WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 120513

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tom Lasser, a retired Lt. Colonel in the California National Guard, sent along an article which details Governor Brown's renewed efforts to have Yosemite's Rim Fire burn area declared a disaster area by FEMA (1); the next article providing a first-person perspective on the changes wrought on the slopes of Mount Diablo by a September wildfire (2). In a followup to yesterday's article about the potential fines Arizona State Forestry faces over the deaths of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots, Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bruce Courtright, Chairman of the National Institute for the Elimination of Catastrophic Wildfire, sent along the documents posted by the Industrial Commission of Arizona on the tragedy (3); Arizona Division of Forestry being given 15 days to appeal the $559,000 fine (4); families of the fallen firefighters reacting to the report with talk of filing lawsuits to get to the truth of what really happened during the Yarnell Hill Fire (5). In the ongoing row over the actions of the Black Forest Fire Chief during Colorado's Black Forest Fire last June, the chairman of the Black Forest Fire Rescue Board blasted the El Paso County Sheriff for not sharing information with them (6); but homeowners turned their ire on the Black Forest Fire Board itself at the Wednesday meeting (7). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Mikel Robinson, Executive Director of the International Association of Wildland Fire, sent along an invitation to their upcoming Large Wildland Fires Conference, to be held in Missoula, Montana, May 19-23, 2014 (8); but the next article takes a closer look at "fire borrowing" by US Forest Service that robs funds from non-fire programs to pay for suppression costs (9). Incident management teams in Hawaii were lighting controlled burns along Maui's Honoapiilani Highway (10); while a pair of wind-driven wildfires in the South American nation of Chile have scorched 2,800-hectares between them (11). A scientist from the Center for International Forestry Research comments on the need for reliable data to resolve the thorny problem of Indonesia's forest fire haze choking the region (12). In New South Wales, Australia, the Salvation Army NSW Bushfire Appeal received $700 from the Crookwell Country Women's Association (13); and for the first time since 2009's Black Saturday bushfires, Victoria's Yarra Valley Grape Grazing Festival is making a comeback (14); but dozens of firefighters and a pair of air-tankers grappled with a bushfire that threatened homes near Dongara, Western Australia (15). And finally, firefighters in Rutherford County, Tennessee, rescued a driver and her puppy from a fiery crash along Interstate 24, showing once again that firefighters are a dog's best friend!

(1) California Governor Jerry Brown Appeals Denial of Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Rim Fire

(2) Fresh Tracks: Explore a Mount Diablo recently transformed by wildfire

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