WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 112313

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Mikel Robinson, Executive Director of the International Association of Wildland Fire, sent along a reminder about an invitation to nominate someone for their Board of Directors by November 25th (1); while a USA Today article looks back on a deadly fire season in the US (2). A pair of wildfires in Northern California have burned over 3,000 acres between them (3); but the Oregon Department of Forestry will have to wait until February for the Legislature to provide an additional $40 million to pay 2013 wildfire costs (4). In the wake of Colorado's massive wildfires, homeowners planning to rebuild in Colorado Springs queried the El Paso County Board of Commissioners on Thursday at a work session about potential fire code changes which could add between $7,000 and $22,000 to each home's rebuilding costs (5); while homeowners who are living in thinly-insulated motor homes after their primary residence burned down want answers and justice (6); and US Sen. Michael Bennett introduced the "Prepare, Ready, Equip and Prevent Areas at-Risk of Emergency Wildfires Act" to fund mitigation projects through competitive grants (7). An Op-Ed piece from Amarillo, Texas, rails against environmentalists for the current crop of catastrophic wildfires across the West (8); but the former Fire Chief of Babbitt, Minnesota, has pleaded guilty to setting a number of wildfires in the Superior National Forest (9). A dozen members of AmeriCorps are working in Arkansas' Petit Jean State Park to prepare for prescribed burns this winter (10); while an update on wildfire activity in Virginia's Wythe County and George Washington National Forest is provided by the next article (11). After recent bushfires exposed considerable litter along the shores of Catherine Hill Bay, New South Wales, Australians have embarked on a cleanup project (12); but two years after massive bushfires blazed through Margaret River, Western Australia, the next article looks at the emotional scars and the need to plan for future bushfires (13). And finally, a commentator from Australia takes lessons from 1918 and applies them to 21st-century firefighting!

(1) Nominate to join the Board of Directors

(2) Tragic wildfire season had surprisingly few fires

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