Wildfire Today

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Wildfire Today

Tag: Smokey Bear

Wildfire briefing, July 12, 2013

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 3 Comments on Wildfire briefing, July 12, 2013

Congressional hearing about Wildfire and Forest Management

On Thursday the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing about wildland fire and forest management. You can watch a 2 hour and 15 minute video of it at C-SPAN. (Are there any volunteers who would like to watch it and give us a summary?)

Here is how it is described at C-SPAN:

“Wildfire and Forest Service officials testified on ways to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. The hearing also focused on the increasing number and intensity of wildfires in the West and Southwest.

Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Scott Tipton (R-CO), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) testified in the first panel.

Panel Two:

  • Jim Hubbard, Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • James Douglas, Acting Director, office of Wildland Fire, Senior Adviser, Public Safety, Resource Protection and Emergency Services, U.S. Department of the Interior
  • Phil Rigdon, Deputy Director, Yakama Indian Nation Department of Natural Resources
  • Joe Duda, Deputy State Forester, Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado State University
  • Christopher Topik, Director, Restoring America’s Forestsm, North America Region
  • Chuck Roady, Vice President & General Manager, F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company”

NIFC lowers Preparedness Level

The National Interagency Fire Center has lowered the national Preparedness Level from 3 to 2.

MAFFS sent home

By the end of the day the U.S. Forest Service will release the four Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) C-130 air tankers being operated by the military. The last four remaining are from California and North Carolina.

Map of Chariot Fire

CAL FIRE, the agency responsible for suppressing the devastating wildfire that spread from the desert to the mountain community of Mt. Laguna east of San Diego, still has not released a current map of the fire showing that it burned significant acreage in the Cleveland National Forest and wiped out much of the Al Bahr Shrine Camp. Their last map is dated July 8. Approximately 149 structures were destroyed and 9 were damaged.

Smoke Map

Wildfire smoke map
Wildfire smoke map at 4:30 p.m. MDT July 12, 2013

The map below shows the distribution of smoke from fires in the United States and Canada as of 4:40 p.m. MDT, July 12, 2013.

Virginia DOF employee earns Bronze Smokey award

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

A 34-year veteran of the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) has earned the Bronze Smokey Bear Award.

Paul Reier and Bronze Smokey
Paul Reier and Bronze Smokey

Toano resident Paul Reier, a forestry technician who protects and serves the counties of Charles City, Hanover, Henrico, James City, King & Queen, King William and New Kent, was nominated for the “energy, dedication, and commitment” he demonstrated in countless Smokey Bear education programs.

“Paul works tirelessly, even after hours, to ensure Smokey is at numerous fairs, special events, baseball games and schools. He partners with everyone from local nursing homes to the local rescue organizations and fire departments,” said Fred Turck, VDOF’s assistant director of resource protection. “Paul always finds new ways to get Smokey Bear involved in community events and is proactive in his efforts.”

State Forester of Virginia Carl E. Garrison III said, “I’m so glad to see Paul’s extraordinary efforts being recognized on a national level. He has been a leader in wildfire prevention and education efforts for many years, and he’s so very good at making sure Smokey Bear’s message (“Only You Can Prevent Wildfires”) is understood by children of all ages. His work has been an important part of our goal to reduce the number of wildfires casued by human activity. Paul Reier is most deserving of this Bronze Smokey award, and I congratulate him on his achievement.”

The Bronze Smokey Bear Award is the highest honor given for wildfire service on the state level, and is reserved for people or organizations that provide sustained, outstanding service in wildfire prevention. The award is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters and the Advertising Council.

Senate Minority Leader wants to eliminate the Smokey Bear balloon

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 14 Comments on Senate Minority Leader wants to eliminate the Smokey Bear balloon
Smokey Bear hot air balloon
Smokey Bear hot air balloon. Photo from Friends of Smokey Bear Balloon Facebook page

UPDATED January 7, 2012. Scroll to the bottom to see how Wildfire Today was called the “balloon lobby” by Senator McConnell’s Chief of Staff.

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The Smokey Bear hot air balloon has been flying over crowds of people since its first public voyage in 1993 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. In 2012 the U.S. government spent $31,000 to help the aerial image of Smokey appear at venues across the country.

