To read the full article, click on the link to be redirected to the news site.
FUSEE members are in the news! Past articles can be read in the archives.
October 31
Cal Fire reduces staffing with onset of cooler weather
Sacramento Bee
With the arrival of cooler weather, and recent rain and snow in Northern California, Cal Fire on Monday will begin reducing staffing to winter levels in Nevada, Yuba and Placer counties.
October 30
Companies settle San Diego wildfire case
San Jose Mercury News
SAN DIEGO—San Diego Gas & Electric and Cox Communications have agreed to pay $17 million to settle claims by state investigators that poor maintenance led to three huge wildfires in 2007.
October 28
Benefit of controlled burns outweighs risk, firefighters say
Santa Cruz Sentinel
When you play with fire, there's always a risk. The Loma Fire may well be a reminder of this should speculation prove true that the 485 acre blaze was caused by firefighters burning brush piles.
October 27
One possible wildfire culprit: Cal Fire
San Francisco Chronicle
A brigade of more than 1,500 firefighters made big gains Monday in a battle against wind-whipped flames in the Santa Cruz Mountains, allowing dozens of evacuated residents to return home. But amid an atmosphere of relief, questions swirled about how the blaze began.
October 25
Book Review:
'The Big Burn' by Timothy Egan
Los Angeles Times
During 18 years with the New York Times, many as the paper's Pacific Northwest correspondent, Timothy Egan wrote several nonfiction books describing the lives and dreams of Westerners, as shaped by their connection with the land. (He also wrote a novel, "The Winemaker's Daughter," exploring similar themes.)
October 18
The Chaparral Institute is fighting plans for controlled burns
The Press-Enterprise
Chaparral conservationists are protesting a plan by the U.S. Forest Service to thin and burn large patches of woody, drought-hearty shrubs, action they say will damage a valuable ecosystem and could actually increase the risk of damage to homes by wildfire.
October 14
California Wildland Firefighter Recovering After Water Tender Runs Over Her
Firehouse.com
CHICO, Calif. -- Becky Quigley, a 23-year-old Hotshot Firefighter, is in a Chico hospital where she battles a different kind of fight than the 23-year-old Weed resident is accustomed.
October 9
Don’t douse WFUs
Baker City Herald
The fire didn’t do what the experts thought it would.
Fires often don’t.
The real villains of the Station fire
LA Observed
The flames of the Station fire will be blamed for the floods that may follow in the denuded San Gabriel Mountains. But let’s place the blame where it belongs, on land development, acquiescent local officials, and a tax structure that subsidizes hillside building.
October 8
A Brewing Battle Over Brush
voiceofsandiego.com
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009 | At daybreak, Rick Halsey takes a deep breath of sage-perfumed air from his Escondido yard. Like the surrounding hills, it’s flush with manzanita, mountain lilac and chamise.
October 6
Station fire burn victim speaks out
Los Angeles Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other authorities held them up as examples of irresponsible behavior. They were the butt of jokes. But one of the two Big Tujunga Canyon residents who jumped into a hot tub to escape the raging Station fire says they are being unfairly judged.
He's no stranger to wildfires
Los Angeles Times
Bobby Wright knows all too well about the threat of wildfires in the San Bernardino National Forest.
Wright, 63, who works for the U.S. Forest Service, lost a home three years ago in a fire that swept through the Lytle Creek area.
Your letters: October 6, 2009: Focus on firefighting
Ventura County Star
Re: your Oct. 4 article, “Expense of firefighting soars”:
The Star wrote a very informative and effective article on firefighting costs. As was stated, many dwellings and structures now exist where 10 years ago nothing but wildland existed. In past years, many counties and cities never had in effect the requirements of today and, therefore, many homes were lost.
Tahoe fire agencies offer rebates for creating defensible space
Tahoe Daily Tribune
Federal, state and local fire protection agencies are making it easy and more affordable for Tahoe basin residents to protect themselves from wildfire by creating defensible space — planning methods for the prevention and control of fires — around their property.
