WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 110513

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bruce Courtright, Chairman of the National Institute for the Elimination of Catastrophic Wildfire, sent along a link to an article in which Wildfire NOTD subscriber Jim Peterson, Executive Director of the Evergreen Foundation, expounds on the virtues of science-based management programs that protect and improve forests (1); while researchers are seeking answers as to how wildfire aerosols can impact climate as part of the Biomass Burn Observation Project (2); and a new regional climate study discusses the future of wildfire activity in the Pacific Northwest (3); but the next article revisits the issue of US Forest Service running out of firefighting funds (4); the Director of Plant Science and Conservation at Chicago Botanic Garden providing some pointers on wildfires in the next article (5). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Tony Morris, Communications Director at Wildfire Research Network, sent along an article in which he discusses his personal experiences escaping a wind-driven wildfire which raced through Topanga Canyon, California, 20 years ago (6); but Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rich Brooks, a Reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise, indicated that windy, dry conditions in the Inland Empire prompted a Red Flag warning from the National Weather Service for today (7); while CAL FIRE dispatched aircraft to assist firefighters battling a seven-acre wildfire in Mountain Ranch (8). Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has agreed to pay a million dollar settlement for damage caused by a 2007 wildfire sparked by their operations in Skamania County, Washington (9); an official from El Paso County, Colorado, which was hard-hit by wildfires this year, testifying before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources tomorrow during a hearing entitled "Shortchanging Our Forests: How Tight Budgets and Management Decisions Can Increase the Risk of Wildfire" (10). The Idaho Forest Products Commission's "Thin the Threat" campaign is examined in the next article, with comments by Wildfire NOTD subscribers Jonathan Oppenheimer, Senior Conservation Associate at the Idaho Conservation League, and Tom Schultz, Director of the Idaho Department of Lands (11). Fire crews grappled with a 25-acre wildfire burning in rugged terrain in Anderson County, Tennessee (12); and a letter to the editor discusses the drought conditions on Long Island, New York, which led to a wildfire in Bethpage State Park (13); but in North Carolina, the Army's Fort Bragg uses unplanned wildfires as controlled burns throughout the year (14). Ministers from Singapore and Malaysia agreed to take actions to enhance regional collaboration on eliminating the transboundary haze caused by wildfires (15). Firefighters in Queensland, Australia, battled a dozen bushfires (16); but with the onset of cooler weather, firefighters in New South Wales are strengthening containment lines as 60 blazes continue to burn across the state (17); where paramedics and ambulance staff were honored for their work during the recent bushfires in the Blue Mountains (18). Country Fire Service quickly roped in a 90-hectare bushfire south of Balaklava, South Australia (19); while fire officials indicated that air-tankers would be available to fight bushfires in that state next week (20). Fire crews in Western Australia continued to grapple with a bushfire that briefly trapped tourists in Kimberley National Park (21); while the role of Twitter in alerting homeowners to bushfire emergencies in that state is examined by the next article (22); the one which follows detailing ways in which Western Australians can help bushfire survivors in New South Wales (23). And finally, Colorado's recent Black Forest Fire cast a shadow over the Black Forest Arts & Crafts Guild's show at the Black Forest Community Center.

(1) Can Environmentalists Think?

(2) Smoke signals: Tracking the rapid changes of wildfire aerosols

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