Upcoming weather system promises rain and cooler temperatures to subdue wildfires
High temperatures continue to intensify fire behavior, challenging firefighters’ efforts to control wildfires and protect communities in Interior Alaska. However, a significant weather change is forecasted Friday to provide some relief.
The T’eedriinjik Fire (#380) near Venetie more than tripled in size after exhibiting extreme fire behavior Wednesday night. Firefighters reported the fire was running and torching with new fires starting outside the main fire perimeter, prompting mobilization of water-scooping aircraft and 12 smokejumpers. While airplanes and a helicopter dropped water on the flames, firefighters were working to get a saw line and hose around the fire to start cooling down the edges.
Firefighters estimated 17.5 acres of new growth Wednesday, adding to the 5 acres they were mopping up. The fire is near a double-track trail 2 miles northwest of the community. For safety, please avoid the area as firefighters work on the ground and in the air to suppress the fire.
The BLM Alaska Fire Service North Star Fire Crew, a type 2 crew that trains to hotshot standards, is mobilizing to the fire. The Clear Water Crew, a BLM Type 2 contract crew with firefighters assembled from villages near St. Mary’s, will move from the Marten Fire (#383) south of Venetie to the T’eedriinjik Fire once that 2-acre fire is fully contained soon.
Not only has the hot weather increased fire behavior, but one firefighter working on the T’eedriinjik Fire was treated for a non-emergency heat-related illness. Temperatures are expected to remain in the high 80s and lower 90s for most of Thursday before taking a dip when a low pressure originating in the Bering Strait moves across the state.
That likely means the Sinnott Fire (#382) north of Eagle will continue to burn. The fire picked up Wednesday evening and burned toward the Yukon River near Boulder Creek Wednesday. With more firefighters and equipment arriving, they will use a masticator and chainsaws to reopen old fire breaks to protect Eagle from the approximately 1,000-acre fire. Efforts to protect other properties near the Mission and American creeks are underway with firefighters coming up with a plan to protect other structures in the area.
While the western half of the state is expected to get doused with rain Thursday, the Yukon Flats and parts of Eastern Alaska are forecasted to receive less moisture but will still experience cooler temperatures and higher humidity. The break from hot weather is predicted to continue through the next week and put a damper on large wildfires burning in remote parts of Interior Alaska. This means the air quality in Central and Eastern Alaska will improve Friday.
There is still a concern of new ignitions from more than 5,000 lightning strikes across a concentrated band between the Alaska and Brooks ranges Wednesday. However, meteorologists said the weather conditions accompanying and following the lightning should keep the potential for new fires subdued.
More than 1,300 lightning strikes were recorded in Alaska as of 5 p.m. Thursday. In Alaska, 359 fires have burned more than 621,000 acres.
For more information, contact BLM AFS Public Affairs Specialist Beth Ipsen at (907)356-5510 or eipsen@blm.gov.
-BLM-
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005, 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, AK 99703
Need public domain imagery to complement news coverage of the BLM Alaska Fire Service in Alaska?
Visit our Flickr channel! Learn more at www.blm.gov/AlaskaFireService, and on Facebook and Twitter.
The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National Incident Support Cache with a $18.1 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Military in Alaska.
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, AK Fire Info, BLM Alaska Fire Service
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 