Idaho fire (click here)

Forest Fires

Australia Plans Satellite System to Protect World's Forests
By Phil Mercer
Sydney
23 July 2007
Australian officials are calling for global support for a satellite monitoring system to combat illegal logging and the destruction of forests in Asia and the Pacific. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.
FAO says most countries in Europe and North America have reversed centuries of deforestation
The Australian government hopes an international meeting this week in Sydney will generate support for its plan to reduce deforestation and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Canberra has pledged $175 million for a World Bank-backed fund to reduce forest destruction and illegal logging in the Asia-Pacific region.
Australian officials say that almost 4.5 million trees are destroyed around the world every day.
The government argues that if deforestation is halved, trees could absorb three billion more tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, or 10 percent of total emissions. Many scientists say the emissions, generally created by burning fuels such as oil and coal, contribute to global warming and climate change.

http://voanews.com/english/2007-07-23-voa24.cfm



Australia to push global satellite forest fire tracking system
Australia said Monday it planned to lead the development of a global satellite system to monitor forest fires in a bid to help stop deforestation.
The plan involves a network of satellite receiving stations to monitor forest fires in the Asia-Pacific region and extending that network's capacity to other parts of the world, the government said.
"The ability to measure and monitor changes in forest cover is critical to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing global deforestation and supporting sustainable forest management," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
"Australia is inviting partner countries to work with us to link national, regional, and international systems to create a truly global system to monitor forest cover and carbon levels."
The so-called Global Carbon Monitoring System would be supported by remote sensing satellite monitoring technology and "carbon accounting activities" on the ground, he said.

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070723162418.ffjczzjx&cat=null



Heat wave leads more forest fires in Italy
Posted: 2007/07/24
ROME, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Current heat wave in Italy caused more forest and brush fires, Italian civil protection authorities said here on Monday.
The southeast region of Puglia is one of the hardest hit by the fires, two more of which broke out during the night between Sunday and Monday, according to the local media reports.
Civil Protection officials said Puglia remained at high risk of fire because of the continuing drought there.
In Calabria fire-fighters brought under control a fire near theA3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway which had been shut down on Sunday, the reports said.

http://mathaba.net/news/?x=558543



Jul 22 2007 9:47AM
Russian Il-76 water bomber battling forest fires in Bulgaria
MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 TD water- bomber, urgently dispatched to Bulgaria's Staraya Zagora, began a fire- fighting mission at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov told Interfax.
"At the request of the Bulgarian government, the ministry has sent an Il-76 water bomber capable of carrying 42 tonnes of water to Bulgaria," Beltsov said.
Forest fires raging near Staraya Zagora are threatening to spread to populated areas, he said.
The ministry will dispatch helicopter water bombers to Greece on July 24 and 25 to battle forest fires outside Athens, Beltsov said. sd

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11795239



Wet weather soaks forest fires throughout Interior
Pilots Andy Streichsbier (l) and Tom Schneider (r) stand beside their trusty Sikorsky S-61 helicopter at the Clearwater stock car track. The chopper crew has been working on the Coldscaur Lake fire for the last week transporting crew, hauling camp supplies and dumping water on the blaze. Originally designed to work on offshore oil rigs, the S-61 is powered by twin 1500 horsepower engines that combined suck back a whopping 700 litres of fuel per hour. Thanks to all rain last week, the helicopter is no longer needed and the crew will be heading to Prince Rupert to heli-log next week.
By ROBERT MANGELSDORF
Jul 23 2007
Mother nature was doing her part to keep B.C.’s forests from burning last week as drenching rains doused dozens of fires across the region. More than 20 millimetres of water had fallen by Friday putting a damper on a number of potentially dangerous blazes and reducing the fire danger rating from extreme to low.
“The recent weather has really helped fire suppression efforts, mother nature is really helping us out,” said Kamloops Fire Centre Spokesperson Karlie Shaughnessy. “We’re expecting cooler temperatures with more precipitation, so that should help things.”
Early last week, the smell of smoke hung heavy in the air as a fire in a remote area near Coldscaur Lake burned 25 kilometres west of Clearwater.

http://www.clearwatertimes.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=7&cat=23&id=1030970&more=0



Greek health officials on alert as heatwave grips country
Athens - Hospital staff across Greece were placed on alert Monday as a heatwave, with temperatures expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius, will grip the country until the end of the weekGreece's health ministry said all 132 hospitals will be fully staffed to assist the public through the heatwave.
Officials said dozens of people, either suffering from sunstroke or breathing problems, were rushed to hospital on Monday across the country.
The country's public power corporation said it expected possible power shortages as air conditioning systems were working overtime.
Meanwhile, firefighters continued their battle to extinguish dozens of forest fires across Greece amid strong winds and rising temperatures. Authorities said most of the fires had been contained or brought partially under control.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/85752.html




