Wednesday was a busy day for firefighters working in the Interior and new wildfires that were caused by lightning were reported. A majority of the fires were located in remote areas and allowed to burn however, some are actively fighting.
Over 30000 lightning strikes across Alaska between Monday and Wednesday and the addition of 80 new wildfires increased the burned acres from around 1,500 to almost 11,000.
Fires west of Allakaket and off on the Steese as well as Elliot Highways will be fought through the Federal Alaska Fire Service. In the state, the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection is assisting with several other fires, including a brand new lightning-caused blaze along the Teklanika River southwest of Nenana. The state fire officer Sam Harrel says there are cabins along the river’s corridor.
“And there’s of course there’s the Parks Highway on the other side, Anderson, Clear, and the Space Force radar station,” he added.
Harrel states that the Teklanika fire was smashed by the high winds, bringing retardant and water drops on Wednesday night, but it’s likely to require greater attention because of the conditions in the forest, such as densely packed areas of black spruce.
“Aerial resources can’t handle that by themselves,” he said. “We have to get teams on the ground and we’re moving forward and headed in that direction.”
Harrel says the recent heat wave has caused drying out of trees and vegetation on the surface, making them vulnerable to fire when struck by lightning however, the effects of the early summer’s wet conditions are slowing the spread of fire.
“Those lower layers, also known as duff are too wet to support an fire and provide it with the necessary energy to expand,” he said.
Harrel says that another stormy weather pattern has triggered another fire Wednesday night, extending an ongoing pattern of three days that’s bringing down resources in the state.
“We’ve provided certain resources in Canada to assist,” Harrel said. “We’ve sent a few aid to Northwest regions to assist and it’s possible that we’ll have to recall certain of them.”
Alaska Fire Service spokesperson Beth Ipsen confirmed Tuesday that additional important fires that are being battled include that of the Champion Fire in the White Mountains Recreation Area.
“This is sort of an important thing for us to do, since on the 1st of January, which falls on (next) Tuesday it will be a Federal subsistence Fortymile caribou hunt that is opening,” Ipsen said.
Ipsen reports that the fire that is which is burning close to mile 50 on the Steese Highway near Nome Creek was discovered on Tuesday.
“So we’re mobilizing our Midnight Sun Hotshots out, as we don’t want this fire to disrupt hunting,” the woman said.
Division of Forestry spokesperson Lily Coyle confirms that the second primary wildfire to be reported on Tuesday was the 75-acre Deep Creek Fire close to Salcha It was spotted by a pilot working on the McCoy Creek Fire 10 miles from the area.
“We were successful in getting some of the BLM smokejumpers on the ground” She said “and the resources in the air were merely producing a series of drops of retardant and water.”
Coyle stated Tuesday that Forestry has dispatched crews and aircraft to stop the flame at bay from spreading and affecting nearby homes. The area of 25 acres McCoy Creek Fire hasn’t grown since Monday.
“We are still working with firefighters on the fire and trying to protect structures,” she said. “But most of the aviation resources did assist with the close-by Deep Creek Fire.”
On on Tuesday Forestry also sent out a Tanana Chiefs first-attack team on the six-mile Pogo Fire that’s burned six acres of land close to that Pogo Mine Access Road that runs north to Delta Junction. Coyle states that it’s to be a fire that is priority.
“That is in a full management Zone,” she said, “so there’s a staff member in place and helicopters are working on it.”
Coyle mentions that Forestry officials are watching an additional nearby wildfire one called the Pogo Mine Road Fire that’s growing up the road towards the mine.
Ipsen stated that smokejumpers have made progress in their way to tackling the 11.5-acre Moose Fire, near Mile 100 on the Elliott Highway.
“The smokejumpers have a great grip on the incident (Monday) evening, they had an idea of what was going on and are now mopping things up” She said.
The department of environmental conservation in the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued another air-quality alert on Tuesday, warning that smoking from wildfires that have ravaged Alaska and Canada likely to engulf areas of the state in the coming few days. The advisory warns that the smoke may be harmful for those suffering from respiratory problems or other health issues.
