WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 082713

First up today, Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, sent along an announcement about a milestone in that company's history:

With over 30 flights recently having been flown on the Rim Fire, 10 Tanker has exceeded one thousand flights on over 180 fires since commencing operations in 2006. DC-10s are increasingly being employed by agency professionals to help contain emerging fires existing and predicated throughout the West. The company sees increased utilization of the type in future seasons due to its unique capability to bring more retardant volume more quickly, safely, and cost effectively to these suppression efforts.

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Jon Keeley, a Research Ecologist with US Geological Survey, sent along an article in which he discusses how to live with wildfires in Southern California (1); where a pair of water drops were performed at Van Nuys Airport yesterday as part of Media Day, heralding the arrival of firefighting aircraft from Canada in preparation for the fall fire season (2); but the son of an Orange County firefighter was taken into custody for setting several arson wildfires (3); the next article providing a useful tool for tracking wildfires in the Golden State (4); where 11 major fires continued to burn (5); led by the 250 mi.² Rim Fire, which firefighters brought to 20% containment, keeping it away from Yosemite Village (6); the fire forcing officials to close two of three Sequoia groves in the park (7); but an ecologist from Humboldt State University who specializes in Sequoias explains that they're really in no danger from the fire (8); unlike Tuolumne Family Camp, which was destroyed by it (9); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bettina Boxall, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Reporter for the Los Angeles Times, interviewing Wildfire NOTD subscriber Scott Stephens, an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley's Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, on the damage done to wildlife habitat by the Rim Fire (10); NASA providing an overhead of smoke from the blaze (11); contributing to the estimated 290 million metric tons of CO2 emitted by vegetation burning in the US each year (12); and polluting San Francisco's water supply in the process (13); the next article focusing on the renewed air attack (14); the one which follows revisiting the issue of the badly depleted federal air-tanker fleet grappling with the nation's wildfires (15); wildfires in California depleting the firefighting budget as well (16); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber Ty Bonnar, Vice President of Global Operations at Flexible Alternatives, sent along an article about the National Guard celebrating their 40th anniversary fighting wildfires (17); and as drought conditions persist, Wildfire NOTD subscriber Anthony Westerling, an Associate Professor at University of California, Merced, foresees really extreme fire conditions becoming much more likely (18); NBC News' Science Editor looking at the factors involved in fast-moving wildfires (19). Oregon Department of Forestry reported that an unusual summer rainstorm is helping to dampen wildfires burning in the southern part of the state (20); but although numerous media agencies have requested the autopsies of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in a burnover in Yarnell, Arizona, in June, Yavapai County indicated that these records would not be released without a court order (21). Firefighters from Crook, Colorado, are having a busy fire season in Idaho after adapting their fire truck to battle wildfires (22); while a new wildfire has been reported in Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest (23); but US Forest Service plans to conduct 1,400 acres of controlled burns near Ely, Minnesota, to reduce fire fuel (24). Wildfires in Labrador, Canada, earlier this summer are being blamed for slow Internet service by provider Bell Aliant (25); and humans were being blamed for starting forest fires in the Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic yesterday (26). New fire starts in Europe declined a bit, with only 10 new wildfires reported in France, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey (27); but what they may lack in numbers, fires in Spain and Portugal, where four people have died, make up for with intensity (28); forcing the call up of 1,000 firefighters in Portugal alone (29). In Australia, New South Wales' Rural Fire Service officials declared Sunday the official beginning of the Bush Fire Danger Period across the Far South Coast (30). And finally, firefighters in Marshfield, Massachusetts, came to the rescue of a deer having a very bad day!

(1) How to Live with Wildfires in Southern California

(2) Canadian Super Scoopers arrive early in L.A. County to take on fire season

(3) OC Firefighter’s Son Arrested In Connection With Series Of Arsons

(4) Track status of California wildfires with beautiful, multimedia tool

(5) Firefighters Attack 11 Major Wildfires in California

(6) Yosemite fire grows, but all's fine in the park's main valley

(7) Giant Sequoias at Risk from California Fire

(8) How Sequoias Survive Wildfires, in Yosemite and Beyond

(9) Wildfire Near Yosemite Destroys Berkeley’s Family Campground

(10) Rim fire taking ecological toll over thousands of acres

(11) NASA: Rim Fire update Aug. 27, 2013

(12) Emissions take fires’ impact to a higher level

(13) San Francisco Reservoir Pelted with Yosemite Fire’s Ash

(14) Valley firefighters use aerial attacks to combat the Rim Fire

(15) Yosemite blaze continues; U.S. fleet of firefighting planes depleted by years of neglect

(16) California burns through one quarter of firefighting budget

(17) On 40th anniversary, Air National Guard MAFFS crews busy fighting wildfires

(18) Yosemite Fire Example of How Droughts Amplify Wildfires

(19) Yosemite blaze sparks burning questions about fast-moving fires

(20) Showers help crews tamp down Oregon wildfires

(21) County Withholds Autopsies of 19 Firefighters

(22) Colorado town revamps firefighting truck

(23) New fire in Sawtooth National Forest discovered Monday night

(24) Forest Service lays ground for burn near Ely

(25) Bell Aliant blames fires for slow Labrador internet

(26) Forest fires affect Sierra de Bahoruco

(27) EFFIS - Current Situation

(28) Wildfires rage in Spain, Portugal as fourth firefighter dies

(29) 1,000 firefighters called out as heat, winds fuel forest blazes in Portugal

(30) Bushfire danger period starts Sunday

(31) Firefighters rescue deer stuck in mud in Marshfield