WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 040513

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tony Morris, Communications Director for Wildfire Research Network, sent along a link to an article he wrote about the plight of Southern California-based 10 Tanker Air Carrier, which has unsuccessfully lobbied for a US Forest Service Exclusive Use contract amid an acute air-tanker shortage in the US (1); while officials in New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest have raised the fire danger rating due to low moisture coupled with warm, windy weather (2). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Micki Trost, Public Information Officer for Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, discusses forward deployment of a SEAT to Fort Collins/Loveland airport to bolster wildfire-fighting assets in the area in the next article (3); even as the US Forest Service continued to wrangle with OSHA over the death of a wildland firefighter near Orofino, Idaho, last summer (4). With 90% of wildfires in Texas caused by debris fires, camping, and welding operations, Texas Forest Service provides some tips in the next item to help reduce the danger (5); and an early-season wildfire near Bozeman, Montana, underscored the fact that outdoor burns pose a wildfire hazard in the southwestern portion of the state (6). Lead, South Dakota, has received $125,000 through their Firewise program to help train military vets in wildland firefighting (7); but the US Forest Service is being blamed by ranchers in Perkins County who saw 14,000 acres go up in smoke when a controlled burn escaped containment (8). A 35-acre field fire threatened residential areas in Bedford, Ohio (9); while wildland firefighters based at Pennsylvania's French Creek State Park are profiled by the next article (10). Connecticut is once again under Red Flag warnings (11); and despite rainfall, the wildfire danger in Northeast Florida is still acute (12). Dozens of wildfires that have been reported outside of Galway, Mayo, Dublin and Donegal since the weekend prompted Ireland's Agriculture Minister to warn of the extreme wildfire danger (13); but after a fire siege in which over 200 wildfires raged across the Highlands, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service announced that the last of the wildfires has been extinguished (14); but not before knocking out phone service to about 150 customers (15); and damaging golden eagle nests (16). A 100-acre wildfire blazed through the Valmiki Nagar Tiger Reserve in India's Bihar state (17). Heading to Australia, arguments against residential development in bushfire-prone areas were aired at a mayors meeting in New South Wales (18); while the Tasmanian Bushfire Appeal has raised nearly $8 million to help survivors of January's bushfires recover (19). And finally, rappelling firefighters in Vienna, Austria, came to the rescue of an owl trapped upside down in a net!

(1) As I See It by Tony Morris: 10 Tanker Air Carrier

(2) Forest officials elevate fire danger rating

(3) Firefighting Plane Stationed at Fort Collins/Loveland Airport

(4) Federal agencies at odds over firefighter's death

(5) Precautions can prevent wildfires, officials stress

(6) Early season wildfire knocked down near Bozeman

(7) SD Program Will Train Veterans For Firefighting

(8) Ranchers blame Forest Service for fire that devastates 14,000 acres in South Dakota

(9) Bedford firefighters extinguish large field fire in Bedford Reservation

(10) Wildland firefighters based at French Creek State Park dedicated to their profession

(11) Elevated risk of wildfires this afternoon and night

(12) Even after rain, wildfire danger remains in Northeast Florida

(13) Minister warns of forest fire dangers

(14) Last of 200 Highland wildfires extinguished

(15) Wildfires knock out phone lines

(16) Fears for golden eagle nests as wildfires sweep Highlands

(17) Bihar fire incidents: 11 dead, 100 acre of forest area gutted

(18) Mayors told bad planning in flood-prone, bushfire areas puts lives at risk

(19) Bushfire appeal nears $8m

(20) Vienna firefighters abseil down buildings to owl’s rescue