WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030613

US Forest Service plans to conduct controlled burns on 10-15 acres along the south shore of Lake Tahoe, California (1); but a Washington State University viticulture expert has warned winemakers that their crop may be tainted with wildfire smoke from the fires that blazed across that state last year (2). A National Public Radio segment from Boise, Idaho, discusses the implications of the National Interagency Fire Center's report that fewer air-tankers could lead to a worsening wildfire situation in the western US (3); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber Jonathan Oppenheimer, a Senior Conservation Associate at the Idaho Conservation League, discusses a change in US Forest Service's 2012 policy of trying to put out every wildfire (4). Land managers in Utah are concerned that areas scorched by two major wildfires last summer may be at risk of mud flows this coming spring (5); but to combat the wildfire danger posed by red cedar trees in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, about 1,000 trees a week will be harvested for mulch (6). The Texas Panhandle Chapter of the American Red Cross extended the last of its relief funds helping people impacted by wildfires (7); but a man faces possible prison time over falsely claiming a home he owned that was damaged by the Bastrop County wildfires in 2011 was his primary residence (8); while federal aid will help only a fraction of hundreds of wildfires survivors (9); so state lawmakers discussed how best to cover the costs associated with those disasters (10). US Forest Service plans to treat 200 acres around Beaver Lake, Montana, to reduce the wildfire danger (11); but concerns about the impact of sequestration cuts on wildland firefighting in the Kootenai National Forest were raised at a meeting in Lincoln County (12). The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry issued a wildfire warning for the southwestern portion of the state due to ongoing dry conditions (13); but fire crews quickly extinguished a small forest fire in Middle Paxton Township, Pennsylvania (14). Firefighters made the grisly discovery of two bodies in the midst of a wildfire in Queens, New York (15). Florida Forest Service firefighters have contained a 325-acre wildfire in Highlands County (16); but a stubborn 2,025-acre blaze in Ocala National Forest is still only 80% contained (17); and more may be coming as the Florida Forest Service pronounced current conditions as ideal for wildfires (18). Following a relatively dry monsoon season, Kerala, India's, Capitol District is bracing for wildfires this summer (19); while firefighters in New Zealand planned to dispatch helicopter air-tankers to battle two separate bushfires (20). In Victoria, Australia's, ongoing Kilmore East bushfire trial, SP AusNet is trying to shift some of the blame for the deadly fire onto the state government and fire agencies (21); while the Department of Sustainability and Environment began rehabilitation efforts on land scorched by the Aberfeldy bushfire, which blazed across 85,000 ha last week (22); but a training exercise went badly wrong on Country Fire Authority's bushfire webpage when property owners were alerted to bushfires that didn't really exist! (23) The insurance compensation issues following bushfires in Western Australia are examined in the next article (24). A pair of houses were saved from a bushfire threatening homes in Tasmania's Risdon Vale, near Hobart (25); but of the $7.5 million handed out to bushfire survivors, at least 100 claims may have been fraudulent (26). And finally, members of the Hawthorn Hawks football team got hot and sweaty for a good cause: rebuilding bushfire-burned fence line in Boomer Bay, Tasmania!

(1) USFS plans prescribed fires on Tahoe's south shore

(2) 2012 wildfires didn't burn down wineries, but they may have hurt the vintage

(3) Why Fewer Air Tankers Means More Big Wildfires

(4) Forest Service Hits Reverse on Firefighting Policy

(5) Summer wildfires cause earlier spring runoff, risk of mud flows

(6) Cedar tree removal seen as way to fight wildfires

(7) Red Cross uses last of wildfire fund

(8) Bastrop Co. man pleads guilty to wildfires fraud

(9) Federal aid program for wildfire victims falls short

(10) Texas lawmakers to pay wildfire costs

(11) Wildfire fuel reduction at Beaver Lake approved

(12) Berget concerned about cuts on firefighting

(13) Wildfire danger ‘very high’ across SWLA

(14) Forest fire reported in Middle Paxton Township

(15) Firefighters Find 2 Bodies While Battling Brush Fire In Queens

(16) Highlands County wildfire contained after spreading 325 acres

(17) Stubborn fire forces U.S. Forest Service to close Ocala National Forest's Hopkins Prairie Campground

(18) Perfect conditions for wildfires

(19) Increased threat of wildfires this summer

(20) Choppers sent to fight bush blazes

(21) Bushfire warnings 'came too late'

(22) Bushfire-hit land to be rehabilitated

(23) 'Panic' as CFA warns of false fires across Victoria in human error 'accident'

(24) Warning on bushfire cover

(25) Two houses saved in bushfire near Hobart

(26) Bushfire aid fraud inquiry

(27) Hawthorn coaches help rebuild properties destroyed in Tasmanian bushfires