Fairbanks, AK - Officials lifted an evacuation notice for the communities of Two Rivers and Pleasant Valley on Monday afternoon, but an evacuation watch remains in effect for those living between mileposts 18 and 34 along Chena Hot Springs Road due to the Stuart Creek 2 Wildfire. On Monday, temperatures were cooler, and the region received roughly an inch of rain in some areas. Steve Kleist is a Public Information Officer with a team from California assigned to manage the fire. He says it’s going to take a lot more weather like yesterday’s gain control over the blaze. "An inch of rain sounds like a lot," he says, "but it takes a lot of effort to really completely extinguish a fire where we call it contained let alone controlled, but we wouldn't move to an advisory evacuation if we didn’t feel that way.”
The fire has grown to nearly 80 thousand acres. Teams fighting it report five percent containment. Officials said Monday they expected to see that number increase overnight. Melissa Kreller is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. She says the forecast over the next few days is likely to help firefighters. “Today we’re looking at scattered showers over the hills again," says Keller. "Over the fire, we’ll see scattered showers developing in the afternoon. Temperatures similar to the Fairbanks area. Highs in the Upper 50s to near 60 over that area. With having west to southwest winds, it should keep smoke out of the Fairbanks area.”
Steve Kleist says firefighters are optimistic, but he says there’s still a long way to go before they have the fire under control. "We gotta be very cautious with our optimism," says Kleist. "We’ve got a really large footprint of fire out there.” There are nearly 700 personnel battling the blaze. They are continuing efforts to protect structures in and around Two Rivers and Pleasant Valley. The fire’s potential for growth remains high.
The Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska Fire Service is monitoring a handful of other interior region fires including Moon Lake Complex 24 miles west of Tok. Bernie Pineda is a spokesman with the Alaska Fire Service. “Moon Lake is currently collectively with all the fires at 17, 313 acres," says Pineda. "Moon Lake on its own is 6700 acres.” The complex includes six different fires. Firefighters are patrolling the Tanana River by boat to keep the Moon Lake Fire on the north side of the river. The Tetlin Junction Fire is burning on Tetlin Native Corporation land on the north side of the Alaska Highway. The highway remains open. Four other fires are burning in remote, non-populated areas.