WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 100713

A 50-acre wildfire which broke out in Orange County, California, over the weekend is now 25% contained (1); while fire crews managed to contain a 15-acre wildfire in the San Diego County community of Lakeside yesterday (2); and a 2,500-acre blaze near Camp Pendleton destroyed several outbuildings and vehicles, forcing evacuations (3); while a 2.8-acre wildfire flared up near Hollister (4); the debate over what to do about 1 billion board feet of salvageable timber left behind by Yosemite's Rim Fire being the focus of the next article (5); and a 2-acre blaze outside of Larkspur was contained with air-tanker support (6); CAL FIRE showing off some of their aircraft at an air show in Paso Robles this past weekend (7). The Bureau of Land Management plans to reseed areas burned by two western Colorado wildfires (8); while a neighborhood in Littleton is importing goats from Wyoming to help mitigate wildfires (9). An editorial from Idaho looks at the changing face of wildfires in that state (10). The Chairman of Montana's Painted Rocks-West Fork FireSafe Council weighs in on the importance of firefighter safety in structure protection during wildfires (11); but residents of Superior fear that mudslides from wildfire-scorched hills could impede removal of toxic mine tailings (12). The President of the Wisconsin Technology Council weighs in on how improvements in technology could reduce the wildfire threat nationwide by allowing harvesting of smaller trees for construction products, with comments from Wildfire NOTD subscriber Scott Stephens, a Fire Researcher at UC Berkeley (13); while Virginia Department of Forestry plans to kick off their fall fire season information campaign on October 15th (14). With the conclusion of British Columbia, Canada's, wildfire season, statistics show that, with 1,800 fires, it was more active than 2012's (15). Fire crews from Brandon, UK, had to dig up a vegetation fire that had gone underground (16); but only two new fires were reported by the European Forest Fire Information System over the weekend: one outside of Bozyazı, Turkey, and the other outside of Tipasa, Algeria (17); while soldiers and Civil Defense firefighters battled a wildfire outside of Maghdouche, Lebanon, that forced the evacuation of a school (18). Wildfires which scorched over 1 million hectares east of Harare, Zimbabwe, may have killed two people (19). Aircraft assisted Australian Capital Territory fire crews in containing an 18.2-hectare bushfire on Mount Namadgi (20); an abandoned campfire being blamed for the blaze (21). The military lent a hand battling a bushfire near Clagiraba, Queensland (22); and a small bushfire was quickly contained near Mudgeeraba (23). The last $1.4 million in Tasmanian bushfire relief funds will be distributed this week, mostly to survivors in the Dunalley region (24); in the meantime, the Tasmanian Bushfire Appeal Distribution Committee recommended homeowners get adequate fire coverage for the future (25); but following those bushfires, which destroyed 400 homes and shacks, the Attorney-General wants to have arsonists pay for the cost of fighting the bushfires they light (26). And finally, firefighters in China had a different adversary to contend with: deadly giant hornets!

(1) Brush fire in Orange County spreads to 50 acres, is 25% contained

(2) Firefighters contain 15-acre brush fire in Lakeside

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