Tag: throwback Thursday

Between August 17 and 23, 2008, these were some of the topics we covered on Wildfire Today:

–A 750-acre wildland fire on Travis Air Force base northeast of San Francisco destroyed 80 unoccupied houses on the grounds of the base.

–There was much discussion in the media about suppressing or not suppressing wildfires in remote locations.

–A firefighter who was originally charged with 11 felonies related to the deaths of four members of his crew while fighting the Thirtymile Fire in Washington in 2001, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. We are still feeling the effects of this unprecedented legal action. The firefighters who died were Tom Craven, Karen FitzPatrick, Jessica Johnson and Devin Weaver.

–A North Carolina Forest Service firefighter who fell off a cliff at Big Bradley Falls and died was identified as Curtis Jessen, an assistant district forester in Asheville. Mr. Jessen suffered critical injuries after falling from the Big Bradley Falls near Saluda.

—Three firefighters were entrapped on a wildfire, but happened across a broken hose that provided a water curtain under which they took refuge, and did not have to deploy fire shelters. If anyone knows where this happened, let us know. At the time the location was not released.

A year ago, between May 11 and 17, 2013, visitors to Wildfire Today were reading these articles:

• The Senate confirmed President Obama’s nomination of Sally Jewel as secretary of Interior. At the time Ms. Jewell was the CEO of Recreational Equipment (REI).
• The Administration of President Obama recommended a reduced budget in Fiscal Year 2014 for wildland fire, slashing by 41 percent the funds allocated for reducing hazardous fuels, and cutting the preparedness and suppression budget by 8 percent. 
• U.S. Forest Service scientists transfer the results of their research to middle schools.
• An Incident Management Team arranges to blend, roast, package, and create labels for their own coffee.
• A graphical history of critical fire weather in Albuquerque.
• A CAL FIRE chief pleads not guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
• USFS Chief: “We will have the resources we need”.
• Report: nuclear physicist started Colorado’s Galena Fire

Six years ago, between May 11 and 17, 2008, visitors to Wildfire Today were reading these articles:

• Yellowstone, 20 years after the 1988 fires.
• Private firefighting companies in southern California.
• “Wildland Firefighter” demobilizes.
• Firefighters take a train to a fire.
• Corvette fire apparatus in Dubai.
• A laser-guided bomb from an F-18 missed its target in a bombing range by a mile and started a fire in a National Forest.

Here is what our site visitors were reading about six years ago on Wildfire Today, between April 6 and 12, 2008:

• U.S. Forest Service officials, when editing a report about recruitment in their California National Forests, removed a section saying firefighter pay, facilities, leadership, training and communications needed to be improved and that perks such as providing day care and more government houses should be considered.
• A staff ride to study the Alabaugh Fire in South Dakota included having everyone practice having two people share one fire shelter.
• Gov. Janet Napolitano told the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee that federal funding to fight catastrophic wildland fires must not come at the expense of fire prevention programs. Ms. Napolitano later became the Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 through 2013.
• Two excellent air tanker videos — one of a SEAT making a drop, and one that is arguably the best part of the movie Always.

These are some of the stories we covered on Wildfire Today between March 30 and April 5, 2008:

• The fight was just beginning to attempt to keep the Northern Great Plains Dispatch Center from being evicted from the Rapid City Regional Airport. (The fight was lost, and a new facility was built south of Rapid City.)
• The European Union was considering a Rapid Reaction Force that could respond quickly to wildland fires, floods, and other emergencies.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs disbanded the Mescalero Hot Shots and the Bear Paw Hot Shots.
• Robot proposed to put out fires; no need to update your resume yet.
• There was a fire in the Washington headquarters of FEMA.
• Representative Darrell Issa of San Diego in talking about the 9/11 attacks, minimized the health effects on the rescuers and workers, and argued against extending benefits to the people that were still hugely affected by the incident.