WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 110613

An Op-Ed piece accuses news outlets in the US of inflating the damage done by wildfires in order to promote a climate change agenda by the Obama Administration (1). Twenty inmates from Southern California's Holton Conservation Camp will be transferred to firefighting camps today (2); while a half-acre wildfire broke out in Watsonville's Ramsay Park yesterday (3); and US Forest Service plans to conduct a series of controlled burns on 2,500 acres in Mendocino National Forest (4). In spite of the damage done by wildfires in Arizona, Payson and Gila Counties refuse to adopt Firewise building standards (5); while an appeal for winter clothing for Colorado's Black Forest Fire survivors has been issued by nonprofit Crosses for Losses (6). Arson inspectors in Anderson County, Tennessee, are treating the origins of a 50-acre wildfire as suspicious (7). At a US Senate hearing in Washington, DC, an El Paso County Commissioner called for more wildfire mitigation work in her home state of Colorado (8); Colorado US Senator Michael Bennet voicing his support for that effort (9); and lawmakers from Arizona advocating that policy as well (10). Eight forest parks in and around Beijing, China, have been closed until spring due to the wildfire danger (11). In Australia Capital Territory, Palerang Council is considering paying to provide bushfire information to its residents (12); but Civil Aviation Safety Authority has grounded Dromader SEATs following the investigation into a crash in New South Wales two weeks ago (13). Country Fire Authority has imposed a fire ban in Victoria's Mallee region (14); while a 100-hectare bushfire was reported in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (15). An Aboriginal community in Western Australia is no longer threatened by a bushfire that was burning near Fitzroy Crossing (16); but hot, windy conditions increased the danger posed to homes by a 10-hectare bushfire burning in Dingup State Forest (17). People who were impacted by Tasmania's bushfires earlier this year were warned about the mental stress the new season could put on them (18). And finally, firefighters in Wenatchee, Washington, are honoring veterans next Monday with a free barbeque!

(1) The Report of the 2013 U.S. Wildfires ‘Greatly Exaggerated’

(2) Calif. Inmates Transferred To Firefighting Camps Under Realignment Plan

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