Most of the $200,000 annual budget for the 97-foot tall balloon comes from sponsorship and donations.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wants to permanently ground it, saying on Thursday at the opening day of the new Congress:

…If we can’t stop spending taxpayer dollars on robo-squirrels, and dancing robot DJ’s or hot air balloon rides for Smokey the Bear, then there’s no hope at all.

Here is an excerpt from an article at krqe.com:

New Mexico State Forestry spokesperson Dan Ware says the balloon ultimately pays for itself.

“The balloon much like Smokey Bear himself is a symbol and it’s a teaching tool,” Ware said. “It’s an intangible. If one wildfire isn’t caused because someone remembers the message of Smokey Bear from when they were a child or when they were an adult, if one person contributes to not causing a human-caused wildfire then I think it’s worth it.”

McConnell isn’t the first GOP senator to be critical of the balloon. In his annual “Waste Book”, Sen. Tom Coburn (R – OK) listed the $31,000 in federal funding spent on the Smokey Bear Balloon in 2012 as a needless cost, saying the money would be better spent towards more DC-10 tankers to fight wildfires.

If we can assume that Smokey Bear actually does help to prevent forest fires, then an annual budget of $31,000 is an extremely good investment, and is about equal to three hours of flight time for a BAe-146 air tanker or 1.5 hours for a DC-10.

For more information about the Smokey Bear hot air balloon, check out the Friends of Smokey Bear Balloon web site or Facebook page.

Smokey Bear balloon at Sturgis motorcycle rally
The Smokey Bear balloon is launched at the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Pilot: Bill Chapel, Chase Truck: Dallas and Carol Griner. Helpers: Boxelder Job Corps students. Photo by Karen Wattenmaker.

UPDATE, January 7, 2012:

Our January 4 tweet about Senator Mitch McConnell’s desire to permanently ground the Smokey balloon got the attention of Josh Holmes, apparently the same Josh Holmes who is Senator McConnell’s Chief of Staff. Mr. Holmes appears to be calling Wildfire Today the “balloon lobby”.

Josh Holmes' tweet, "balloon lobby"

Mr. Holmes’ Twitter photo is similar to the photo on the Josh Holmes LinkedIn page where is is identified as “Chief of Staff at U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Washington D.C.” as you can see below:

Josh Holmes LinkedIn

The Washington Post has more information about Mr. Holmes.

New Smokey Bear video and mobile apps

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

There is some new Smokey Bear stuff out there. One is the video below, which was posted on Smokey’s YouTube page three days ago.

Also new:

Here is a screen shot of the mobile web site, which is identical in appearance to the mobile Android app.

Smokey Bear mobile site
http://www.smokeybearmobile.com/

I downloaded the Android app. It contains some good information, has a pleasing appearance, and it works fairly well, but has a couple of confusing design quirks. When you are on any page in the app, there is a large bar across the top that says “Back”. This, of course, takes you to the previous page within the app, but it remains there when you’re on the home page for the app, which looks like a secondary page. Touching it then exits the app.

The home page says “Campfire Safety”, which seems like it should be a sub-heading within the app. Four of the nine large buttons on the home page refer to campfire topics, while the other five are unrelated.

The Android Smokey Bear app is a good first effort, but needs a few tweaks. I would give it three out of five stars.

Smokey Bear mobile site QR
Scan this with a smart phone to go to Smokey's mobile site

Create a Smokey Bear Jack O’Lantern

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 1 Comment on Create a Smokey Bear Jack O’Lantern

Would you like to have Smokey Bear looking out at your trick or treaters from a Halloween Jack O’Lantern?  Here’s how, thanks to the Virginia Department of Forestry:
Print this stencil, which looks like this, below:

smokey stencil halloween

Then:

Option #1

  1. Cut out the “black pieces” from the stencil sheet, using an x-acto knife or similar tool.
  2. Tape stencil sheet onto pumpkin.
  3. Use a fine-line marker and draw the image ‘through the holes” onto the pumpkin.
  4. Cut these pieces away from the pumpkin.

Or, Option #2

  1. Tape the stencil onto the pumpkin.
  2. Using a pin or other sharp tipped tool “pin-prick” the edge of all the black portions of the stencil.
  3. Remove the stencil, and connect the dots/pin-pricks with a marker.
  4. Cut these pieces away from the pumpkin.

And,
5. Send us a photo of your result. (We will post some of them.)