WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 100413

An editorial from Time Magazine posits that it may be time to let wildfires burn rather than suffer the financial and human cost of fighting them (1); a professor of Political Science at Georgia's Lagrange College asking whether private firefighters will have to protect the US in an age of budget shortfalls and fiscal crises (2). Southern California is once again bracing for Santa Ana winds (3); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber George Ewan, a Wildfire Planner for Orange County Fire Authority has been working with researchers from Chapman University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to track wildfire risk from orbit (4); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tom Lasser, a retired Lieutenant Colonel with the California National Guard, sending along an article about the upcoming Wings, Wheels, Rotors & Expo at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base on Oct. 27, where CAL OES will display various emergency equipment (5); but windy conditions brought wildfire smoke from a 500-acre wildfire burning near Lake Berryessa drifting into San Francisco Bay (6); but a pair of much smaller wildfires in Kelseyville are believed to have been caused by a riding lawnmower (7); meanwhile, a US Forest Service ecologist is worried that drought could hamper recovery of 63,000 acres of forest burned by the Rim Fire near Yosemite (8); but favorable weather conditions have allowed authorities to lift fire restrictions in the Plumas National Forest (9). A resident of Denver, Colorado, has pled guilty to impersonating a firefighter during the High Park Fire in 2012 (10); while a dozen students from Maine have successfully completed the "Hot Shots" Fire Fighting Program and will begin assisting the Maine Forest Rangers with wildfires (11); and a climate scientist in Juneau, Alaska, recounted his own close encounter with a wildfire (12). The European Forest Fire Information System reported only one new wildfire on the continent at Maramureș, Romania (13). As Rural Fire Service fire crews continued to battle a 3,200-hectare bushfire outside of Taree, Queensland, Australia, the Crowdy Gap campgrounds have been closed (14); an article from New South Wales commenting on the the early start to bushfire season (15); even as the National Parks and Wildlife Service employs a manager to get Warrumbungles National Park ready for visitors following devastating bushfires earlier this year (16); but after predictions about increased bushfire activity this summer by researchers at Bushfire CRC, Victoria's Chief Officer has warned homeowners to prepare for bushfires (17). And finally, spectators at Malaysia's Putrajaya International Fireworks Competition 2013 got more excitement than they bargained for when fireworks sparked a wildfire!

(1) Let It Burn: Changing Firefighting Techniques for a Warming World

(2) Can Privatized Firefighters Protect Us during Tight Budgets?

For the remainder of the stories in today's Wildfire News Of The Day, please subscribe to the Wildfire News Of The Day newsletter