Latest Wildfires Stories

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The American Helicopter Services And Aerial Firefighting Association (AHSAFA) has cited significant airframe modification and operational issues, should the US Forest Service (USFS) pursue a proposal to acquire surplus C27J cargo aircraft for deployment as air tankers in wildland firefighting. Under the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2013, up to 14 of the twin-engine, turboprop airplanes--built in Italy by Alenia--would be...

ENCINITAS, Calif., April 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Spring is the best time in California to perform fuel modification maintenance for fire protection planning as vegetation starts to dry out, advises Dudek a California environmental firm specializing in fire prevention planning. It is also the time property owners may be receiving notices from their local fire department regarding overgrown lots. Fuel maintenance should focus on dead and dying plants, highly flammable species, thick...

American Geophysical Union When scientists torched an entire 22-acre watershed in Portugal in a recent experiment, their research yielded a counterintuitive result: Large, hot fires do not necessarily beget hot, scorched soil. It’s well known that wildfires can leave surface soil burned and barren, which increases the risk of erosion and hinders a landscape’s ability to recover. But the scientists’ fiery test found that the hotter the fire—and the denser the vegetation feeding...

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett has proclaimed March 17-23 as Wildfire Prevention Week in Pennsylvania, noting warming temperatures and drying March winds have combined to increase fire dangers across Pennsylvania's forests and brush lands. "Last spring brought many brush and woodlands fires, showing us how quickly our wealth of forest resources can be endangered," Corbett said. "People cause 98 percent of wildfires; a mere spark by a...

HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the approach of spring and increased risk of forest and brush fires across the state, federal grants are now available to help Pennsylvania's rural communities better guard against the threat of fires in forested, undeveloped and unprotected areas. "Warming temperatures, sunny days and strong winds usher in wildfire dangers that emphasize the value of having well-trained and well-equipped local firefighting forces in...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Representatives of the US aerial firefighting industry predict ongoing challenges involving fleet modernization, as legacy aircraft continue to age, and the Federal government has yet to sign off on a viable transition plan for operational funding of proposed, new generation, large airtankers. "The private, aerial firefighting industry has submitted a viable plan to replace today's dwindling number of former Cold War Era military...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international team of scientists comprised of members from Penn State, UMass Amherst, UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and University College London has revealed that an invasive grass species may be one reason that fires are bigger and more frequent in certain regions of the western U.S. Using satellite imagery, the team identified cheatgrass – a plant species accidentally introduced by western settlers during the 1800s – in a...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online By the middle of August, nearly 7 million acres have burned in wildfires in the U.S. making this a record-breaking year for wildfire destruction. As of yesterday, the National Interagency Fire Center puts that number at 8,392,209 acres since January 1, 2012. This acreage comes from 712 large fires that have been contained so far this year. How does this kind of natural disaster affect the surrounding communities? Large wildfires,...

Research has revealed that the extremely hot, dry and windy conditions on Black Saturday combined with structures in the atmosphere called 'horizontal convective rolls' -similar to streamers of wind flowing through the air - which likely affected fire behavior. The study is the first of its kind to produce such detailed, high-resolution simulations of weather patterns on the day and provides insights for future fire management and warning systems. The work was led by Dr Todd Lane and Ms...

LYONS, Ore., June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As wildfires rage in many western states with reports that resources are stretched thin, many wildfire suppression resources sit idle. Over 10,000 private trained wildland firefighters are ready for assignment, however, to date very few of them have been utilized. Over 40% of the resources used by the federal agencies on fires have been professional private resources historically. Many fire contractors have within their ranks many years of...