WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 021113

The International Association of Wildland Fire sent along an announcement for a Wednesday webinar which will discuss Management of Cheatgrass Fuel Loading in the Shrub-Steepe in the Western United States (1); while Colorado's Sen. Mark Udall sat down with a dozen fire chiefs from the central mountain region of that state to discuss wildfires (2). A new firefighting plan to allow establishment of the Dammeron Valley Special Service District to better fight wildfires in that part of Utah has been forwarded to the capitol for review (3); and the Texas Legislature is considering a bill that would make it easier for fire agencies to take on short-term, last-minute volunteers during wildfires (4). As the spring wildfire season approaches, Virginia Department of Forestry is reminding property owners of the 4 p.m. Burning Law (5); and the Florida Division of Forestry is hoping that a rainy winter will make for a quiet wildfire season (6). After determining that wildfire smoke was rapidly accelerating the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, a scientist who was turned down for a grant by the National Science Foundation plans to use crowdfunded donations to continue his research (7). Increasing temperatures have firefighters in Victoria, Australia, worried that bushfires in the Alpine North could flare up again (8); even as residents in the Macedon Ranges remained on bushfire alert (9); and the Barmah Forest Preservation League voiced concerns that the Barmah State Forest is a catastrophe waiting to happen (10); while the Black Saturday bushfires were recalled four years on (11); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Nathan Maddock, Communications Officer at Bushfire CRC, sending along their first fire update for 2013 (12). With hundreds of thousands of acres in western New South Wales scorched by recent bushfires, a natural disaster declaration comes as a relief to pastoralists and graziers (13); while Rural Fire Service firefighters helped prepare homeowners for the next bushfires (14). A new bushfire outside of Byford, Western Australia, prompted officials to alert residents of the danger (15); and folks in Mundaring have also been warned of a nearby bushfire (16); meanwhile, researchers from Curtin University are working with the DEC studying beetles to better understand how animals respond when threatened by bushfires (17). People with breathing disorders have received a warning from Environmental Health Services about the hazard bushfire smoke poses in some parts of Tasmania (18). And finally, bushfires in Victoria have gotten so bad that a three-day music festival at Mt Hotham had to be canceled!

(1) Webinar Announcement

(2) Udall Meets With High Country Fire Chiefs To Prepare For Wildfire Season

(3) Dammeron Valley firefighting plan advances to Utah capitol

(4) Bill seeks to ease burden on state's fire agencies during crises

(5) Spring wildfire season approaching

(6) Fla. Firefighters Hope For Rain to Quiet Wildfire Season

(7) Dark Snow Project's Crowdfunded Climate Science Experiment

(8) Vic alpine bushfire may flare up again

(9) Residents remain on bushfire alert

(10) Fire fears for Barmah Forest

(11) Fire victims remembered four years on

(12) Bushfire CRC Fire Update

(13) 'Relief' for far west graziers after bushfires

(14) Vital skills to beat bushfire

(15) Bushfire alert for Byford residents

(16) Bushfire advice for Mundaring

(17) Beetles help bushfire response study

(18) Bushfires prompt health warnings

(19) No festival as Vic fires rage on