Wildfire Today

WILDLAND FIRE CANADA: Conference registration now open

Guest WriterJuly 1, 2024SmokeCanada, New Brunswick, smokeLeave a comment

Registration is open for the 2024 Wildland Fire Canada Conference, a biennial conference scheduled for October 28 to November 1 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It will bring together wildland fire management agencies, indigenous fire experts, scientists, and collaborators from across Canada and other countries.

The theme of this year’s conference is Transforming Wildland Fire Management, i.e. taking a collective and inclusive approach to wildland fire management in which Canadians at all levels of government work together to co-exist with wildland fire — including prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Registration rates (CAD):

Early registration (until 8/15) — $600
Registration (8/16 – 10/14) — $750
Late registration (10/14 – 10/28) — $800
Student registration — $250
One-day rate — $375
Virtual Registration — $300

Group registration available for virtual tickets:

- - - - $300/ticket for fewer than 5 tickets
        
        $250/ticket for 6-10 tickets
        
        $200/ticket for 11-20 tickets
        
        $150/ticket for 20+ tickets

In-person registration: This includes access to all sessions and social activities. Registrants can access to the virtual conference platform to watch recorded presentations and network with remote attendees.

Virtual registration: This includes access to all sessions and online networking activities. Sessions will be recorded and made available for at least 6 months after the conference. You will receive access details about a week before the conference.

Join us in late October either in New Brunswick or online — or both — for this exciting collaboration with Canadian professionals and other international wildland fire experts!

FIREWORKS: Just say no

Kelly AnderssonJune 28, 2024PreventionColumbia River Gorge, fireworks, July 4thLeave a comment

FROM 2018

Turkish wildfires threaten historic sites, ancient city of Assos

Hunter BasslerJune 28, 2024WildfireAssos, helicopters, TurkeyLeave a comment

Turkey’s General Directorate of Forestry is battling a much higher number of wildfires this year compared with 2023; at this time last year, the country had recorded 513 forest fires, 665 other fires, and nearly 1500 total acres burned. As recently as June 24, those numbers have grown to 1093 forest fires, 1029 other fires, and nearly 8300 acres burned.

Aljazeera reported that at least 11 people were killed and dozens hurt as wildfires burned through villages in southeastern Turkey. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported the deaths from the overnight blaze between the cities of Diyarbakir and Mardin on Friday. Seventy-eight people were injured, with at least five people in intensive care units.

The elevated fire activity has resulted in increased aerial firefighting. The directorate has deployed aircraft over 4600 times thus far to fight the 2024 fires, and pilots have dropped over 16,000 tons of water. The total is a far cry from last year’s numbers of just 1100 deployments and only 3500 tons of water dropped.

Turkey’s wildfire season has recently received national attention as a fire threatens the ancient city of Assos. The fire has burned 90 percent of the historic area, according to an Agence France-Presse report in the New Straits Times. The fire ripped through the ruins of the ancient port city of Assos, founded in the 8th century BCE near the Dardanelles Strait.

Ninety percent of the historical site of Assos was burned, said Mesut Bayram, mayor of Ayvacik district.

Assos, built on andesite rocks, is famous for its agora, theater, sarcophagi, and Athena Temple, according to Turkey Tour Organizer. “Also, this is where the world-famous thinker Aristotle founded a philosophy school.”

The fire was likely caused by a smoldering cigarette; xix helicopters, two planes, and around 35 engines are fighting the fire.

Fire in central Oregon burns to almost 4000 acres

Kelly AnderssonJune 27, 2024June 28, 2024Wildfirecentral Oregon, deschutes county, La PineLeave a comment

The Darlene 3 Fire just east of La Pine in central Oregon has been burning aggressively; by Thursday morning it had grown to 3,889 acres — up from 2,415 acres the day before.

Smoke over La Pine in central Oregon. Photo by Deschutes County Sheriff's office. — Smoke over La Pine homes in central Oregon. Photo by Deschutes County Sheriff’s office.

The fire is about 30 percent contained. KTVZ-TV reported that the cause remains under investigation.

The fire was human-caused — and federal, state, and county law enforcement agencies are involved in that investigation. Crews worked hard on initial attack Tuesday, building line off Reed Road to protect assets to the north.

