Alaska smokejumpers have contained two small fires in the Yukon Training Area northeast of Eielson Air Force Base.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service said the 12 spokejumpers responded to the 3-acre Moose Creek Fire and the quarter-acre Horner fire Monday afternoon. That was after the agency got a report that they were burning in an area about 9 miles northeast of Eielson.
A news release from the agency said the Horner Fire was burning in grass and dead-and-down birch trees. So fire managers decided to mobilize the smokejumpers out of concern that winds forecast for the area today may spread the fire.
Two other fires also are burning in an area just south of those fires -- the 4-acre Lynx 1 Fire and 7-acre Lynx 2 Fire. Fire managers believe all of the fires were ignited by military training exercises in the area.
Meanwhile, the Wildland Fire Service conducted prescribed burns elsewhere in the Yukon Training Area over the weekend, to reduce chances of more wildfires.
So far, firefighters have burned several small portions within the 5,300-acre Stuart Creek Impact Area.