October 5
State's JumpStart forest rehab program deserves praise
Great Falls Tribune
At a time when national and state economies are struggling through tough times, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has established a creative, innovative program termed JumpStart with the purpose of providing assistance to Montana's forest products community through funding for stewardship, forest health, fuels mitigation and other forestry projects.
October 4
Expense of firefighting soars
Line item in state budget doubled since 2008
Ventura County Star
SACRAMENTO — For more than 70 years, Ventura County’s 220,000-acre Matilija fire of 1932 held the record as the largest in California history.
October 2
Before the Station fire, a cost-cutting memo
Three weeks ahead of the Station blaze, the Forest Service sought to limit the use of local firefighting resources.
Los Angeles Times
Three weeks before the deadly Station fire erupted, the U.S. Forest Service issued a cost-cutting order to reduce its use of state and local firefighters, documents and interviews show.
Firefighters to be honored at national service
Mail Tribune
Seven wildland firefighters from Jackson and Josephine counties who died in a helicopter crash in 2008 will be honored Sunday by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation in Emmitsburg, Md.
After a Devastating Fire, an Intense Study of Its Effects
The New York Times
ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — The Station fire, which in over a month has burned away nearly a quarter of this vast, mountainous backdrop to the Los Angeles skyline, is finally just about out, sending all but a handful of firefighters home. Now, the scientists swoop in.Liz Gallegos and Mr. Backlin fished from the West Fork of the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest to study effects of the Los Angeles County fire.
Forest Service Management Plan Runs Afoul of Law
Violates Federal Environmental Laws, Says Judge
Santa Barbara Independent
A management plan adopted in 2005 by the National Forest Service for four Southern California forests—including the two-million-acre Los Padres Forest, which backs up to Santa Barbara, Ventura, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties—is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. That was the ruling that came down from U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel late Tuesday afternoon, September 29.
Winds turn prescribed burn into wildfire
The Arizona Republic
A prescribed burn in the Kaibab National Forest Thursday near Williams turned into a wildfire when winds shifted, officials said. National forest officials had planned a 900-acre burn for Thursday afternoon, said Punky Moore, Fire Information Officer for the Kaibab National Forest.
PRESCRIBED BURNS: Preparation before ignition
The Daily Courier
Few citizens realize the extensive preparation that takes place before the U.S. Forest Service ignites any prescribed burn.
October 1
U.S. Forest Service launches inquiry into Station fire response
The agency scaled back its attack the night before the blaze, the biggest in Los Angeles County history, began to burn out of control.
Los Angeles Times
The U.S. Forest Service has launched an internal inquiry into the agency's attack on the deadly Station fire, an operation that was scaled back the night before the blaze began to burn out of control.
Times exclusive: Weeks before the Station fire, Forest Service ordered use of state, local firefighters reduced
Los Angeles Times
Three weeks before the deadly Station fire erupted, the U.S. Forest Service issued a cost-cutting order to reduce its use of firefighters from state and local agencies — reinforcements whose role in the Angeles National Forest blaze was scaled back early in the battle — documents and interviews show.
Forest Service to Investigate Station Fire Tactics
Fire Chief
The U.S. Forest Service will conduct an interagency review of suppression efforts used during the massive Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest in Southern California, according to a statement the agency released yesterday. The public and decision-makers have questioned the firefighting tactics, as more controversy brews about the cause of the fire — now being called an “ongoing arson and homicide investigation,” according to a L.A. County Sheriff's Department spokesperson.
--------------------
FUSEE is a non-profit organization dedicated to public education on fire ecology and management issues. We believe this news service to be 'Fair Use' of the cited copyrighted material for educational purposes and will advance awareness, understanding, and public discussion of issues relating to firefighter safety, ethical land management, environmental protection, ecological restoration, and other issues in the public interest.