U.S. Wildland Fire Service sending firefighters, aircraft, equipment to wildfires around Alaska's northern Interior
Federal firefighters are working on several lightning-caused wildfires around the northern portion of the Interior. Thousands of strikes have been detected over the past week.
Last weekend’s thunderstorms sparked numerous fires in the Interior, like the Starry Fire near Anderson that the state Division of Forestry and Fire Protection is managing. But the U.S. Wildland Fire Service manages wildfire suppression in the northern portion of the state. And spokesperson Joan Kluwe says lightning also has been bombarding that region.
“ We had a series of very strong thunderstorms with abundant lightning,” she said. “In four days, we received well over 20,000 strikes across the state, and it was a wide band stretching from the Tanana area up into the Brooks Range.”
Wildland Fire Service officials said in an update on the online wildfire website AKFireInfo that “A strong band of thunderstorms with abundant lightning again covered a broad swath of the state on Wednesday, from the southwest to northeast.”
Kluwe said Wednesday that despite some scattered showers, many areas in the northern Interior are dry.
“The very southern area had quite a lot of rain, and then the interior to the north had far less rain,” she said. “Some areas are still exhibiting high and extreme fire indices, whereas other areas were very moderated by the rainstorms.”
According to AKfireInfo, the Fire Service is focusing much of its efforts on seven fires burning near the communities of Ambler, Rampart, Chicken, Central and Minto.
The Jade Fire near Ambler had burned about 65 acres as of Wednesday. Water‑scooping airplanes and 23 smokejumpers have been assigned to the fire. The Midnight Sun Hotshots were scheduled to arrive in Ambler today.
The Canyon Fire near Rampart had burned about 880 acres as of Wednesday. A Type 2 firefighting crew arrived Wednesday to help cut fireline and lay hoses to protect two Native allotments, some cabins and a fish camp on the Yukon River.
The Polly Fire had burned about 120 acres as of Monday near Taylor Highway milepost 110, about 21 miles north of Chicken. According to AKFireInfo, a federal firefighting team arrived Tuesday to scout the fire and help property owners protect homes and other structures.
In today’s update on the Polly Fire, Fire Service officials advised motorists traveling along the Talyor Highway to be aware of smoky conditions around the area where the fire is burning that could reduce visibility.
“That fire was surrounded by thunderstorms yesterday,” Kluwe said. “Lots of cells in the area, but the fire itself got no rain.”
The Betula Fire has burned about 35 acres near Central. Water-scooping aircraft and helicopters with buckets have helped to cool the fire and firefighters are laying more hose , but the fire is still considered 0% contained.
About six fires are burning in an area near Minto, about 65 miles northwest of Fairbanks near the Elliott Highway. The Wildland Fire Service has designated all those fires as the Elliott Complex, but the agency sent firefighters to only three of them that pose a potential risk to developed areas.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
