Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Tag: Australia

Bushfire briefing, December 8, 2014

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

News about vegetation fires in Australia

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South Australia bushfire on the Fleurieu Peninsula

A fire in South Australia is being fought by more than 100 firefighters with the help of six air tankers.

From 9news:

An out of control bushfire on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula is believed to have been started by an angle grinder.

The Country Fire Service on Monday made 71 aerial water drops on the 280-hectare fire near Mt Terrible Road and Louds Hill Road which was travelling in a westerly direction towards Sellicks Hill. By Monday evening the fire had shifted northwest towards Plains Road, Chaff Mill Road, Culley Road and Rogers Road.

Outlook for Victoria bushfire season upgraded

From the AAP:

Victoria’s bushfire season has been upgraded from above normal to major for 2014-15 following record warm October weather. Record-breaking heat and an ongoing warming trend in southern Australia have worsened the state’s fire warning, a new Climate Council report released on Tuesday said.

“These types of conditions drive up the likelihood of very high fire danger weather in Victoria this season,” report author Lesley Hughes said.

Residents of Victoria: “leave and live”

From ABC:

A new safety campaign has been launched for this year’s Victorian bushfire season. The campaign, titled ‘Leave and Live’, encourages Victorians to leave their homes early instead of taking a wait-and-see approach. Premier Daniel Andrews said the expert advice was it would be a long, hot, dry and dangerous summer.

He said nobody could expect Country Fire Authority crews to be door knocking homes when they were trying to fight fires.

“This campaign we’re about to launch is an attempt, and I think it will be successful, in driving home the message that the Government and its agencies have a job to do and will get on and do that but the community has a responsibility as well,” he said.

He said lives were lost by those who left too late.

City of Bunbury warns of ember attack

From ABC:

The City of Bunbury has changed its bushfire message to warn all residents they are at risk of an ember attack.

[…]

City’s spokesman Chris Widmer said Bunbury was not immune from the threat of fires.

“I guess the critical change to the message we have this year is that everyone is at risk from ember attack but if you are within 100 metres of any bushland, then you need to be concerned about the addition to radiated and convected heat from bushfires nearby,” he said.

“We’ve now done some assessments on bushfires risk using Australian standards and we can tell everyone in the City of Bunbury they are at risk from ember attack, which means they could lose their homes through embers from a nearby fire.

Wildfire briefing, December 4, 2014

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , , ,

Fires in U.S. and Australia determined to be caused by power lines

Map of Pfeiffer Fire
Map of Pfeiffer Fire at Big Sur, California, looking northwest, showing the fire perimeter at 10:34 p.m. PST, December 18, 2013. (Click to enlarge)

Two fires, in Western Australia and California, have recently been determined to be caused by electrical power lines.

The Pfeiffer Fire at Big Sur, California started on December 16, 2013 and burned 34 homes and 917 acres in the coastal community 23 miles south of Monterey. The U.S. Forest Service reported on Wednesday:

The cause of the fire was determined to be high resistance heating of the Pfeiffer Ridge Mutual Water Company electrical control wires immediately adjacent to a steel water pipe line. The high resistance heating of the electrical control wires created a competent ignition source for this fire. The first fuel ignited was accumulated dried leaves and redwood needles.

The other fire was in Western Australia. Below is an excerpt from an article in Western Australia Today:

A rotted power pole infested with termites has been blamed for the Parkerville bushfire which destroyed more than 40 homes this year. But EnergySafety director Ken Bowron said the organisation would not take action against Western Power or the landowner.

The EnergySafety report into the cause of the fire on January 12 was released on Thursday and found the bushfire originated from a private pole at 180 Granite Road, Parkerville.

“There was no evidence to suggest the work performed by Western Power to replace the surface aerial seven months before the incident, or the work to replace the adjacent pole two day before the bushfires, causes the PA pole to fail,” Mr Bowron said.

“Based on the available evidence and legal advice, EnergySafety will not be taking any legal action against any party. The clear finding of the report is that the pole failed because it was rotten and had been infested by termites.

Hearing in Prescott on Granite Mountain Hotshots’ retroactive retirement benefits

From the Daily Courier in Prescott, Arizona:

Now nearly a year and a half after 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died fighting the Yarnell Hill wildfire, the matter of retroactive retirement benefits continues to play out at Prescott City Hall.

With its earlier decision granting retirement benefits to the family of fallen Hotshot Andrew Ashcraft still under appeal, the local fire retirement board will take on two new retirement cases today.

During a 9 a.m. Thursday hearing at Prescott City Hall, the Prescott Board of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System Board will turn to the retirement claims by the families of Sean Misner and William Warneke, and whether the scope of the actual hearings on the claims should be limited…

Tree ring researcher at the University of Arizona honored

Thomas Swetnam
Thomas W. Swetnam with tree-ring specimens in the UA’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. (Photo courtesy of Michaela Kane/Arizona Daily Wildcat)

Thomas W. Swetnam, Regents’ Professor of dendrochronology and director of the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society.

As part of the Section on Geology and Geography, Swetnam was elected as an AAAS Fellow for his investigations of tree rings as a record of past changes in climate, allowing scientists to predict future forest-fire frequencies in the Southwest.

