Which do YOU think were the most significant stories about wildfire that occurred in 2011?
As we have done for the last 2 years, we will be listing the most significant news stories about wildfire that occurred during the last year and will ask you to cast your vote in a poll for those that you think are the MOST significant. As before, we won’t list the fatalities, because I don’t think any of us want to rate one fatality as more significant than another.
I am working on the list now, but you have a chance to contribute before it is complete. In a comment below, let us know which stories you think were most significant in 2011. If you want to, you can copy and paste into your comment the web address to the story. Hopefully the incident will have been covered on Wildfire Today, but if not, we’d certainly like to know about it.
Nominate your significant stories by the end of the day on Saturday, January 14, 2012 in a comment below. I will evaluate your nominations, compare them with what I came up with, and in a completely arbitrary and capricious manner, decide which ones make the final poll. On January 16 I’ll post the new poll, and then you can vote.
You can still vote in the previous polls, unless you have already: 2009 and 2010
two fires spun my head in 2011:
Rick Perry’s Texas
And:
the Slave Lake Fire.
Keep up the great work!
I vote for the gathering place fire
I would have to say the Forest Service Firefighter who was sentenced to 2 years for starting fire,
it was a good debate.
http://wildfiretoday.com/2011/11/30/u-s-forest-service-firefighter-sentenced-to-2-years-for-starting-fire/
Three fatalities on a prescribed burn. Very significant here in Big Red country.
http://wildfiretoday.com/2011/05/16/details-emerge-about-fatal-accident-at-nebraska-controlled-burn/
There was one fatality and two injuries. No trained firefighters were present at the prescribed fire. Yes, it’s a big story, however fatalities will not be part of the poll, since we are not going to rate fatalities against each other.
Initially it was one fatality. The two injured subsequently also passed away.
Thanks Casey, I was not aware of the two later fatalities. I added this to one of the articles about the incident:
It was pointed out to us that in addition to Theresa Schnoor who died soon after the April 28, 2011 controlled burn, the two people that were injured also passed away later. We researched further, and found that Robert Seybold, 40, of Trenton, died May 18, 2011, and 37-year-old Anthony Meguire died September 18, 2011.
Understandable that you wouldn’t want fatality fires being voted on Bill. FYI – here’s the story on the fire marshal’s investigation. http://www.omaha.com/article/20110906/NEWS01/709069925
Bill:
1. The 2011 Texas Fire Season
2. The never ending US Air Tanker policy/contracting issues
3. NC/USFWS mega Dismal Swamp Fire
I have to agree with Eric on this one for sure——
“The never ending US Air Tanker policy/contracting issues”