Firefighters continue to make good progress on containing the Ridgetop Fire (#117) in addition to supporting firefighting efforts on the Louis Creek Coal Seam Fire (#122) 8 miles to the east. Over the past 24 hours, fire crews have continued to reinforce control lines on the Ridgetop Fire, safely increasing containment to 60%. Today, crews will continue to mop up and patrol the fire perimeter and extinguish any hotspots while providing structure support for residences near the fire area. Over the next 48 hours as containment increases, fire crews will begin to be released from the Ridgetop Fire and return to their fire stations to prepare for other initial attack fires in the region. Fire weather this weekend is forecast for increased temperatures and the potential for lightning.
8 miles east of the Ridgetop Fire (#117), the Louise Coal Seam Fire (#122) continues to exhibit minimal fire activity. The fire is burning in an old fire scar in grass, tundra and light spruce. Crews supported by dozers will continue to reinforce and improve past fire lines in order to increase containment on the incident. Crews will also begin to be released from this incident with an increase in containment over the next few days.
Neither fire has impacted the Parks Highway corridor but firefighters and firefighting apparatus will continue to be visible between mile marker 253 and 255 on the Parks Highway. Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft will continue to support the firefighters on the ground and will be visible to the public in that area as well.
There is a Temporary Flight Restriction in place over the fire area. To view the current TFR in the area please visit https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html
Categories: AK Fire Info, Alaska DNR - Division of Forestry (DOF)
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 