Smokejumpers and aircraft are responding to a new fire in the Upper Yukon Zone.
The Otter Fire (#344) is burning along Otter Creek about 50 miles northeast of Venetie and 40 miles south of Arctic Village in a full protection area. The fire is lightning caused and is estimated to be about 50 acres.
Twelve smokejumpers, four single-engine water scooper planes and an air attack plane have been ordered for the fire. The robust response is intended to help firefighters get around the fire quickly to keep it as small as possible.
When resources are available, this strategy reduces the fire’s impact on the land and the potential threat to values at risk. It can also allow some of the firefighters who responded to be released once the initial attack is complete so they can be ready for any new fires.
The Upper Yukon saw thousands of lightning strikes over the past 48 hours. New fires from those strikes may be detected in the coming days as warmer, drier conditions move into the northern Interior.
-BLM-
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 