Darlene 3 Fire -- photo by C.O. Fire Management Service — Darlene 3 Fire — photo by Central Oregon Fire Management Service

The Central Oregon Type 3 IMT is in unified command with the Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) Red Team, in part because of the large number of threatened homes at the edge of town. Winds and high temperatures on Wednesday allowed the Darlene 3 Fire to create spotfires beyond the firelines, and it then burned east onto the Deschutes National Forest, where it merged into a couple of fuels-treatment burns previously created by the BLM and the USFS. Crews noted that those burns moderated fire behavior on this incident.

On Wednesday night, crews finished containment lines and firing operations. As long as the temps and winds remain moderate, crews and dozers and engines will work on reinforcing firelines; 335 personnel are assigned, including 38 engines, 5 hand crews, 8 watertenders, and numerous dozers and aircraft.

Six task forces of structural firefighters are protecting homes and other buildings and working mop-up around homes and town infrastructure.

Deschutes County evacuation info is online at deschutes.org/emergency — and the Red Cross has set up a shelter at La Pine High School (51633 Coach Road). The La Pine Activity Center (16450 Victory Way) is open for RVs to park and also has meals and N95 masks available. Rebecca Marshall with the Red Cross said they do not at this time need donations.

Air quality information can be found at aqi.oregon.gov or AirNow.gov — and residents can add the OregonAir app on their smartphones.

The fire took off Tuesday afternoon and then grew rapidly, just a mile or so outside of the town of La Pine. A level 3 evacuation order — remember Level 1-2-3 = Ready-Set-Go — is in effect on the east side of La Pine. There’s an evacuation map here.

Zach Urness with the Salem Statesman Journal reported that a Type 3 IMT took over on Wednesday morning; on Tuesday, Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act. “This allows us to send the full power of the Oregon fire services to protect life and property,” said Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple. There are six task forces of structural firefighters defending local buildings that are threatened on the east edge of town. The fire is threatening nearly 1200 structures, according to Deschutes County Sheriff Sergeant Nathan Garibay

Earth’s most extreme wildfires are growing more intense and frequent

Hunter BasslerJune 26, 2024June 26, 2024WildfireAustralia, biomes, Black Summer, bushfire, TasmaniaLeave a comment

A recent study published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution scientific journal broke down 21 years of satellite data to be the next in line to reveal a burning truth: extreme wildfire events are becoming more frequent and intense.

The study, led by researchers at Australia’s University of Tasmania, found that six of the past seven years have been among the most extreme wildfire years on record. The study also found the frequency of extreme wildfires more than doubled between 2003 and 2023.

“This study provides concrete evidence of a worrying trend,” lead researcher Dr. Calum Cunningham told the university. “The intensity and frequency of these bushfires are increasing at an alarming rate, directly linked to the escalating effects of climate change.”

The research also confirmed that, while the total area burned is on the decline, fire behavior on the whole has worsened in several regions, including boreal and temperate conifer biomes in North America and Russia. Hotspots were also recorded in Australia, southern Africa, Mediterranean Europe, and South America. The burning of said biomes would reportedly hold dire implications for carbon storage, human exposure to wildfire, and significant ecological damage.

“The impact of these extreme events is devastating, not only for natural ecosystems but also for human populations,” Cunningham said. “These fires release significant carbon emissions, threatening to create a vicious cycle that further accelerates global warming.”

Australia's "Black Summer" bushfire season — Australia’s “Black Summer” bushfire season

Australia’s “Black Summer” fire season of 2019-2020 was named specifically for its unprecedented scale, intensity, and still-ongoing effects. The most recent “Black Summer” report on the bushfires focused on how they affected the nation’s tourism industry, specifically how previous reports underestimated the financial losses.

“Our novel research into the losses from the tourism shutdown resulting from Australia’s 2019-20 fires found that flowing on from direct impacts of AU $1.7 billion, indirect impacts along supply chains resulted in $2.8 billion in total output losses and $1.6 billion in reduced consumption,” the University of Sydney researchers’ report said. “We calculated significant spill-over costs, with total output losses being an increase of 61 percent on top of the direct damages identified.”

FIREWORKS: Just say no

Kelly AnderssonJune 24, 2024June 24, 2024Preventionfireworks, Lubbock Texas, Orinda California2 Comments

Speaking of fireworks safety over the Independence Day holiday, James Duff with the City of Orinda, California tipped us off earlier this month to this outstanding little 2021 PSA from Lubbock, Texas. We are entertaining nominations for award-winning fireworks messaging, and there is a prize involved, so please nominate your “July 4th Hot PSA” from a fire agency, government agency, or NGO related to fireworks use and fire safety.

Write at least one sentence about who it is and where it is, add the link, and post it in the comments below.

Meanwhile, enjoy this little gem from Texas.