WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 030913

Wildland firefighting equipment worth $40,000 was stolen when burglars raided a remote fire station in Southern California's Angeles National Forest (1); while Oregon took the dubious prize of the two biggest wildfires on the NIFC's list of 2012 blazes (2). The impact of the sequester on the 11th annual Arizona Wildfire and Incident Management Academy in Prescott is the topic of the next article (3); even as Tucson's Rural Metro Fire Department prepared for wildfire season (4). A video news segment discusses the New Mexico Legislature's move to effectively kill a bill that would have allowed fire department's across the state to ban fireworks on high fire danger days (5). A 500-acre wildfire that had been burning in Bell County, Texas, was finally contained Friday (6); while the Texas Forest Service will be educating homeowners on how to protect their property from wildfires at the “Wildfire Ready Home” program in Llano County March 12th (7). A 40-acre wildfire in Baldwin County, Alabama, has been contained (8). With more than a dozen wildfires burning in Central Florida following a year which has seen 560 fires burn more than 7,600 acres statewide, Seminole and Osceola Counties have instituted burn bans (9); while the Florida Division of Forestry warned of an elevated wildfire danger across the rest of the state into next week (10); adding urgency to preventative steps being taken in Port St. Lucie (11). Two years after a 110-hectare wildfire in Berkshire County, UK's, Swinley Forest, lessons learned from battling the blaze are being put to use by both firefighters and civilians (12). Residents of eight villages in India's Gandhamardan region received instruction on the importance of preventing wildfires in the area's forests (13); while a helicopter had to be called in to battle a bushfire near Waikato, New Zealand, due to the rugged terrain (14). To help regrow gardens and orchards destroyed by January's bushfires in Dunalley, Tasmania, Royal Botanical Gardens has launched "Plant-Aid" (15). And finally, firefighters in Italy had a singular honor to perform: installing a chimney in Vatican City's Sistine Chapel that will signal that a new Pope has been elected!

(1) Burglars Take Chainsaws, Firefighting Equipment From Mountain Fire Station

(2) Big Oregon wildfires rack up bills in the millions

(3) Sequester hits Wildfire Academy

(4) Rural Metro prepares for wildfire season

(5) Fireworks Ban Gutted in N.M.

(6) 500-Acre Wildfire Now 100 Percent Contained

(7) Wildfire Ready Home Program Set for March 12

(8) 40 acre wildfire in Baldwin Co. near Interstate 10

(9) Seminole, Osceola under burn bans as wildfire risk rises across our region

(10) Elevated Risk Of Rip Currents, Wildfires Over The Weekend Across Florida

(11) Florida wildfire season: Taking steps to keep homes, people safe during brush fire season

(12) Learning the lessons of Swinley Forest blaze two years on

(13) Padayatra held to protect G’mardan from forest fire

(14) Firefighters battling scrub fire in rural Waikato

(15) Regrowth in Dunalley

(16) Firefighters install Sistine Chapel chimney as conclave nears