Latest Wildfire Stories

Global Relief Technologies' (GRT) Rapid Data Management System (RDMS) is being used by the American Red Cross (ARC) to collect Damage Assessments due to the devastation caused by the Colorado Wildfires. RDMS by GRT provides American Red Cross personnel and volunteers the ability to collect, access, manage, share, and analyze key field-data information quickly, securely, and accurately. RDMS by GRT significantly improves the accuracy of data collected by American Red Cross field...

DENVER, July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildfires have scorched thousands of acres across the country and "fire season" is still ahead. How do we protect our people, property, infrastructure and watersheds from post-fire erosion, debris flows and flooding hazards before the winter rains arrive? StormCon announces the addition of a full-day course on August 21st titled "Fire & Rain: Rapid Assessment and Emergency Mitigation Measures Following Wildfires." This is an invaluable...

Real-time data that will be used in everything from weather forecasts to disaster response is now being beamed down to Earth from a cone-shaped appendage aboard the nation's newest Earth-observing satellite. The High Rate Data (HRD) link is an antenna aboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite that provides 'direct broadcast' data to users in real-time. Researchers world-wide are then able to use customized algorithms, or mathematical formulas, turning raw data...

It's shaping up to be a fiery summer across the United States. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, as of July 3, 45 large active wildfires are currently burning in 15 states. Combined, these fires have scorched nearly three-quarters of a million acres. Since January 1, wildfires have burned nearly 2.2 million acres across the country, including devastating blazes in Colorado and New Mexico. We asked JPL Climatologist Bill Patzert to discuss the recent wildfire outbreak and...

LOS ANGELES, July 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Every night, it seems, major fires continue to lead both national and local newscasts. As the always potentially deadly combination of hot weather and wind worries both firefighters and property owners nationwide, the degree of interest in the best fire protection systems has never been higher. In fact, Fire Protection Group, Inc. is reporting a sharp spike in phone calls and serious inquires on all of their products and services, which...

Smokey Bear and NASA Astronaut to highlight earth, forests & wildfire Juneau, AK (PRWEB) June 30, 2012 The U.S. Forest Service launched an important partnership with NASA that coincided with the mid-May liftoff of a new crew for the International Space Station (ISS). Through this partnership, the ISS crew may use high resolution photographs to document the extent and impacts of wildfire in the U.S. NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba and his Russian crewmates, Soyuz Commander Gennady...

TAMPA, Fla., June 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As evacuations from the very dangerous Waldo Canyon wildfire continue in Colorado, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) urges home and business owners to make last-minute preparations to their home or business that could help the structure survive a wildfire attack. Wind-borne embers can travel more than a mile from an actual fire, according to the IBHS and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. One no-cost, but...

HOUSTON, June 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and the U.S. Forest Service signed a Space Act Agreement this week that unites the two agencies in raising awareness about the importance of fire prevention and fire safety. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) This partnership will highlight areas of common interest in wildfires, forest and plant growth research and materials science. The joint effort will be enhanced by the personal interest of...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A conspiracy between Nature’s forces has sent walls of fire ripping through Colorado sending residents, officials, and first responders scrambling into action. One of the more devastating fires, the Waldo Canyon fire, has forced more than 32,000 people in and around Colorado’s second-most-populous city of Colorado Springs from their homes. The blaze, which began Saturday, is just 15 percent contained, according to the daily...

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is in Colorado and New Mexico as wildfires continue to torch large swaths of the nation's west. Chaplains are currently offering emotional and spiritual care in the Ruidoso/Capitan area of New Mexico, and in the Fort Collins area of Colorado. Chaplains deployed to both locations on June 14, shortly after the fires began. News agencies are reporting that the "Little Bear Fire" in New...