By Nathanael Johnson
Fairbanks, AK – Fire update 10 am
Lightning strikes have ignited 16 new fires across the state in the last few days, some not far from Fairbanks.
There are four new fires near Murphy Dome, to the northwest of Fairbanks. Fire information officer Gil Knight says they most concerned about one of these blazes. At last report is had grown to 25 acres. The fire started at 4 a.m. Saturday. Helicopters dropped water and retardant while three crews worked on the ground. Two crews stayed overnight with water tenders, hoses and pumps. Knight says there are no evacuation warnings or road closures for the area.
There is another cluster of lightning-caused fires near Nenana. Last night those fires were burning at 10, 20, and one at 200 acres.
Over the last three days Meteorologist Ted Fathauer says he and his colleagues have never seen so much lightning.
"Yesterday was a relatively slow one, with just over 27 hundred strikes. Two days ago we had a new world record for Alaska, in over 25 years of lightening system records, with over nine thousand in one 24 hour period."
But firefighters had to deal with more than nature, there were five new fires started by humans.
Other areas of the interior saw increased fire activity. Palmer says crews had their hand full near the towns of Chicken and Central. Around Eagle and Venetie fires slowed when some rain fell yesterday. The Camp Creek fire claimed three buildings Friday, but Palmer says it has not increased in size since then.
Fathauer says, For more than 6 weeks a weather system has kept the interior dry and susceptible to new starts.
"We've had a very low flow regime over Alaska, a high pressure zone that has prevent any maritime weather systems coming in bringing cool, humid air and rain."
Fathauer says, the bottom line -- there's no end in sight.
http://fire.ak.blm.gov Updates from Alaska Department of Natural Resources: Near Tok and Chicken Saturday - Humidity in the teens and temperatures above 80 degrees, along with high winds, send the Porcupine Fire through heavy timber toward the Tanana River on the south side of the fire. The fire backed into the with within a half mile of the river, and into much less volatile fuels. It did not cross the river. The dozer line west of the Taylor Highway held and despite extreme burning, crews were able to add more line to the old Alcan. The weather was expected to continue through Sunday. The Billy Creek Fire was active in pockets of heavy timber, on steeper slopes and where southerly winds were pushing the fire up hill.