WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 062613

The Vice President of Weather Analytics at The Weather Channel weighs in on the worsening wildfire situation across California and the West (1). In Southern California, officials from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue provided some useful tips on how to prepare for an evacuation (2); an article from Ventura County chronicling the exploits of local C-130s from the 146th Airlift Wing to fight wildfires in Colorado (3). Dozens of wildland firefighters have been dispatched from Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest to fight wildfires in Colorado and Alaska (4); even as the Oregon House passed a wildfire protection bill that could significantly change how suppression costs of wildfires are handled (5). As two massive wildfires continued to expand in New Mexico, 192 mi.² have gone up in smoke in the past month (6). Investigators are probing the remains of a home deemed to be the origin point of Colorado's Black Forest Fire (7); while an Air Force article discusses wildfire operations at Colorado's Petersen Air Force Base (8); but in the wake of two years of devastating wildfires, Colorado's governor plans to propose a regional firefighting resource system to help Western states better manage wildfires at the Western Governors' Association meeting (9); a South Fork evacuee recounting her experiences fleeing wildfires (10); the flood of evacuees from the Black Forest Fire swamping the rental market in the Pikes Peak region (11); the next article arguing that preventative measures around wildland homes is more effective than air-tanker support (12); but preventative measures and air-tankers were too late to prevent the destruction of an important art collection (13). In Texas, the Westlake Fire Department held a planning session to discuss preparations for wildfires they deem inevitable (14); Boy Scouts from Fort Worth chronicling their escape from a Colorado wildfire (15). Jim Petersen, Founder and Editor of Montana-based Evergreen Magazine, sent along an article which discusses much-needed course corrections by US Forest Service in dealing with forest issues like rampant wildfires (16). Over 300 firefighters from South Dakota have been dispatched to Colorado to help battle wildfires there (17); and a wildfire scorched between six and 7 acres on the outskirts of Newburgh, Maine, yesterday (18). As wildfires continued to churn through Alaska's interior, several blazes were reported outside of Fairbanks as well (19); pilots throughout the state being asked to give wildfires a wide berth to avoid air-tankers in action above the blazes (20). Air-tankers and firefighters on the ground worked furiously to try to contain wildfires in Labrador, Canada, that have scorched 70 km² outside of Wabush and Labrador City (21); while multiple wildfires continue to burn across Europe in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey (22). The wildfires burning on Indonesia's island of Sumatra have claimed two lives now (23); the next article taking a closer look at Indonesia's Peatland Fire Community Watch, which consists of volunteers from Riau Province who battle peat fires (24); a veteran helicopter pilot recommending that plantations have ponds and canals created to provide water needed to quickly fight wildfires when they break out (25); even as the World Resources Institute counseled that, with 8,000 wildfires currently burning in Indonesia, the government should do more to prevent forest fires (26); an Op-Ed piece addressing the health-related danger posed by smoke from those wildfires (27); wildfire smoke even being blamed for an unprecedented hailstorm in Singapore (28). With restrictions on investigating individuals or finding fault for the origins of Tasmania's January bushfires, which destroyed 200 homes, it has been decided that there will be no public hearings (29). And finally, firefighters in Sacramento, California, had to perform a tricky extrication: getting a dog out of a storm drain!

(1) US Forest Fires Bad—and Getting Worse: Analysis

(2) Search and Rescue Offers Evacuation Information in Case of Wildfire

(3) Local Air National Guard air tankers fight fires in Colorado

(4) Fire Crews Sent To West's Hot Spots

(5) Oregon House Passes Wildfire Protection Bill

(6) 2 stubborn NM wildfires continue to grow

(7) Investigators Search Home Near Black Forest Fire Point Of Origin

(8) Aerial firefighting continues against Rocky Mountain fires

(9) Hickenlooper To Propose Regional Firefighting System At WGA Meeting

(10) Kayenta Williams: 'The forest is on fire. The whole thing'

(11) Black Forest Fire puts pressure on rental market

(12) Mitigation around wildland homes is more effective than air support

(13) The Black Forest fire destroyed the life's work of these Colorado artists

(14) Planning session offers hope for dealing with inevitable wildfire

(15) Ft. Worth Boy Scouts escape Colorado wildfire

(16) Getting Our Heads and Hands Right

(17) More Than 300 SoDak Firefighters Helping In Colorado

(18) Firefighter crews battle Newburgh wildfire

(19) Two wildfires reported off Nordale Road

(20) A role for pilots in Alaska firefighting efforts

(21) Warm weather fuels western Labrador forest fire

(22) EFFIS - Current Situation

(23) Riau Forest Fire Claims Second Life

(24) Indonesian volunteers form firefighting unit to battle haze

(25) Indonesia should insist on ponds, canals to better fight forest fires: pilot

(26) New Data Shows Indonesian Forest Fires a Longstanding Crisis

(27) Lessons to be learnt from the haze

(28) Singapore Hailstorm Probably Caused By Wildfires

(29) No public hearings for the bushfire inquiry

(30) Dog down drain rescued by Sac Metro firefighters