WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030713

The Bureau of Land Management will not be hiring seasonal firefighters in Eddy County, New Mexico, this year, relying instead on local help fighting wildfires (1); while a 3,000-acre wildfire that spanned four counties along the Texas-Oklahoma border has finally been extinguished (2). An update on the 405-acre wildfire burning outside of Moody, Texas, is provided by the next article (4); the one that follows outlining the continued wildfire danger in Central Texas (4); where Wichita Falls Fire Department has kicked off their Ready, Set, Go! program to prepare residents for the inevitable wildfires of summer (5). Folks in Montana are still trying to figure out what US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell meant in a letter describing the agency's planned response to wildfires this year (6); while controlled burns are underway in Louisiana's Kisatchie National Forest (7); but a runaway trash fire in Baldwin County, Alabama, scorched 200 acres (8). Mississippi Forestry Service reported a 195-acre wildfire in Harrison County Wednesday afternoon (9). Wildfire activity in central Florida is summarized by the next article (10); where one blaze in East Orange County threatened an apartment complex (11). As Cordillera, Philippines, Bureau of Fire Protection launched its observance of Fire Prevention Month, their hope is to reduce the number of wildfires after an uptick in activity in 2012 (12); and Cebu's Department of Environment and Natural Resources has begun its own informational campaign to prevent forest fires (13). A strike by forestry personnel has left India's Chandaka forest vulnerable to wildfires (14); but following a major forest fire outside of Mumbai Film City, fire patrols have been mounted in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (15). As the Kilmore East Black Saturday bushfire case continues to unfold in a Victoria, Australia, court, an attorney for Country Fire Authority and the Department of Environment and Sustainability (DSE) pointed out that the emergency services had no specific duty to warn property owners to evacuate, punching a hole in one of SP AusNet's main defense arguments (16); defense attorneys vowing to call for testimony from former treasurers for the DSE as part of their defense that an overabundance of fuel was more to blame than their power lines (17); but prosecutors' attempts to toughen a jail sentence against an arsonist who lit a Black Saturday bushfire that killed 10 people in Churchill have failed (18). Arson investigators are examining suspicious bushfires reported northeast of Perth, Western Australia (19). The Tasmanian government is on the hot seat after it was revealed that it failed to allocate $25.7 million to vegetation clearance in 2011, contributing to the devastation caused by bushfires earlier this year (20); but volunteers continue to help with recovery efforts following those bushfires (21). And finally, an Australian anti-logging activist who had spent 449 days tree-sitting was forced to abandon her protest by, of all things, a bushfire!

(1) Feds Rely on Local Help Fighting Fires on BLM Land

(2) Love Co. official: Wildfire is out

(3) Firefighters gain on stubborn Texas wildfire

(4) The Dangers Of Wildfires In Central Texas

(5) Staying one step ahead of wildfire

(6) Forest Service letter gives vague ideas about fighting wildfires

(7) Kisatchie National Forest sets controlled fires

(8) Wildfires Keep Baldwin County Firefighters Busy

(9) Harrison County wildfire sending out smoke

(10) Wildfires on rise in Central Florida

(11) East Orange County wildfire threatens apartment complex

(12) BFP enjoins public support in forest fire prevention

(13) DENR tells upland residents: help prevent forest, bush fire

(14) Fire engulfs Chandaka forest

(15) Special patrol teams to check forest fires

(16) Emergency services had no duty to warn on bushfire evacuation, court told

(17) Former treasurers may be called to give evidence at bushfire class action

(18) Bushfire arsonist's jail appeal bid rejected

(19) Arson Squad investigates suspicious bushfires

(20) Claims Tas govt ignored bushfire advice

(21) Volunteers helping the Tasmanian bushfire recovery

(22) Wildfire forces anti-logging activist from tree after 449-day vigil