Mr. Swetnam specializes in analyzing climate changes through history and prehistory, dangerous insect outbreaks and forest fires. In recent years, enormous blazes, some 10 times greater than those that firefighters have been accustomed to seeing in California and Arizona, have forced scholars to attempt to understand this phenomenon. The conclusions from Swetnam’s studies of these so-called megafires and their alarming size, duration and frequency have made the scientific community, governments throughout the world and media to pay close attention. Swetnam has appeared on programs such as PBS’ “NewsHour” and CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

Wildfire briefing, November 21, 2014

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , , ,

FDNY Incident Management Team deploys to Buffalo, NY

The New York City Fire Department’s Incident Management Team has deployed to Buffalo, New York to assist in the organization and management of snow removal efforts following this week’s record snowfall. Friday morning at 5:45 the team departed from the Randalls Island Fire Academy after being requested by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and in coordination with the New York City Office of Emergency Management.

The FDNY saw the benefits of an IMT when they received help from Type 1 interagency IMTs after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Soon thereafter they began training personnel to fill the positions for a team. Since then, the FDNY IMT has responded to multiple national emergencies including forest fires; to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; in Broome County, NY following Hurricane Irene and in New York after Hurricane Sandy.

Leaf burning leads to felony charge

A 74-year old man was charged with a felony after his leaf burning caused a wildfire north of Allentown, Pennsylvania on November 4. A police officer used a fire extinguisher to keep the fire, which had spread to within eight feet of a neighbor’s garage, from burning the structure.

“[Dale] Schaeffer failed to call the police or fire department, and continued to let the fire burn out of control in a reckless and dangerous manner,” the officer wrote in his affidavit of probable cause.

Mr. Schaeffer was arraigned Thursday before District Judge Robert Hawke on a felony charge of reckless burning and summary dangerous burning.

Grass fires occurring in Oklahoma

Cured grasses in Oklahoma are providing fuel for an increased number of wildfires in the state.

Brush fire at nudist resort

Firefighters suppressed a wildfire at the Sunny Rest Lodge on Thursday, in Carbon County, Pennsylvania.

Country Fire Service to cease aerial firefighting if a drone is spotted

State aviation operations manager David Pearce said South Australia’s Country Fire Service will cease all aerial operations at bushfires if an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is spotted in the area.

“Helicopters are particularly susceptible,” Mr Pearce said.

“If the drone is sucked into the intake of the jet engines, or goes into the tail rotor, then it’s probably curtains for the helicopter.”

Gyrocopter crash kills pilot, starts fire

The crash of a gyrocopter near Gatton in Queensland, Australia killed the pilot and started a bushfire on Friday.

Queensland helicopters to go high tech

QGAir Rescue
QGAir Rescue. Photo: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

From itnews:

The Queensland (Australia) Government has invested $1 million to install screen sharing technology in its Kedron emergency services hub as well as five helicopter bases across the state.

The new kit – based on Cruiser Interactive technology – will allow Queensland Government Air (QGAir) teams across the six sites to share the same view of incoming data and emergency monitoring, and to switch between different screen views with a flick of the wrist.

Interactive screens have been set up in the co-ordination sites, onto which information from phones, tablets and PCs can be displayed.

Aero-Flite moving to Spokane

The company that operates Avro RJ-85 air tankers is moving from Kingman, Arizona to the airport at Spokane, Washington. Aero-Flite announced Thursday that it is moving its corporate headquarters and air tanker fleet to Spokane International Airport.

More information about Aero-Flite’s move is at Fire Aviation.

In Victoria, “Creating our future together” means slashing 164 positions in the Country Fire Authority

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

As Australia enters their bushfire season, there is a report that the Country Fire Authority in Victoria will eliminate 164 positions.

Below is an excerpt from an article at 9news.com.au:

…CFA documents obtained by the Herald Sun reveal close to 10 percent of the organisation’s paid staff will be cut.

The restructure, called Creating Our Future Together, will save the CFA $16 million annually.

CFA spokesman Gerard Scholten said no frontline firefighters positions would be cut. But 71 roles in “Fire and Emergency Management” are to be axed, 16 of which have already been cut. Business services will lose 59 positions, operational training and volunteerism 20, people and culture 7, and communities and communication 1.

United Firefighters Union Victorian Secretary Peter Marshall said he was “gobsmacked” when he found out about the job cuts. Many of the positions being cut lent critical support to firefighters during bushfires, he said.

“It is inconceivable that on the back of a royal commission into the loss of 173 lives, heading into what we now know to be another potentially catastrophic fire season you actually have an organisation that is downsizing critical positions,” Mr Marshall said.

A CFA spokesperson said most cutbacks, in back office positions, were due to the completion of projects stemming from the Victorian bushfires royal commission.

“All were by natural attrition or the completion of contracts,” the spokesperson said on Monday.

“The process is about putting CFA on a more efficient, sustainable footing and living within its means.”

Woman burns toilet paper, starts fire, is given suspended sentence

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

A woman in South Australia who dealt with soiled toilet paper by burning it, was given a two-month suspended sentence for the one-acre bushfire she started near Murphy’s Haystacks last December.

Below is an excerpt from the West Coast Sentinel:

…[Melissa Jane] Carmody was camping for several days near Murphy’s Haystacks, which resulted in a pile of debris forming, which a member of the public became concerned about.

This alerted Ms Carmody to set fire to the pile of toilet paper she had accumulated from not having a bathroom.

“You burnt soiled toilet paper in a situation where you thought that that was something that you ought to do,” Judge [Simon] Stretton said.

“What you should of realised is on that December 2, 2013 you were right in the middle of bushfire season and there is an obvious risk that burning paper outdoors is going to cause a grass fire,” he said.

We are aware of at least four other fires started by the same behavior, and documented three of them here. A fourth was in the 1980s in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California during the annual big horn sheep count. There are other reports of fires with the same cause in George Creek Canyon on the Inyo National Forest in 1979, and the Narrows Fire on the Angeles NF in 1997.   (Check out the comments below this article at Wildfire Today.)