Firefighters completed mop-up work on a wildfire about 15 miles southwest of Fairbanks on Friday.
All 62 personnel that remained on the 116-acre Livingston Fire (#113) were flown off the fire early Friday afternoon after it was declared 100 percent contained.
Firefighters exit a helicopter at the Fairbanks Area state forestry office Friday afternoon after being flown off the Livingston Fire about 15 miles southwest of Fairbanks. Liz Wallace/Alaska Division of Forestry
The lightning-caused fire started on Sunday in the Rosie Creek area and threatened five cabins and homes along the Tanana River.
The Chena Interagency Hotshot Crew from the BLM Alaska Fire Service and the White Mountain Type 2 Initial Attack Crew and Fairbanks 1 Type 2 crew, both from the Alaska Division of Forestry, were demobilized from the fire on Friday. All personnel were back in Fairbanks by 3 p.m.
Division of Forestry firefighters also wrapped up work on a wildfire about 20 miles north of the Kuskokwim River village of Crooked Creek on Friday. Four firefighters from the McGrath area forestry office completed a second grid of the interior of the 66-acre Ophir Creek Fire (#161) and found no hotspots. Personnel also walked the perimeter of the fire to check on 11 hotspots they extinguished Thursday and found no heat. The fire was one of several in the Southwest Area that was started by a lightning on Tuesday. The fire received substantial rain on Thursday and was declared out early Friday afternoon.
Firefighters from the Division of Forestry’s Mat-Su Area office are also completing work on the 33-acre Prairie Fire (#126) that started on Monday about 40 miles northeast of Talkeetna. Firefighters gridded for hotspots 100 feet in from the perimeter of the fire on Thursday and the fire was 75% contained as of Thursday night. On Friday, the 35 personnel remaining on the fire began pulling hose that had been placed around the fire and prepping sling loads of supplies to be flown off the fire in anticipation of a Sunday demobilization.
Three other fires in state forestry protection areas are still being staffed with firefighting personnel, all three of which are in the Southwest Area, where more than two dozen fires were ignited by lightning this week.
The top priority is the 50-acre Reindeer Lake Fire (#191) burning about 20 miles east of the Yukon River village of Holy Cross. The Pioneer Peak Interagency Hotshot Crew was flown into the fire on Thursday and was joined by the Type 2 Upper Kalskag hand crew on Friday, putting the total number of personnel working on the fire at 47. The fire was reported to be 10 percent contained on Thursday night and was 50 percent active, burning in black spruce and tundra. There is a cabin about one-quarter mile south of the fire. Six smokejumpers that had been working on the fire were demobilized on Friday so they could be available for initial attack on new fires.
Twenty-eight personnel, meanwhile, remain on the 130-acre Molybdenum Mountain Fire (#139) located about 20 miles north of the Kuskokwim River village of Chuathbaluk. That fire, reported on Wednesday from a lightning strike, was 50% contained as of Thursday night. The Yukon Type 2 Initial Attack Crew arrived at the fire Thursday and are working to secure the north and south edges of the fire. Six smokejumpers were released from the fire on Friday to be available for initial attack on new fires.
A load of eight smokejumpers from the BLM Alaska Fire Service were dropped on the Victoria Creek Fire (#186) on Friday. The fire is burning about 30 miles east of Aniak and 4 miles south of the Kuskokwim River village of Napamute. There is a fish camp and a Native allotment about 1 ½ miles from the fire. The fire was burning in black spruce and tundra and was reported to be 20 percent active on Friday when smokejumpers arrived.
For more information, call the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center fire line at 907-356-5511.
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, AK Fire Info
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 