The Bureau of Land Management’s Central Yukon Field Office, with the help of the BLM Alaska Fire Service, is planning to burn a large brush pile near Mile 180 of the Dalton Highway next week. Weather conditions permitting, the tentative ignition date is November 5 but it could occur anytime between Nov. 5-20. When ignition occurs smoke will likely be visible from the communities of Coldfoot and Wiseman, as well as from the Dalton Highway, for two days.
The brush pile is located at the BLM administrative site east of the Dalton Highway just north of Marion Creek. The 50-foot-by-50-foot brush pile is a result of a fuel reduction project on 3-4 acres of land around BLM facilities in Coldfoot conducted by the Midnight Sun Interagency Hotshot Crew this past spring. Material that was not usable for firewood was piled on a gravel pad and will be burned by BLM Field Office and AFS personnel. Most of the brush pile consists of small spruce trees and limbs.
The fire crew used “Firewise” specifications that the BLM and other federal and state agencies promote to Alaska residents for reducing the risks that wildfires pose to homes and other infrastructure. The BLM has in previous years completed similar projects around the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center, which the BLM co-manages in Coldfoot with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as at a BLM administrative site six miles north of Coldfoot.
Categories: AK Fire Info
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 