Last year when NASA astronaut Joe Acaba flew aboard the International Space Station he took along a Smokey Bear action figure. In this video Mr. Acaba talks about observing wildfires from space and the importance of preventing human-caused wildfires.
Smokey Bear on the International Space Station. Photo by NASA.
Last year when NASA astronaut Joe Acaba flew aboard the International Space Station he took along a Smokey Bear action figure. In this video Mr. Acaba talks about observing wildfires from space and the importance of preventing human-caused wildfires.
As of noon MDT October 19 the video has only been viewed 378 times since it was uploaded over four months ago. Let’s see if we can improve that number by clicking on the play button above.
And speaking of Smokey Bear videos, the 30-second PSA below was just uploaded to YouTube four days ago — October 15, 2013. Be the first on your block to view it.
I think the above fire prevention video is very good — better than most. It actually has a call to action that the typical viewer can understand, implement, and which could produce positive results. When a billboard or video simply says “Prevent Forest Fires”, or “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” without providing a suggestion as to HOW, the effectiveness can be questioned.
Officials of Australia’s Rural Fire Service are saying that hundreds of homes may have burned in southeast Australia as more than 100 fires burned in New South Wales (NSW), with 36 still uncontained.
Teams will be assessing damage from #nswfires today. It appears there may be hundreds of homes destroyed. #nswrfs
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) October 17, 2013
The NSW premier, Barry O’Farrell, said that it would be a miracle if there was no loss of life. Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, warned that several people were likely to have been killed if the estimate of hundreds of properties destroyed proved to be true, as historically an average of one life has been lost for every 17 houses.
These fires are following an unusually early start to the Australian fire season last month, well ahead of their summer which normally reintroduces fires to the landscape.
One of the fires spread from Lithgow towards the Blue Mountains, running more than 25km (15 miles) and burning over 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of bushland.
If you have a tablet or a smart phone you are probably familiar with Flipboard, a news aggregation service that displays articles in a sophisticated magazine format that is easy to use and pleasing to the eye. It gets its name from the page-swipe gesture on the screen that turns to the next page. Mike McCue, CEO and co-founder of the company, said they are adding at least 200,000 new users per day. The app is available at the Android Google Play store and the Apple App Store.
In March it became possible for Flipboard users to create and curate their own custom digital magazines on the site and in July they also became available in a conventional web browser in addition to being on the smart phone and tablet apps. If you create an account at Flipboard and subscribe to a magazine it will then be easy to find.
Yesterday we created a Wildfire Today magazine at Flipboard. In addition to displaying our own articles there, we will post others that we discover. We are considering it an experiment now, and we’ll see how it works. Our web site will not change — we are just adding another way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the world of wildland fire, in addition to the web, Facebook, and Twitter. Wildfire Today is also on Google+, but we have not done much with that venue.
Let us know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.
John Dougherty of Investigative Media has been following very closely the developments surrounding the deaths of 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots June 30 on the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. After spending a couple of hours with him in Prescott before the crew’s memorial service, I became convinced that he truly wants to determine the facts — exactly what happened and why.
John’s latest article about the fire, on his website and at the Phoenix New Times, lays out the decisions that were made during the first three days of the fire. He interviewed several wildland fire experts who questioned the findings of the official report which concluded no mistakes were made. His article also includes video interviews with Sonny “Tex” Gilligan and Joy Collura who were in the fire area from 4 a.m. until about 2 p.m. on June 30 and talked with the Granite Mountain firefighters.
Mr. Gilligan and Ms. Collura have been very generous with us, providing the information they know about the fire and sharing the photos she took that day.
The article is a must-read if you are interested in the fire. Below is a short excerpt:
Wildfire experts interviewed for this story identified key inadequately analyzed factors in the investigation that may have contributed to the tragedy, including:
–The state’s failed initial attack on the fire created a situation that later placed hundreds of firefighters at risk to put out a fire that could’ve been controlled easily.
–Once the initial attack failed, the state dispatched a skeleton management team to direct firefighting operations, but the team didn’t have sufficient resources to adequately fight the blaze. When it assumed control, the state’s “Type 2 Short” incident-management team lacked “safety officers” and “division supervisors” whose absence may have contributed to a breakdown in communications during the crucial 30 minutes before the hotshots died.
–The investigation report didn’t thoroughly examine the mental and physical condition of the Granite Mountain crew on the day it was dispatched to Yarnell — its scheduled day off and the 28th day it had worked in June.
The bill to reopen the government included $636 million for wildland fire.
Over the last 48 hours, fast and furious negotiations were taking place on provisions of the bill that would end the federal government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling in order to prevent economic Armageddon. Both the House and the Senate passed the bill Wednesday night and the President said he would sign it.
Much to the surprise of almost everybody, instead of being a “clean” bill that would avoid unnecessary controversy and be less difficult to pass, it included several off the wall provisions, including funds to fix flooded roads in Colorado, a $3 million appropriation for a civil liberties oversight board, a one-time payment to the widow of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) who died over the summer, and almost $3 billion for construction on the lower Ohio River in Illinois and Kentucky.