Europe sizzles as summer heat soars
Jul 24 2007
icWales
A HEATWAVE sweeping central and south-eastern Europe killed at least 25 people, with soaring temperatures sparking forest fires, damaging crops and prompting calls to ban horse-drawn tourist carriages.
In Romania, where temperatures reached 104 degrees the Health Ministry said at least 19 people had died due to heat.
In Austria, where highs had hovered around 95 degrees for days, the Health Ministry said three deaths were likely heat-related. Austrian media said at least five people had died from the heat, including an elderly woman who collapsed on a Vienna street.
A 56-year-old woman collapsed and died in Zagreb, Croatia, of what doctors believed was a heat-related heart attack. Temperatures in the Balkan country reached about 104.
Elsewhere, authorities in Slovakia and Hungary distributed free water in some cities. In the eastern Hungarian town of Kiskunhalas, temperatures reached a record 107.4, according to the national weather centre.
Greece’s Fire Service reported 115 fires, and firefighters had struggled to contain a blaze at an old army base near Athens, where temperatures reached 105.8. France, not affected by the heatwave, sent some firefighting planes to Greece to help out.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_headline=europe-sizzles-as-summer-heat-soars&method=full&objectid=19508908&siteid=50082-name_page.html



Fire fighters extinguish forest fires over night
Budapest, July 23 (MTI) - Several forest fires broke out during the weekend, which saw a continuation of temperatures hovering around 40 degree Celsius, said disaster management officials on Monday.
A forest fire in Vas County in western Hungary was eventually put out by fire fighters in the small hours of Monday while the fire service was called out to five different places during the night.
The fire in Porpac, Vas County, affected woodland coving 40 hectares. The cause of the fire has not yet been established.
Meanwhile fires also broke out in various storehouses in the same county, destroying 1,500 straw bales and farm equipment.
Other smaller fires in woodland associated with the unusually hot weather were reported in Pest County, C Hungary, according to national disaster management spokesman Tibor Dobson.

http://english.mti.hu/default.asp?menu=1&theme=2&cat=25&newsid=243329




Fires across Serbia under control

23 July 2007
Il-76 waterbomber is also working in Bulgaria and has been rejected by the west over a 12 year period. Look up the history in Google or any reputable search engine. We shall be grateful for reporting IL-76 waterbomber firefighting successes from Serbia .(JohnA, 24. July 2007 05:38)

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/comments.php?nav_id=42587



Pilot dies in crash near Happy Camp
His craft went down while he was fighting the Elk lightning fire
By Mark Freeman
Mail Tribune
July 24, 2007
HAPPY CAMP, Calif. — An unidentified pilot died Monday when his helicopter crashed on a ridge while fighting the Elk fire, one of many lightning fires burning into their 14th day near Happy Camp, authorities said.
The U.S. Forest Service on Monday withheld any identifying information about the pilot — a firefighter under contract with the agency — or his employer until family members could be informed of the man's death, fire spokesman Mel Cagle said.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department will determine the cause of death and notify the family, and the department expects to identify the pilot publicly today, said Susan Gravenkamp, the sheriff's department spokeswoman.
The helicopter was helping support the Elk fire, one of 30 lightning-caused blazes burning within the Elk Complex near Happy Camp, a small outpost on Highway 96 along the Klamath River near the Oregon/California border.
Cagle identified the helicopter only as "a small, type II" aircraft that the pilot was using to deliver a container of water that was to refill firefighters' water backpacks, Cagle said.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/NEWS/707240317



Storms may be a mixed blessing
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 07/23/2007 10:34:57 AM MDT
Storms made their way into Utah on Sunday, promising to make way for cooler temperatures, less pollution and possibly some fire-dousing rain over the next few days.
"It could help the fires," said National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Young. "It could hurt the fires."
That's because the lightning accompanying the thunderstorms could spark more fire before any substantial rain comes. At least six of 10 fires in the state started from a lightning strike.
State air-quality officials on Sunday issued a "yellow air action alert," urging Wasatch Front residents to do what they can to reduce air pollution, including driving less and operating
lawn mowers very early or very late in the day through Tuesday. Smoke from the fires and the high daytime temperatures have kept ozone pollution high in the afternoons.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6440949

Advocate Lost

Lonely Planet author's body found
July 24, 2007 - 4:07PM
The body of a Melbourne man missing in China for almost three months has been found on a mountain in the country's remote south-west.
Clem Lindenmayer, 47, disappeared while hiking near Minya Konka mountain, also known as Gongga Shan in Sichuan province.
China's official Xinhua news agency said villagers found his body on July 19.
Mr Lindenmayer's family said they last heard from him on May 2 when he contacted his wife by email to tell her he was preparing for a hike around the mountain range, which lies in a rugged region that was once part of Tibet.
His mother said today she had learned of the discovery of her son's body last weekend.
Mr Lindenmayer's brother Peter and his nephew Tim Lindenmayer left Australia early last month to search for him after fears grew for his safety.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/lonely-planet-authors-body-found/2007/07/24/1185043099620.html

Lonely Planet - The incredible aspect of such a focus for travel is reality based. The 'tourist' is no longer isolated from the land and it's people to a world of entertainment thrill seeking. The 'tourist' in the year 2007 are interested in enjoyment but as an enhancement to that enjoyment of discovery of new lands and their beauty is the discovery of the people, lifestyles and how that interprets to their government. Of course in the middle of all this is 'where we go' as a nation of people that can facilitate changes for others in a way that is peaceful and economically based. Due to their desire to sustain environments and climates as a focus to 'activism tourism' is very interesting to me. They are talented folks. Sorry to hear of this loss.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/journeys/feature/ts2/article/tibetfaq_0707

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