WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 082913

Our first item today is a NOAA satellite map of wildfire activity in North America over the past six months (1); while Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences reported in a new study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment that by 2050, wildfire season will be about three weeks longer in the West, up to twice as smoky, and blazes will burn across a wider swath of the region (2); while Wildfire NOTD subscriber Mead Gruver, a Reporter for the Associated Press, examines US Forest Service Aviation's new Aerial Firefighting Use and Effectiveness study in the next article (3); Climate Central providing some graphic information on how California's wildfires are probably going to push US Forest Service's 2013 suppression costs past the $1 billion mark (4); the senior resident FBI agent in the Palm Springs FBI office praising the efforts of firefighters battling Southern California's Silver Fire earlier this month (5). Hotshot crews, inmate crews, and firefighters from around the US, a total of 4,200 personnel in all, are manning the lines of the 187,466-acre Rim Fire in Yosemite National Park (6); an ESRI interactive map showing the perimeter as of Wednesday (7); an ABC News segment providing information on evacuations around the fire (8); and a National Public Radio segment touching on the fire situation (9); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tom Eversole, Executive Director of American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association, issuing a press release in which Wildfire NOTD subscriber Dan Snyder, Chief Operating Officer at Neptune Aviation, discusses air operations over the Rim Fire (10); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Ed Story, CEO of Aerial Fire Response & Research Network, sending along a Washington Post article in which NASA provides some spectacular views of the Rim Fire by day and by night as seen from space (11); the California National Guard getting their own eyes on the fire from above by sending an MQ-1 Predator drone aloft (12); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Christine Pelisek, a Reporter for Newsweek's The Daily Beast, providing more details on that aircraft's historic first use as well as an update on the fire in general (13); even as hundreds of California Conservation Corps firefighters battled wildfires across the state (14); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, commenting on their operations as two of the mighty DC-10s settled in at Merced County's Castle Airport following the signing of a five-year agreement with US Forest Service to service air-tankers there (15); but wildfire smoke sullied the skies in California and Nevada (16); and hikers recounted their own close encounter with the Rim Fire (17); a Time Magazine article looking at some of the factors exacerbating that wildfire (18); the next article reporting the death of a firefighter battling a wildfire in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest (19). Although officials in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest relaxed fire restrictions yesterday, some are still in effect (20). A collection of 911 calls during Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire in June reflects the emotions of the callers (21); this at a time when the widow of one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in that fire has given birth to a son (22). A summary of wildfires in Idaho, where visibility at Boise Airport was reduced by wildfire smoke, is provided by the next article (23); while wildfires have once again visited Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, where a trio of wildfires cropped up (24). Pennsylvania continues to rotate fire crews out to fight the battles in the West (25). High schoolers in Alaska are learning the finer points of wildland firefighting (26); even as fire crews are streaming south to help battle blazes in the Lower 48 (27). A head-on collision in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada, is being blamed for a wildfire (28); while Alberta's Grande Prairie Air Tanker Base has reopened after renovations (29). Wildfires continue to plague the Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic, where a 50 km² blaze in Sierra De Bahoruco National Park is burning (30); and wildfires in Piaui, Brazil, are being blamed for power outages in several northeastern states (31). Nearly a dozen new wildfires were reported in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Syria (32); wildfires in Portugal killing a fifth firefighter (33); the next article taking a closer look at the rise in controlled burning done by the Swedish forest industry (34). The Pacific island nation of Fiji reached the dubious distinction of 300 wildfires so far this season on Wednesday (35). In Australia, residents of Seaton, Victoria, face an uphill battle trying to rebuild after the Aberfeldy bushfire (36); while Queensland Fire and Rescue Service asked residents of Mount Isa to be on the lookout for a prolific bushfire arsonist (37); New South Wales' University of Wollongong determining that houses need to be much farther back from forested land than previously thought (38). And finally, we have a head-scratcher from Texas, where a volunteer firefighter and Goliad County Commissioner argues against burn bans!

(1) Continent on Fire: Map Shows 6 Months of Wildfires Burning North America

(2) Wildfires Projected to Worsen With Climate Change

(3) GAO Sees Little Data for Air Firefighting Efficacy

(4) Nearly Half of All Western Wildfire Costs Go To California

(5) The firefighters' unsung heroes deserve our thanks

(6) As Yosemite fire grows, so does the firefighting force battling it

(7) Interactive Map Shows California Wildfire's Destructive Reach

(8) Rim Fire map, information, and video

(9) Firefighters Battle To Get A Grip On Calif. Rim Fire

(10) Aerial Firefighters Among First Responders To Massive Wildfire Near Yosemite

(11) California Rim Fire: A blazing tour from Earth and space

(12) Drone launched to monitor Rim Fire near Yosemite

(13) Can a Drone Save Yosemite?

(14) STATE: Hundreds of CCC crew members battle forest fires across California

(15) Castle Airport is now a staging area for the Rim Fire

(16) Yosemite wildfire blankets region with choking smoke

(17) On the edge of a firestorm, Yosemite hikers escape flames

(18) World on Fire: Climate, Population and Intensifying Wildfires

(19) Local Firefighter Dies in Siskiyou Co.

(20) Forest Adjusts Fire Restrictions

(21) Confusion, compassion heard in wildfire 911 calls

(22) Widow of Hotshot Firefighter Killed in Arizona Wildfire Gives Birth to Their Son

(23) Idaho wildfires: Boise air quality improves, Beaver Creek rehab under way

(24) In Boundary Waters, 1 fire out, 2 still burning

(25) Seventh group of Pennsylvania firefighters preparing to battle west coast wildfires

(26) High schoolers learn wildland firefighting

(27) More Alaska fire crews head south

(28) Head-on crash north of Quesnel sparks forest fire

(29) GP air tanker base reopens

(30) Bahoruco forest fire still raging

(31) Wildfires blamed for massive blackout in northeastern Brazil

(32) EFFIS - Current Situation

(33) Portuguese firefighter killed in forest blaze

(34) Iggesund: Forest Fires Nature Conservation

(35) Bushfire threatens homes

(36) Seaton residents fighting to rebuild after Aberfeldy bushfire

(37) Residents urged to dob in bush fire arsonists

(38) Bushfire authorities urged to revise safety advice

(39) Texas Official: Burn Bans Violate Property Rights