WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 092813

Windy, dry conditions prompted the National Weather Service to issue Red Flag warnings for Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest this weekend (1); CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire pouncing on a 4-acre blaze in Moreno Valley (2); and parts of San Diego County were under Red Flag warnings as well (3); investigators determining that a 40-acre wildfire in the El Cajon/Lakeside area was sparked by a vehicle fire (4); Wildfire NOTD subscriber Hans-Werner Braun, a Research Scientist at University of California, San Diego, discussing plans for their WIFIRE system in a press release (5); but a potential government shutdown could idle hundreds of US Forest Service personnel at Santa Barbara County's Los Padres National Forest (6); while the National Forest Foundation has established a fund to help restore areas ravaged by the Rim Fire (7); General Atomics discussing the contributions of their MQ-1 Predator to surveillance of that blaze this summer (8). A researcher at US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Seattle, Washington, expounds on the link between climate change and wildfires in the next article (9). A long-awaited report on what caused 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots to be caught in a burnover outside of Yarnell, Arizona, cited improperly programmed radios, vague updates, and a 30 minute communication blackout as factors in the tragedy (10); along with the lack of air-tanker support, even though one was apparently overhead (11); but a USA Today article queries why the firefighters were out of their safe zone when the fire arrived (12); family and friends recalling the fallen in the article which follows (13). A fly-in at Colorado's Lamar Municipal Airport will feature air-tanker demonstrations (14); while Idaho's Payette National Forest is lifting road closures imposed during the Weiser Complex Fire (15). A 40-acre wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Oahu caused some grief for residents of Waikele Friday night (16); and Ontario, Canada's, Ministry of Natural Resources reported that a tractor trailer fire spread to vegetation along Highway 11 between Matheson and Timmins on Friday (17). Some 60 bushfires blazed across New South Wales, Australia (18); where Rural Fire Service fire crews battled a bushfire which threatened a lighthouse on Barrenjoey Headland (19); causing some real-life tension for the soap opera Home and Away, which films in that area (20). A Tasmanian Bushfires Inquiry report cited the inability of various agency radio systems to operate together during January's bushfires (21). And finally, we take a look about 100 years back to a cricket match between Australia and England which was interrupted by a bushfire!

(1) RED FLAG WARNING: San Bernardino National Forest Calls in More Firefighters, Aircraft

(2) Crews Douse Brush Fire East of Moreno Valley

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