The USDA Forest Service is investing $200 million in 58 projects through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program. These investments, thanks to Congressionally mandated funding, help at-risk communities plan for and reduce wildfire risk, protecting homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

Each month in FDMC Magazine, we feature the 'Notable Nine Online,' nine stories that were the most viewed and engaged with from WoodworkingNetwork.com over the past month. The following stories were chosen by our readers by what they were most interested in from July 14 to August 12.

Neutral, a real estate development company focused on creating sustainable and healthy mixed-use communities, has presented the results of a first-of-its-kind successful 3 hour fire test for a hybrid mass timber building assembly with standard connectors for free use by industry practitioners.

Eligible workforce development projects included universities, colleges, government and community organizations, and businesses that aimed to increase workforce capacity in the fields of logging, fuels treatment, transportation, manufacturing, or other support services that bolster the development of a resilient forest sector workforce.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is sending a team to investigate the fatal explosion at the Horizon Biofuels facility in Fremont, Nebraska, that occurred on July 29. The blast fatally injured three people – two young girls and an adult man – who were in the facility at the time of the incident.

The Sansin Corporation's Factory Finish PC WoodForce product has achieved Euro Class D fire rating certification. The Euro Class D single burning item test is outlined by EN 13823, a European standard test method, also known as the Single Burning Item (SBI) test, used to evaluate the reaction of building products (excluding flooring) to fire.

FREMONT, Neb. — Wood dust is the likely cause of a July 29 explosion at a pellet plant in Fremont, Nebraska. The July 29 blast killed three people, including a male employee and his two daughters, both under the age of 12. 

Electric recliners have been the point of origin for house fires several times over the years including two fires in May, one of which led to the death of an 88-year-old woman and her four animals.The first was the fatal house fire in Brighton, Colorado, near Denver, that burned a home on Mother’s Day. The source of the May 11 fire was an electric recliner chair. 

Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) has agreed to pay $204,284.42 to resolve the United States’ claim for damages resulting from a 2021 wildfire that burned about 29 acres, including National Forest System lands on the Eldorado National Forest in California, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced May 22.

N.R. Murphy Limited has completed the largest dust collection system installation in its 82-year history. Designed and built for a state-of-the-art woodworking facility, this advanced dust collection system "sets a new benchmark for power and efficiency," the company said.