Wildfire

By Greg Pilchak

On Wednesday, May 25^th, leaders on the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee released draft legislation whose goal is to improve wildfire budgeting and forest management. The bipartisan legislation is the culmination of recent Committee efforts to examine and find solutions to problems such as “fire borrowing,” the speed of environmental reviews, and fire suppression strategies.

By Greg Pilchak

At the annual Governor Wildland Fire Briefing, Nevada fire officials met with the governor to plan for the upcoming summer fire season. It's one they expect to be especially bad this year. 

So firefighters are gearing up and feel confident that they're prepared with enough personnel and equipment this season. But they also want you to be ready for fire danger this summer. 

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group has announced the recipients for the 2015 Wildfire Emergency Medical Service Awards.

The annual awards program, sponsored by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Incident Emergency Medical Subcommittee (IEMS), recognizes and honors individuals and/or organizations who have demonstrated outstanding work, actions or programs in emergency medical service for our Nation’s wildland firefighters.

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee and Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark yesterday sent a letter to congressional leaders urging Congress to end “fire borrowing" and provide the USDA Forest Service with the resources it needs to effectively improve forest health and respond to increasingly devastating wildfire seasons.

Fast-moving wildfires spread farther across the Alberta oil sands region on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of three more communities south of Fort McMurray and the work camps north of the city. Thousands of people who fled the flames earlier in the week had to evacuate for the second time in three days.

Members of the National Association of State Foresters’ executive committee held Congressional briefings on May 4 to introduce decision makers to state Forest Action Plans and convey the importance of consulting these important documents when making forest management decisions. In attendance were key staff members from the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and member offices, USDA Forest Service staff, and regional state forestry association staff.

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) announced the 2016 theme for Arson Awareness Week: Prevent Wildfire Arson—Spread the Facts Not the Fire. 

USFA and its partners will use the week of May 1 – 7 to focus attention on wildfire arson, particularly in the wildland-urban interface.

USFA is partnering this year with several groups including NASF, the USDA Forest Service (USFS), National Wildfire Coordination Group, National Fire Protection Association and several more leaders in the fire community.

Fires set by people are a real problem for wildland fire managers on all types of land ownerships, including tribal lands. Because they usually occur closer to valued property and resources, human-set fires also tend to be more damaging than fires ignited naturally. Human-ignited wildfires fall into two categories – incendiary, or intentionally set fires, and those started accidentally.