WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 092113

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bruce Courtright, Chairman of the National Institute for the Elimination of Catastrophic Wildfire, announced passage of H.R. 1526, the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which aims to reduce wildfires through improved local management of federal forests (1); an Associated Press article providing comments from both sides of the issue on increasing logging in national forests (2); and in a Washington Post Op-Ed piece, the Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Restoring America’s Forests program offers a couple of suggestions on how Congress can fix fire management in the US (3). CAL FIRE has issued a report on Southern California's Silver Fire, which destroyed 48 structures including 26 homes, scorching more than 31 square miles in August (4); while the role of inmate firefighters battling California's wildfires is re-examined by the next article (5); and the aviation mechanics of the Army's 135th General Support Aviation Battalion have done their part to keep military helicopters flying this fire season as well (6); but the wind is not helping with containment of Yosemite's 256,895-acre Rim Fire (7). Following a year in which there have been 30 wildland firefighter deaths, an article from New Mexico asks whether there should be protocol changes (8). As the fire season in Idaho winds down, the next article looks back on a busy time in which 1,300 wildfires scorched 728,900 acres (9); while firefighters from Utah's North and South Summit Fire Districts were feted in appreciation for their efforts battling the Rockport Fire (10). In New York State, the Fishkill Emergency Preparedness Committee will be conducting a wildfire exercise today (11). The European Force Fire Information System reported 10 wildfires in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Bulgaria (12); while a 100-hectare wildfire blazed through Iran's Golestan National Park (13). In Queensland, Australia, Rural Fire Service firefighters managed to keep a large bushfire away from homes near Hervey Bay (14); a farmer recounting the harrowing tale of how a bushfire which breached containment lines near Kinchant Dam bore down on his house (15); but despite current rain, fire officials in Victoria worried that this could be another bad fire season like the previous one in which 4,400 bushfires broke out across the state (16); while the psychological impact of 2009's Black Saturday bushfires on children was examined in a new study commissioned by the state government (17); but with heavy rainfall this spring boosting bushfire fuel, fire officials in Western Australia will be hosting a series of fire awareness nights next month for folks in the South West (18). And finally, firefighters from Florida's Melbourne Fire Department were told not to wear pink shirts they had already purchased weeks ago for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

(1) House Approves Legislation to Create Jobs, Strengthen Rural Communities, Schools and Prevent Wildfires

(2) House backs bill to boost logging in nat'l forests

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