WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 110713

The California Office of Emergency Services warned that the state faces a longer fire season than in years past (1); an illegal campfire being blamed for a half-acre wildfire in Santa Cruz's Harvey West Park yesterday (2); and firefighters battled two suspicious grass fires in Castro Valley as well (3). Washington state's Department of Natural Resources is already seeing recovery in an 18-acre burn area on Mount Si (4). The head of an incident management team from Arizona's Tonto National Forest expounds on the drop in acreage burned by wildfires in the US this year (5); the following article providing a timeline on the deadly Yarnell Hill Fire (6). An article from Colorado provides some insight on US Senate hearings in Washington, DC, yesterday to discuss a shift from wildfire fighting to wildfire prevention at US Forest Service (7); but the devastation caused by wildfires around Colorado Springs has severely impacted recreational areas (8). Parts of Idaho's Boise National Forest that had been closed due to summer wildfires are reopening (9); while a retired smokejumper discusses Neptune Aviation's 20th anniversary celebration which occurred last month in Missoula, Montana, in the next article (10). Crawford County, Michigan, has adopted a new Community Wildfire Protection Plan (11); but a wind-driven wildfire blazed across 340 acres in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest (12). Fire crews in Queensland, Australia, continued to grapple with several bushfires across the state (13). Firefighters in New South Wales have brought the 11,000-hectare Brushy Mountain Complex fire under control (14); where bushfire smoke was sullying the air along Coffs Coast (15); but nearly a month after a 50,000-hectare bushfire devastated the town of Blue Mountains, the mayor chafed at the slow cleanup efforts (16); while Rural Fire Service group captains are up in arms for what they see as inappropriate cuts by the government to salaried staff (17); meanwhile, the Australian Turf Club will donate proceeds from this weekend's Randwick races to the Salvation Army to help New South Wales bushfire survivors (18); but a man has been arrested in regards to a bushfire fund-raising scam (19); and looters ransacked a high school in Springwood (20); while wildlife rehabilitators are overwhelmed by the number of animals impacted by last month's bushfires (21); a baby possum injured in those blazes succumbing to her injuries (22); but residents of western Sydney are getting some new neighbors: koala bears! (23) Fire crews battling a 100-hectare bushfire near Nowingi, Victoria, were concerned about a shift in the winds (24); while dozens of people had to flee Western Australia's Karijini National Park as a bushfire burned near Dales Gorge Campground (25). And finally, heroes come in all sizes, as demonstrated by an 11-year-old girl who saved her father during bushfires in New South Wales!

(1) Cal OES cautions on lengthened fire season

(2) Wildfire burns half-acre near Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz

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