WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 042513

Despite the displacement of many of California's inmate firefighters from state prisons to county jails, 3,820 inmates are training in 44 fire camps around the state for fire season (1); and they'll all be needed, as Santa Barbara County braces for a bad fire season after 680 wildfires have cropped up in the state so far this year, a 41% increase from last year (2). Heli-tanker giant Erickson Aircrane will be moving the Tillamook Air Museum to Madras, Oregon (3); the next article taking a look at the role controlled burns play in reducing wildfires in Washington state (4). A 10-15 acre wildfire damaged buildings and forced evacuations near Moriarty, New Mexico (5); while an editorial from Ruidoso touches on US Congressman Steve Pearce's efforts to bolster wildfire preparations in that state (6). An Op-Ed piece from a retired director of Colorado Bureau of Land Management disputes cost estimates of that state's proposed air-tanker fleet (7); nevertheless the bill is nearly ready to go from the Senate to the House (8); even as the next article asks whether fewer smokers equate to fewer wildfires (9). Downed timber caused by last year's wildfires could cause some navigational hazards for boaters in Idaho (10); but motorized vehicles may be forbidden for up to two years in areas scorched by a 12,000-acre wildfire that blazed through Mountain Home last summer (11). A pair of bills that would use prescribed burns to reduce wildfires in Texas received hearings in the Legislature's House Agriculture and Livestock Committee (12). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker LLC, discussed their recent tour of the northern Plains states at a stop at Montana's Missoula International Airport (13); and with wildfires already cropping up around Helena, air-tankers like the DC-10 are in Montana's future (14). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Anthony Westerling, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Merced, comments on the impact of climate change on northern forests around the world in an article from Connecticut's Yale School of Forestry (15). Four years after a wildfire damaged or destroyed over 150 homes in Horry County, South Carolina, the next article checks up on survivors (16); but following Florida Forest Service's declaration that a 360-acre wildfire in St. Lucie County was out, the Indrio Savannahs and Indrio Scrub Preserves has been reopened to visitors (17). A 7.7-hectare moor fire sparked by a passing steam engine near Newtondale, UK, may be the first of many to come as the North Yorkshire Moors Railway prepares for its 40th anniversary (18). And finally, a bobcat who was rescued from the Chips Fire, which burned through California's Plumas National Forest last year, has been returned to the wild!

(1) Law won't affect inmate firefighting

(2) CAL FIRE Stresses Preparedness Due to Lack of Rain

(3) The Tillamook Air Museum is moving to Madras? Yes, it is

(4) Forest Service Preparing for Fire Season

(5) Wildfire burns buildings near Moriarty

(6) Sound Off! (April 25)

(7) An aerial firefighting fleet is too costly

(8) Colorado Senate OKs air fleet to fight fires

(9) Fewer smokers. Fewer wildfires. Are they related?

(10) Wildfires last summer mean river hazards for boaters

(11) BLM cutting off access to public land burned in wildfire

(12) Bills Aim to Ease Prescribed Burns to Prevent Wildfires

(13) DC-10 retardant tanker tours regional fire bases

(14) L&C area sees 3 wildfires in 2 days

(15) Fires Burn More Fiercely

(16) Life moves on four years after devastating Horry County wildfire

(17) Indrio Savannahs, Indrio Scrub Preserves Reopen After Wildfire

(18) Moorland ablaze as steam engine spark causes large bushfire

(19) Bobcat ‘Chips’ Rescued During Fire Released To Wild