BLM Alaska Fire Service (AFS) is closely monitoring a growing number of wildfires near Huslia, placing firefighters on the ground when resources are available.
With all available Alaska crews either assigned or mobilizing to wildfires, additional assistance is arriving from the Lower 48. This includes requesting to team to manage efforts to protect Huslia and numerous Alaska Native allotments in the fire area. Many of these allotments are located along the nearby Koyukuk River between Huslia and the affected area.
Six fires are now grouped into what is being managed as the Roundabout Complex:
- Moldy Fire (#279): The largest in the complex, estimated at more than 3,000 acres, is located nearly 13 miles southwest of Huslia. It has merged with the Louie Fire (#277).
- Richards Fire (#251): Approximately 150 acres, located 10 miles west of Huslia. Eight smokejumpers responded shortly after it was discovered on Friday.
- Billy Hawk Fire (#182) and Billy Hawk 2 Fire (#191): These two fires are located more than 25 miles northwest of Huslia. Both were contained by smokejumpers and moved to higher priority fires – four going to the Caribou Fire and four went to a fire near Ruby.
- Caribou Fire (#128): Estimated at 1,123 acres and burning about 36 miles northeast of Huslia. Smokejumpers are responding due to extreme fire danger near a mine site.
Some of the lightning-caused fires are burning in Limited Management Option Areas, which allow wildfires to fulfill their natural ecological role unless they pose a threat to life or property. If a fire endangers values at risk – such as cabins, communities and allotments – firefighters may be mobilized to protect those values without fully suppressing the fire. This strategy prioritizes firefighter safety and the protection of critical sites while ensuring resources remain available for higher-priority wildfires elsewhere in the state. Others are in areas that under different circumstance when resources are available, would get a response.
However, this activity comes during an already highly active fire period statewide.
With firefighting resources stretched thin, BLM AFS and the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection are working together to prioritize responses where firefighter and public safety are most at risk. The two agencies are coordinating closely to share resources. In addition, the Alaska Preparedness Level was elevated today to Level 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5).
In the past two days alone, 65 new fires have been reported following a week of widespread thunderstorms and persistent hot, dry conditions. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, 276 wildfires have burned approximately 78,500 acres.
For more information, contact BLM AFS Public Affairs Specialist Beth Ipsen at (907) 356-5510 or eipsen@blm.gov.
Information corrected to show incident management team was requested, but has yet to be assigned.
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Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703
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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. 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 