But the bill also included $636 million for wildland fire. Of that total, $36 million is for the Department of Interior wildland fire management program, with $15 million of that earmarked for burned area rehab. The “Department of Forest Service” will receive $600 million for wildland fire suppression. These dollars appear to be designed to repay the funds that were taken from non-fire programs within the agencies in order to pay for fire suppression costs that exceeded the appropriated amounts in fiscal year 2013.
The bill also requires that furloughed federal employees be compensated.
Below are verbatim portions of the bill, pages 10 and 17-19, that include the salary payment for furloughed federal employees, and that specify funding for wildland fire. Either the document was typed very quickly resulting in dozens of typos, or a paper version of the bill was scanned and converted back to text by an optical character recognition program that was less than 100% accurate. Or both. The entire bill can be found HERE.
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“SEC. 115. Eniplojvees furlouglied as a result of any lapse in appropriations which begins on or about October 1, 2013, shall be compensated at their standard rate of cornpensation, for the period of such lapse in appropriations, as soon as practicable after such lapse in appropriations e11ds.
[…]
SEC. 137. In addition to the amount otherwise provided by section 101 for “Department of the Interior–Departineiit-wide P1’ogI’ams–Wildla11d Fire Manageinept”, there is appropriated $36,000,000 for an additional amount for fiscal year 2014.-, to remain available until expended, for urgent vvildland fire suppression activities: Prooilded, That of the funds provided, $15,000,000 is for burned area rehabilitation: Provided fi,c-rflier, That such funds shall only become available if funds previously provided for wildland fire suppression will be exhausted iinminently and the Secretary of tlie Interior notifies the Conunittees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate in vvriting of the need for these additional funds: Provided That such funds are also available for transfer to other appropriations accounts to repay amounts previously transferred for suppression.
SEC. 138. In addition to the amount otherwise provided hy section 101 for “Departnient of Forest Serviee–Wildland Fire Maiiagenient”, there is appropriated $600,000,000 for an additional arnount for fiscal year 2014, to remain available until expeiided, for urgent vvildland fire suppressioii activities: Provided, That such funds shall only become available if funds previously provided for ivildland fire suppression will be exhausted irurninently and the Secretary of Agriculture notifies the coinrnittees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate in writing of the need for these additional funds: Provided fitrther, That such funds are also available for transfer to other appropriations accounts to repay amounts previously transferred for wildfire suppression.
SEC. 139. The authority provided by section 347 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 {as contained in section 101(e) of division A of Public Law 16 U.S.C. 2104 note) shall continue in effect througli the date specified in section 106(3) of this joint resolution.”
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UPDATE at 6:52 p.m. MDT October 17, 2013:
Now that the government is running again and the Government Printing Office web site is back on line, a good copy of the bill is available.
Boulder Fire Department to convert seasonals to full time
In a budget approved by the City Council on Tuesday, the Boulder, Colorado Fire Department will be able to convert its seasonal wildland firefighting crew to full time.
NFPA announces first Wildfire Preparedness Day
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) today announced its first national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (Wildfire Preparedness Day) will take place on Saturday, May 3, 2014. Projects on May 3 can range from a short time commitment up to an entire day and can be undertaken by individuals or groups. Potential projects include hosting a chipping day, distributing wildfire safety information to neighbors, organizing brush clean up and more. Residents of all ages are invited to join in the effort. A list of project ideas is available at www.nfpa.org/wildfirepreparednessday/.
The 2014 Wildfire Preparedness Day comes on the heels of NFPA’s Colorado Wildfire Preparedness Day of Service that was piloted in May 2013 where nearly 600 volunteers participated in more than 16 projects across the state.
Charities raise millions for families of Granite Mountain 19
Granite Mountain Hotshot Girls host benefit for Yarnell
A group of women made up of Hotshots’ mothers, wives, sisters, fiancées, and more, have joined forces to help give back some of the support they received. The group that calls itself the “Granite Mountain Hotshot Girls” will be hosting a benefit to help with the rebuilding efforts after the Yarnell Hill Fire swept through Yarnell destroying more than 100 structures in the town.
An all woman engine crew responds to a fire in Lexington, KY
It is surprising that this is a news item in 2013, but on September 5 in Lexington, Kentucky a three-person all women engine crew responded to a fire in the city. This is the first time an all women crew has responded to a fire in Lexington. The city made a big deal of it Wednesday, presenting the trio — Captain Maria Roberts, Amanda Arbogast and Sarah McGill — with certificates.
The women appreciated the recognition, but all agreed that they were just doing their job.
“It was just another run for us,” said Roberts, who joined the division in November 1999. “I had two really good firefighters riding in my truck and that’s not any different than any other day.”
In the 523-person fire department, 14 of them are women.
It will actually be news when similar occurrences are no longer news.
