An emergency burn closure prohibiting all open burning and the use of charcoal grills in the Kenai Peninsula and Matanuska-Susitna boroughs has been amended to allow warming and cooking fires in firefighting camps.

The order, which took effect on August 21, was amended to read: “Warming and cooking campfires as defined under 11 AAC 95.412 – 11 AAC 95.495 that are established in wildland fire incident command posts and authorized spike camps that are in use by emergency responders and crews and meet the following conditions are excepted from this closure:

• less than three feet in diameter and two feet in flame height;
• consist of only non-treated wood and/or paper debris;
• are directly supervised at all times;
• are fully extinguished and cold to the touch when not in use.

The order was amended to fix a technical point concerning firefighters’ use of fire for cooking and warming situations in support of fire suppression operations. Many firefighters staying in fire camps must cook their own food and use small cooking fires for that purpose.

Categories: AK Fire Info