WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 011813

With 70,000 communities across the United States at risk from wildfires, National Fire Protection Association's Firewise Communities Program has launched its "1,000 Safer Places: Firewise Communities/USA Recognition Program Challenge" (1). In New Mexico, the Little Bear Forest Reform Coalition has nixed the idea of basing a Single-Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) at Ruidoso's Sierra Blanca Regional Airport to improve wildfire preparedness (2); the next article looking back on the active 2012 fire season in Colorado, where 4,167 fires caused losses of over half a billion dollars (3). Texas Forest Service has asked the Legislature for an additional $27.2 million in funding, along with restoration of $35 million in grants to help prepare for wildfires (4); while hundreds of firefighters attended the annual Tennessee-Kentucky Wildland Fire Academy in Bedford County this week (5). Over two years after Israel's Carmel Fire burned 6,000 acres, killing 44 people, the forest is being reborn (6); but on the 10th anniversary of a Canberra, Australia, bushfire which destroyed 516 homes, the next two articles provide a retrospective on the event (7)(8). A quartet of water-dropping helicopters pounded a bushfire in Seaton, Victoria, yesterday (9); while cooler weather has slowed the progress of a 48,000-hectare bushfire bearing down on Licola (10); but at least one death has been attributed to the latest bushfires (11). Queensland Fire and Rescue Service provided tips to residents of that state facing a heightened bushfire danger due to the hot weather (12); and Wildfire NOTD subscriber Richard Thornton, Research Director and Deputy CEO of Bushfire CRC, discusses land management in preparation for bushfires in the next item (13). A fast-moving bushfire has been reported on the outskirts of western Sydney, New South Wales (14); the following article discussing other bushfires burning in that state (15); where some firefighters have collapsed from exhaustion as fire crews struggled to cope with dozens of major new fires (16); but the fortunes of bushfires is epitomized by the survival of a small house in Coonabarabran, New South Wales (17); meanwhile, a benefit for bushfire survivors will be held at the Bankstown Trotting and Recreational Club (18); and a volunteer firefighter has been charged with arson for sparking a bushfire in Ilford last September (19). A 2,300-hectare bushfire continued to advance on Jamestown, South Australia (20); while residents of Western Australia's Gascoyne region have been put on high alert as bushfire conditions moved into the "severe" category (21). And finally, a news item from Magadan, Russia, demonstrates another hazard for firefighters who work in snow country: rooftop avalanches!

(1) Firewise Launches National Wildfire Safety Challenge

(2) SEAT priority lowered by Little Bear Forest Reform Coalition

(3) 4,167 Colorado wildfires caused record losses of $538 million in 2012

(4) Millions more sought to fight Texas wildfires

(5) Outdoor firefighters brave chill for Academy training

(6) After fire, Israel’s Carmel Forest rejuvenates

(7) Concerns remain 10 years on for Canberra bushfire experts

(8) Canberra bushfire anniversary ignites memories for The Entrance MP Chris Spence

(9) Waterbombers protect houses under attack from relentless enemy

(10) Benign weather slows massive Vic bushfire

(11) Body found as bushfires continue across Vic, NSW

(12) Central Queensland residents urged to prepare for bushfires

(13) Preventing bushfires

(14) Fast-moving bushfire in western Sydney

(15) Barringella Creek, Dean's Gap bushfire information

(16) Exhausted firefighters battle fires, heat

(17) All lost or won in bushfire lottery

(18) Fundraising for bushfires at Bankstown Trotting and Recreational Club

(19) Volunteer firefighter charged with arson

(20) Firefighters continue to battle SA fire

(21) Bushfire warnings

(22) Firefighter Gears Up to Battle Fire, Gets Knocked Down by Snow