http://wildfiremag.com/ en-us http://wildfiremag.com/wui/national-fire-plan-obsolete-20090706 Only 11% of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have been performed near homes or offices, according to a new study by the University of Montana, the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, said Cara Nelson, assistant professor of restoration ecology at the University of Montana's College of Forestry and Conservation. The National Fire Plan is a long-term federal fuels-reduction program aimed at reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire to communities. Nelson said the U.S. government is spending approximately $6 billion on fuel-reduction strategies annually. The study looked at where such treatments were conducted. wui Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:48:00 EDT http://wildfiremag.com/news/pandemic-preparation-20090518 The outbreak of a new strain of influenza, known as H1N1 or swine flu, has led to many questions. So today, I asked Daniel Kaniewski, deputy director of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, to discuss how pandemics can adversely affect our nation's first-responders, specifically firefighters, as well as the nation's homeland security operations. news Mon, 18 May 2009 10:20:00 EDT http://wildfiremag.com/technology/fire-locator-aggregate-wildfire-data-20090415 Pitney Bowes' research arm, Advanced Concepts and Technologies, recently launched the Fire Locator, a software-based data aggregator available to the public and public-safety agencies, said Arthur Berrille, the company's vice president. Fire Locator brings together information from multiple sources on wildfires -- and internationally, bush fires -- in a public-accessible console, Berrille said. Sources include NASA's satellite-based MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer), which captures geothermal differences on the Earth's surface, including hot spots that are likely to be wildfires, he said. technology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:12:00 EDT http://wildfiremag.com/pub-ed/wildfire-bigger-problem-20090402 The first day of CFSI's 21st Annual National Fire and Emergency Services seminars began with "Emerging Challenges in the Wildland Urban Interface" presented by Tom Harbour, director of fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service. Harbour talked about the responsibilities of the fire service as wildland fires continue to grow in intensity and devastation. Predicting the increase of natural disasters such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and major wildfires, Harbour said, "We're going to continue to have large, wildland fires in this nation and it's something we are going to have to endure." pub-ed Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:03:00 EDT http://wildfiremag.com/australian-relief-0305 WWF Executive Director Vicki Minor says the group has set up a special fund for the Australian families and that 100% of the money raised will go to those families. This is the group's first international relief effort. / Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:17:00 EDT