News and opinion about wildland fire
According to NOAA’a National Climatic Data Center, during February the average temperature in the contiguous United States was 33.1°F, or 0.7°F below the 20th century average. It was frigid in the east, and much warmer than average in the far west.
Last month in the contiguous U.S., average precipitation was 1.70 inch, or 0.43 inch below average.
The National Fire Protection Association has taken on the issue of sky lanterns — what I call fire balloons. These dangerous devices have started dozens of fires and are illegal in at least 25 states. Entire countries have banned them, including Austria, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and parts of Canada. The National Association of State Fire Marshals adopted a resolution in 2013 urging states to ban the sale and use of the devices.
The other 25 states need to get off their collective asses and ban these damn things.
Articles on Wildfire Today tagged sky lantern.
A volunteer firefighter in northeast Pennsylvania has pleaded guilty to setting 13 fires in Laflin, Pittston, and Dupont while he was a firefighter with the Dupont Volunteer Hose Company. Six of them were vegetation fires.
Below are excerpts from an article in the Times Leader:
A volunteer firefighter turned serial arsonist must pay tens of thousands in restitution — with more to come — after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a number of 2012 fires.
David Charles Donnora, 25, of Pittston, entered guilty pleas Monday to arson, burglary and burning charges before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas, court records indicate. He must make more than $20,000 in restitution in connection with two of the blazes, court papers say, but that figure is likely to climb as restitution in at least two other cases remains uncalculated.
Donnora is scheduled to be sentenced April 27.
Donnora confessed to state police during an interview about the Dec. 10 fire at 251 Main Street, Dupont, police say. He was the only firefighter from the Dupont department who did not appear to be interviewed by state police the day after the fire.
He allegedly told police he set the Dec. 10 fire and 12 others because he enjoyed battling them and responded to each one he set.
The fires Donnora allegedly admitted to setting included two Dupont structure fires; two separate fires at the same unoccupied building and a trailer fire in Pittston Township; and six brush fires and a railroad tie fire in Laflin.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Disney Planes-themed exercises to teach wildfire facts 
An activity book for kids based on the Disney movie Planes — Fire and Rescue is available for download (large 16.2MB file). It includes word games, a wildlands ecology quiz, campfire safety tips, a prevention skills test, and some wildfire facts — “learn more about wildfires and how to prevent them”.
Firefighters at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area north of Amarillo, Texas (map) completed the 500-acre Mullinaw Crossing unit of a 4,500-acre prescribed fire project on February 21. So far 1,700 acres have been burned. The objectives are to decrease the amount of fuel that could burn in the event of a wildfire, thus minimizing the risk to surrounding communities, and to work toward the restoration of the mixed grass prairie that was native to the area before European settlement.
They had some help from their neighbors, including Chickasaw National Recreational Area, the Bureau of Land Management, and fire departments from Hutchinson County, Fritch, and Crutch.
All photos are provided by the National Park Service, including the one below that shows the area without a pesky fire in the foreground.
For Throwback Thursday, we’re reprising an article we published January 31, 2013:
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Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security, must have seen the movie Minority Report many times. The video below which been around for a couple of years teases how the lab is developing future work environments for the emergency management community called Precision Information Environments (or PIEs). PIEs will hopefully provide tailored access to information and decision support capabilities in a system that supports the multiple user roles, contexts, and phases of emergency management, planning, and response.
Do you think the windshield of a fire vehicle will ever be able to instantly transform into a huge computer monitor?
Thanks go out to Jim
