WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 050213

An overview of wildfire activity in California, where wildfires were burning in the north and the south, is provided by our first article today (1); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rich Brooks, a Reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise, providing an update on a 3,000-acre wildfire burning near the Southern California community of Banning that is now 35% contained (2); while fire crews in San Diego County are on high alert due to Red Flag conditions expected to last through Friday evening (3); and a 100-acre wildfire was being fought by firefighters from Ventura County Fire Department in Camarillo this morning (4); a five-acre blaze cropping up near Keene in Kern County (5); a summary of wildfire activity in four Northern California counties follows (6); where a 20-acre blaze by Millerton Lake was stopped before it reached nearby structures (7); that article followed by a photo spread of two wildfires burning in Butte County (8); smoke from the Napa wildfires causing some false alarms in San Mateo County (9); officials in the San Francisco Bay area estimating that wildfire smoke in their skies should begin to dissipate later today (10). New Mexico State Forestry reported a three-acre wildfire burning in the Sandia Mountain Wilderness near Bernalillo (11); and more may be on the way (12). US Congressman Steve Pearce discusses the "let it burn" philosophy that is worsening the damage done by wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado in a video segment (13); but a critic weighs in on the problems associated with trying to reduce wildfires through logging (14). As the bill for establishing the Colorado Firefighting Air Corps continues to advance through the Legislature, it still faces the hurdle of a lack of funding for the $17 million project (15); while a state senator successfully shepherded three wildfire-related bills through the Legislature (16). The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, released its wildfire forecast yesterday, which does not bode well for the West (17); but a resident of Billings, Montana, who was charged with starting a wildfire that blazed across 24 mi.² with fireworks was acquitted by a jury (18). Maine Forest Service reported that 192 wildfires (many caused by debris fires) have burned 361 acres so far this year (19); while communities across Vermont are being urged to impose burn bans due to the dangerous fire conditions after two wildfires broke out on Marble Island (19); and another was reported near Wilgus State Park (21); fire conditions also forcing burn bans in nearby New Hampshire (22). Four churches in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, will be hosting "Fire-aid" this Sunday to assist people impacted by the Carolina Forest fire in March (23). A small wildfire in Ontario, Canada's, Simcoe County Forest briefly threatened a secondary school yesterday (24); and dry conditions coupled with a bank holiday could spell trouble for the UK's North York Moors National Park (25). Russia redeployed eight IL-76 transport aircraft to battle over 90 wildfires burning in their Far East (26). An article from Victoria, Australia, takes a closer look at a fire levy which property owners throughout the state will be compelled to pay to support Country Fire Authority and Melbourne's Metropolitan Fire Brigade (27); even as nearly 2 dozen new plaintiffs joined a Black Saturday class-action suit against utility Powercor (28); but the Warrandyte Community Association’s "Be Ready Warrandyte" project, which created a popular video that parodied the unpreparedness of Victorians for bushfires, is running into some money trouble (29). A bird's-eye view of bushfires in southern Australia is provided by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer from space in the next item (30). And finally, firefighters in Edmond, Oklahoma, may have identified an unusual incendiary device that sparked a wildfire: a flaming squirrel!

(1) Firefighters make overnight progress on wildfires

(2) BANNING: Fire crews battle flames as another hot, windy day arrives

(3) Wildfire conditions remain in San Diego County mountains, inland valleys

(4) Brush Fire Burning Off 101 Fwy in Camarillo

(5) 5 acre wildfire burning along Hwy 58 west of Keene

(6) Crews battle wildfires in 4 northern Calif. counties

(7) Brush fire near Millerton contained

(8) Blazes burning near Butte Meadows; Panther Fire tops 1,500 acres

(9) Fire Officials Believe Smoke Odor Coming from Napa Wildfires

(10) Bay Area skies obscured by wildfire smoke

(11) Wildfire burning in Sandias

(12) Bigger, faster, earlier fires expected

(13) How to avoid wildfires

(14) Forest solutions: Real and imagined

(15) The clock is ticking on plan for air tankers

(16) Sen. Nicholson Works to Protect Colorado from Catastrophic Wildfires with a 'Tree-O' of Bills

(17) Dry winter, warming trend foretell wildfire danger

(18) Billings man acquitted of arson in wildfire

(19) Spring season fueling brush fires throughout state

(20) Officials warn of dangerous fire conditions

(21) Forest fire breaks out at Wilgus State Park

(22) Increased danger for brush fires in NH, Vt.

(23) Local churches host Fire-aid for Carolina Forest fire victims

(24) Bush fire behind Bear Creek

(25) National park issues tinderbox conditions alert

(26) Military transport airplanes put out about 100 fires in Russia’s Far East

(27) $100 fire levy to hit all property owners

(28) 21 claimants join bushfire class action

(29) Residents worried bushfire safety project in jeopardy after being ignored in Manningham Council draft budget

(30) Fires in Southern Australia

(31) Edmond wild fire out, squirrel may have sparked it