9); while Texas Forest Service assisted two communities in preparing a Community Wildfire Preparation Plan to deal with blazes of the future (10); but dry conditions in Travis County have led to a dozen wildfires in the first three days of May (11). Authorities have apprehended a man suspected of setting wildfires in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in April (12); and as fire season heats up in British Columbia, Canada, Kamloops Fire Centre indicated that half as many hectares have already burned so far this year as burned in all of 2011 (13). International Firefighters Day, a tradition begun after the deaths of five firefighters in an Australian bushfire in 1999, is highlighted by the next article (14); while a bushfire memorial in Victoria's Daylesford Community Park will be unveiled in September (15). Survivors of the Margaret River bushfires pleaded with the Western Australian government for financial relief before they go bankrupt (16); even as testimony continues about the Kimberly bushfire, which injured several ultramarathon runners, one runner, a former model who was horribly burned, discussing her own personal anguish at being caught in the fire (17). And finally, firefighters in Kennewick, Washington, came to the assistance of a distraught mother duck whose ducklings were trapped in a storm drain!

(1) Firefighting exercise to take place on Camp Pendleton on Thursday, May 10

(2) Long-Time Aerial Firefighter Sees Expanding Opportunities In Utility Construction

(3) Firewise kids

(4) Forest Service considers removing fire lookout

(5) Forest fire burning near Superior up to 200 acres

(6) Wildfire in southern Arizona 80 percent contained

(7) Colorado lawmakers agree to deal allowing wildfire victims to seek higher payments

(8) Crews looking to fully contain Toquerville wildfire

(9) Wildfire Evacuation Order Lifted In West Texas

(10) Fritch, Borger sign wildfire action plan

(11) A Dry Month Raises Fears for Wildfire Season

(12) Local Man Arson Suspect in Forest Fire

(13) Airtankers readied at Kamloops centre as fire season heats up

(14) Thank Our Firefighters: International Firefighters Day

(15) Sculpture to feature in Daylesford bushfire memorial

(16) Bushfire victims face ruination

(17) Marathon runner talks of anguish at being caught in bushfire

(18) Wash. Firefighters Save Baby Ducks From Storm Drain