Over 1,000 firefighters are fighting wildfires in Interior Alaska, and about one-third of firefighters are working from an incident command post that was set up in Delta Junction. Deltana Fairgrounds at Delta Junction.
“We would like to inform you that we’ve got over 300 firefighters currently in your region,” Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team spokesperson Kale Casey said to members of the Delta City Council Tuesday. “About 200 firefighters in the past 3 or 4 days has been brought in.”
Casey said to members of the Council Tuesday that the firefighters are working on a number of wildfires that are burning in the area.
Incident Commanding Officer Casey Boespflug said in a community meeting on Tuesday night that the primary concern is the 47,000-acre Pogo Mine Road Fire, that firefighters call Fire 191.
“The most of our sources are in 191,” He said.
The flames have spread all the way to the Trans-Alaska pipeline and has slopped across the right-of-way to the opposite side, to the west of the Richardson Highway about 30 miles north of Delta Junction. Boespflug states that his crew has put a dozer in to stop the spread of the fire. Aircrafts are dropping tons of water, and the crews are cutting lines to secure cabins located in the vicinity.
“We’re trying to keep the pipeline in check by using some airspace,” he said. “The strategy is to get crews into the area and then go through that pipeline.”
The firefighters were able to get some help Wednesday with scattered rain showers in the afternoon which slowed fire activity in the Interior. A strong storm system also traversed Tanana Valley. Tanana Valley, bringing more rain and lightning.
Agency officials say that overall the fire’s activity has diminished and includes that of the 14000-acre McCoy Creek Fire, burning across the Salcha River southeast of Fairbanks. An evacuation order is still in effect for the lower part along the Salcha River.
The GO order requiring residents to leave still in force on the 10,000-acre Teklanika River Fire south of Nenana which is one of 59,000 acres in the Anderson Complex.
However, it was reported that the Fairbanks North Star Borough on Wednesday reduced its earlier evacuation order and put it on standby for areas that are adjacent to the 9500-acre Lost Horse Creek Fire as well as that of the Haystack Subdivision and the Poker Flat Watershed. A Oregon firefighter who was reported missing on Thursday morning in the camp of Lost Horse Creek crews, 51-year-old Saudith Rendon was discovered on Thursday evening and was taken to a hospital where he was in stable state.
