Between August 17 and 23, 2008, these were some of the topics we covered on Wildfire Today:
–A 750-acre wildland fire on Travis Air Force base northeast of San Francisco destroyed 80 unoccupied houses on the grounds of the base.
–There was much discussion in the media about suppressing or not suppressing wildfires in remote locations.
–A firefighter who was originally charged with 11 felonies related to the deaths of four members of his crew while fighting the Thirtymile Fire in Washington in 2001, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. We are still feeling the effects of this unprecedented legal action. The firefighters who died were Tom Craven, Karen FitzPatrick, Jessica Johnson and Devin Weaver.
–A North Carolina Forest Service firefighter who fell off a cliff at Big Bradley Falls and died was identified as Curtis Jessen, an assistant district forester in Asheville. Mr. Jessen suffered critical injuries after falling from the Big Bradley Falls near Saluda.
—Three firefighters were entrapped on a wildfire, but happened across a broken hose that provided a water curtain under which they took refuge, and did not have to deploy fire shelters. If anyone knows where this happened, let us know. At the time the location was not released.
