The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for northeastern Alaska today, June 14, due to hot, dry conditions and dry lightning. The warning is in effect from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. Friday and covers the Yukon Flats, the Fortymile country, Eagle, and the area to the north.
This comes after five straight days of 70-80 degree weather in the Yukon Flats. A Red Flag Warning means conditions exist that could result in the development of large and dangerous fires, especially with how dry the existing vegetation is in much of these areas.
BLM Alaska Fire Service’s protection area covers the northern half of Alaska and where the Red Flag warning was issued.
BLM AFS will preposition smokejumpers and two water scoopers in Fort Yukon for faster response to new wildfires. The Chena Hotshot Crew is in Eagle working on fuels reduction projects, but can divert for wildfire response if needed. The North Star Crew is working on projects around the BLM AFS fire station in Fort Yukon after finishing up work on a fire north of Beaver.
The BLM AFS smokejumpers are wrapping up work on the 118-acre Deviation Fire (#126) burning east of Kiana and will demobilize today. After four days of work, the fire was called out Friday morning.
The 12 smokejumpers will be shuttled to Kotzebue. They’ll board a smokejumper plane carrying equipment including packed parachutes in case they’re needed to respond to another fire. They’ll fly to Galena where they’ll preposition for fires in Western Alaska.
In anticipation of the uptick in activity, 20 smokejumpers are coming up from the Lower 48 to add to the BLM AFS smokejumper ranks. These highly experienced firefighters can quickly respond to new fire starts in hard-to-reach parts of Alaska by parachuting out of airplanes. Ten Great Basin smokejumpers arrived from Boise on Thursday and after a practice jump, were ready for wildfires in Alaska. The next 10 from the Pacific Northwest are expected at the BLM AFS smokejumper base at Fort Wainwright today.
Approximately 42,000 acres have burned in 125 fires so far this year. Only two of the 21 active fires are staffed – the Deviation Fire and the 32,726-acre McDonald Fire burning southeast of Fairbanks.
That is likely to change with the upcoming warmer, drier weather that is expected in Interior Alaska.
-BLM-
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703
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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National Incident Support Cache with a $18.1 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Military in Alaska.
Categories: AK Fire Info, BLM Alaska Fire Service, Red Flag Warning
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 