Edward Booth – The Press Democrat Apr. 25—Napa County’s volunteer fire departments will soon be consolidated under a new plan to create a single chain of command. Beginning in July, the county’s nine individual volunteer departments will be placed into the hierarchy of the Napa County Fire Department, a move that county fire staff say will allow for improved communication, as well as standardized policies and procedures. The change is to ensure the volunteer departments are more supported and prepared, according to county fire staff. Among the organizational changes, the volunteer chief p ..read more

Jessica Schladebeck New York Daily News (TNS) Emergency crews on Wednesday were working to battle back a wildfire ripping through Wharton State Forest, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The blaze, dubbed the County Line Wildfire, was sparked sometime before 10 a.m. and has since spread to the Jackson Road area of Wharton State Forest in Waterford Township, Camden County, and Shamong Township in Burlington County. Both video and photos from the scene show massive plumes of white smoke billowing above the state ..read more

File Photo> An air tanker drops retardant onto the Gravel Pit Fire in Montana in August 2023. (Inciweb photo.) Two aerial firefighting jets have been sidelined due to corrosion believed to be caused by a recently approved fire retardant used by the U.S. Forest Service in 2023. Last year, two large air tankers deployed a magnesium chloride-based fire retardant while battling wildfires, leading to corrosion in critical areas of the aircraft, the Billings Gazette reports. The National Transportation Safety Board, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Forest Service are cond ..read more

Firefighters make they their way up a hill as the El Dorado fire approaches in Yucaipa, California, on Sept. 1, 2020. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS) Alicia Clanton Bloomberg News (TNS) Restoring coastal ecosystems with oysters in Florida, protecting forests from wildfire in California and maintaining a cultural site (the Pearl Harbor National Memorial) in Hawaii: These are a few of the paid positions that job seekers can now apply for through the Biden administration’s American Climate Corps. The first batch of job listings under the program went live on Monday, timed to Earth Day. So ..read more

Photo: Inciweb / BAER Specialist Micah Kiesow Assessing Soil Burn Severity in Tecolote Creek Headwaters from Vantage Point within Hermits Peak Burned Area Maya Hilty – The Santa Fe New Mexican Apr. 21—As Brandon Glenn hiked through a light, open area of the Santa Fe National Forest northeast of the city Thursday morning, he paused and bent over a circle of burned earth about six feet in diameter, skimming the back of his hand over the ashes. Cold. Although the U.S. Forest Service recently has detected no heat from piles of downed trees burned across nearly 1,000 acres of Pacheco Canyon and H ..read more

Noelle Phillips – The Denver Post Colorado residents can expect a normal year for wildfires through July, but state officials on Wednesday warned that doesn’t mean there won’t be large, potentially catastrophic fires — especially later this summer and early fall as the weather becomes hotter and drier. The fire forecast through July calls for normal wildfire conditions, thanks to an average snowpack in the mountains combined with temperatures a shade above average and moisture slightly below average, said Michael Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. Those ..read more

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, REBECCA BOONE, CLAUDIA LAUER and CHRISTOPHER L. KELLER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — As unpredictable wildfires roared across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released Wednesday. Communications problems were also encountered with the Hawaiian Electric Company, with power and emergency workers unable to confirm that power lines were d ..read more

Stephen Hobbs – The Sacramento Bee A California lawmaker wants the state to consider expanding the list of insurance discounts homeowners are eligible for if they take steps to protect their properties from wildfires. At a hearing Wednesday, Assemblyman Damon Connolly, a Democrat from San Rafael, said he wants he wants to make sure that homeowners are getting the proper deductions for the work that they do to mitigate fire risk. Currently, the Department of Insurance requires companies to reduce prices for people take action on their individual properties and ..read more

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, REBECCA BOONE and CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — When wildfires broke out across Maui last August, some firefighters carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking people away from danger one at a time. But despite devoting nearly all the personnel and vehicles it had to the fight on Aug. 8, 2023, the Maui Fire Department was no match for an unprecedented series of blazes including one t ..read more

By THOMAS W. AURNHAMMER After moving from New Mexico to Colorado, I must admit that I had a lot to learn about fighting fire in the wildland. I was used to having resources in my former fire department such as water and somewhat adequate staffing. Providing fire protection in rural America was much different than in a municipal setting. I spent considerable time contemplating the similarities and differences between structural and wildland firefighting. One of the most disturbing similarities was that both disciplines seem to have the same issue with multiple line-of-duty deaths (LODDs). When ..read more