Taking advantage of favorable weather conditions, firefighters successfully undertook both direct and indirect action along the northern flank of the Boundary River Fire (#362) on Saturday, as well as along the fire perimeter near the Nabesna River.

Hose and pumps have been set up around Native allotments north of the fire and the village of Northway. Two Canadian water-scooping aircraft doused the fire throughout the day along a northern arc of the fire perimeter to keep that part of the fire in check.

The lightning-caused Boundary River Fire started on June 23 and is located approximately 40 miles southeast of Tok. The fire is currently estimated at 15,350 acres with 0 percent containment.

Due to crews timing out, suppression operations will be scaled back on Sunday to enable inbound crews to gain situational awareness before conducting tactical firing operations as soon as Monday. Crews that had been assigned to set up protection around Native allotments will now start concentrating on the east and southeast corners of the fire.  Two jet boats are ferrying supplies and crews along the Nabesna River as they work to fortify the fire perimeter along the river.

With warmer and drier weather forecasted, with temperatures possibly reaching into the 90’s, fire and smoke activity are expected to increase in coming days. Smoke from the 22,000-acre McArthur Creek Fire (#133) burning along the Alaska/Canada border about 40 miles to the east is contributing to the smoke seen by residents and visitors across this part of the wide valley. More information on the McArthur Creek Fire may be found at https://akfireinfo.com/.

A temporary flight restriction remains in effect over the fire area, which includes drones. More information on the TFR can be found at https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_9_5784.html.

Categories: AK Fire Info