WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 043013

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rich Sauer, a Fire Captain with Ventura County Fire Department and owner of Wildfire Coach, commented on yesterday's story about approximately 50% of the air-tanker requests by firefighters on the ground going unfulfilled: "To add to your article regarding air tankers not responding to a wildfire, the IC of the Fillmore fire a few weeks ago could not get tankers to respond. I'm not sure why."

Elsewhere in the news, a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discloses the molecular triggers which spur regrowth in areas scorched by wildfires (1). In Southern California, Los Angeles County Fire crews responded to a wildfire sparked by a small plane crash on a ridge in northern Los Angeles County (2); while San Bernardino County Fire Department's Residential Assessment Program will go into operation tomorrow (3); and Santa Maria Air Tanker Base has been reopened for the fire season by US Forest Service (4); which is probably a good thing after firefighters corralled a 5-acre wildfire outside of San Luis Obispo (5); and a half-acre wildfire also broke out near San Jose (6). Seeking a fair method for assessing wildfire damages and penalizing bad behavior, the Oregon Legislature's House passed a wildfire damage assessment bill which creates a system which, it is hoped, will determine the true cost of wildfire damage (7); this at a time when wildfire season is beginning almost a month early (8); with a number of fires already reported in Western Oregon (9). Fire crews have brought containment on a 161-acre wildfire near Nogales, Arizona, to 80% (10); but the National Weather Service has issued Red Flag warnings for Northern Arizona due to dry, windy conditions (11). Although Utah's expecting an above-average wildfire season, fire managers don't believe it will be anywhere near the 413,626 acres burned in 2012 (12); while representatives from the Texas Forest Service will provide information to residents of Gonzales on wildfire readiness at a meeting Thursday night (13). The US Forest Service announced that C-130s from the 153rd Airlift Wing and the 145th Airlift Wing equipped with MAFFS will begin wildfire training near Wyoming's Red Feather Lakes next week (14). A volunteer firefighter from Reno County, Kansas, has been charged with setting at least a dozen wildfires last fall (15); while recovery efforts in areas hard-hit by Nebraska's 2012 wildfires were disclosed at a Fire Recovery and Progress Update meeting in Chadron Monday night (16). Following a 25-acre wildfire near Motley, Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources indicated that warming temperatures will lead to more fires (17); and a property owner in Bradford, Maine, could face fines of over $25,000 for a debris fire which required seven departments to extinguish it when it got out of control (18). Smoke from a wildfire in Barrington, Rhode Island, was so thick firefighters had difficulty pinpointing the fire's location (19); Alaska's governor urging citizens to be proactive in preparing for wildfires as he declared this Wildland Fire Prevention and Preparedness Week (20). Fire crews in Saskatchewan, Canada, are closely monitoring the remains of a wildfire that blazed through Grasslands National Park (21); while Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources has reported two dozen wildfires since April 1st (22). Two years after a devastating wildfire in Belgium's Kalmthoutse Heide Natural Park, the Agency for Nature and Forests ANB has come up with a plan to prevent major blazes in the future (23); but development efforts by Ethiopia's government are being blamed for a wildfire that scorched between 50 and 80 acres in the UNESCO-registered Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve (24). And finally, it took 10 firefighters from two agencies to rescue a kitten stuck in a wall in South Florida!

(1) Smoke Signals: How Burning Plants Tell Seeds to Rise from the Ashes

(2) Small plane crash sparks small Calif. wildfire

(3) County Fire offers free wildfire mitigation to residents

(4) Santa Maria Air Tanker Base Opens for Fire Season

(5) UPDATE: 5 acres burned in brush fire at Edna Ranch

(6) San Jose: Firefighters corral grass fire near city border

(7) House passes wildfire damage assessment bill

(8) Wildfire season to begin 2 to 3 weeks early

(9) Preparing for Wildfire Season

(10) Wildfire near Nogales is nearly contained

(11) Fire danger and triple-digit temps hit Arizona

(12) Utah Prepares for "Above-Average" Wildfire Season

(13) Wildfire readiness program is Thursday

(14) C-130s may do wildfire suppression training drops near Red Feather Lakes on May 6-10

(15) Volunteer firefighter charged with arson

(16) Fire Recovery Meeting Held Monday Night

(17) Recent warm weather means wildfires and flooding

(18) Weather conditions affect wildfire in Bradford

(19) Firefighters Battle Brush Fire Sunday

(20) Parnell Declares Wildfire Preparedness Week

(21) Crews watching for flare-ups after Grasslands National Park wildfire

(22) Two dozen forest fires already reported

(23) Action plan to prevent major forest fires

(24) Ethiopia: fire destroys UNESCO-registered coffee forest

(25) Firefighters rescue kitten stuck in wall