WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 021313

The benefits of controlled burns in Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest are examined by our first article today (1); while San Diego Fire-Rescue Department responded to a wildfire sparked by brush-thinning equipment near University City Park yesterday (2). Researchers from the US Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station are afraid that timber burned by crown fires during Arizona's 2002 Rodeo Chediski Fire may never come back (3). In Colorado, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall has asked the Air Force to prep seven C-130 aircraft as makeshift air-tankers due to the budget gridlock in Washington making it unlikely the US Forest Service will be able to deploy more than 10 heavy air-tankers this fire season (4); meanwhile, the state Senate advanced a bill that implements recommendations made by the Lower North Fork Wildfire Commission to prevent wildfires associated with escaped prescribed burns (5); and the Estes Valley Fire Protection District chief will be making a presentation entitled "Managing the Chaos of a Forest Fire" to the Rotary Club of Estes Park on Thursday (6). The ongoing investigation into the fireline death of a wildland firefighter in Idaho last year has found that unsafe conditions were a factor (7). An article from Park City, Utah, takes a closer look at the Target Shooting and Wildfire Regulations bill which is being considered by the Legislature at the moment (8); while the Invasive Species Mitigation Weed Control Grant program is making $1 million available to property owners to help with weed abatement (9). A new civil lawsuit has been filed against Global Pipeline Construction for damage done by a wildfire in Glencoe, Oklahoma, last summer that destroyed 17 homes, scorching 2,000 acres (10). A force of 44 firefighters from New Zealand will be returning to Victoria, Australia, to assist with bushfires (11); but tragedy struck in Victoria's alpine region when a tree fell on a vehicle, killing two Department of Sustainability and Environment firefighters who had been battling a 27,000-hectare bushfire near Harrietville (12); even as short-staffing was blamed for the slow response to two firefighters injured battling a bushfire near Dargo (13); but vintners in the Rutherglen region don't believe that bushfire smoke will impact their grapes' flavor (14). Emergency warnings have been issued by Western Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services in regards to bushfires that threaten five towns (15). Five tons of bushfire aid from Bundaberg, Queensland, has arrived in Tasmania (16); where power workers in Aurora were hosted to a luncheon thanking him them for their efforts restoring power across the bushfire-ravaged state (17). And finally, an Op-Ed piece from chilly Scotland takes a look at one of the downsides to the lure of sunny Australia: bushfires!

(1) The favorable side of fire

(2) Wildfire Burned Near University City Park

(3) Study Finds Crown Fires Can Permanently Kill Off Forest

(4) Udall says wildfire tanker replacements tied up

(5) Sen. Nicholson Moves Forward Bipartisan Recommendations by The Lower North Fork Wildfire Commission

(6) Fire chief to speak to Estes Park Rotarians

(7) Inspectors finds unsafe conditions led to firefighter's death

(8) Bill aims to clarify shooting law

(9) $1 million available in Utah to fight invasive weeds

(10) Summer wildfire sparks another civil suit

(11) Kiwi firefighters to return to Australia

(12) Two firefighters killed battling Victorian blaze

(13) Injured CFA firefighters left stranded in bushfire zone in wait for paramedics

(14) Bushfire smoke not expected to impact grapes

(15) Five WA towns under bushfire threat

(16) Bushfire aid from Bundy lands in Tassy after flood

(17) Aurora workers' bushfire efforts thanked with lunch

(18) Bush fires and beasties: why it's not all fun and sun in the land of Oz