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Air operations support firefighters where the Bear Creek Fire crossed the Parks Highway

By 2025.bearcreekfire on June 28, 2025

Bear Creek Fire (#237): 27,493 acres
Saint George Creek Fire (#246): 22,343 acres
222 personnel

Scattered showers are possible today and over the weekend. Overall, the warming and drying trend will continue into next week with a chance for isolated showers. Fire behavior is expected to be moderate and may create some internal smokes.

Bear Creek Fire. Work on the northern bulldozer line and hoselay has been completed. Additional dozer line on the fire east of the Parks Highway is in progress supported with aircraft bucket drops.

A helicopter drops buckets of water on a fire. — Aircraft support is critical to firefighters. It helps cool the fire area, dampen fire activity, and allows them access to work. AKCIMT

Structure protection is nearly complete in the Kobe area. Today crews will assess the structure protection needs in the Rexana area. The Magpie Drive area structure protection began yesterday. Crews are continuing mop up along Bear Creek. In the June Creek area, mop up now extends 30 feet into the burned area. “Mop up” entails extinguishing or removing burning material, making sure no heat remains. This occurs some distance into a burned area to be confident that there is no longer danger of reignition.

Where the west side of the fire joins the 2012 burned area, it is showing little heat and is in monitor status.

Saint George Creek Fire. In the Gold King Creek area, the crew is completing mop up and securing the structures. Uncrewed Aerial Systems were used today on the northeast corner of the Saint George Creek Fire toward the Wood River to detect heat sources. Warmer and drier conditions allowed fuels to put up more flames and smoke.

The location and extent of the Bear Creek Fire, June 28, 2025. — The Bear Creek Fire is 27,493 acres and Saint George Creek Fire is at 22,343 acres as of June 28. There are 222 personnel on the fire. View PDF version of map.

Evacuations remain in place and unchanged. Denali Borough and fire managers meet regularly to consider whether evacuation levels are accurate to provide for public safety and the safety of firefighters. The evacuation shelter is located in the Tri-Valley School in Healy. For the most accurate information and evacuation status maps visit the Denali Borough website or Facebook page. You may also call or text the Denali Borough Fire Info line between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. at 907-378-7985.

Traffic control on the Parks Highway will remain in place for firefighter and motorist safety. Even though fire activity has decreased, there is still fire danger and heavy equipment working along the highway. Expect pilot car escorts and delays. Check road conditions on the Alaska Department of Transportation website.

If you fly, we can’t! A temporary flight restriction (TFR; FDC 5/8646) is in place for the fire area to protect firefighter safety. Drones are prohibited in this area; any use of drones will ground aircraft and may endanger firefighters.

More information: Follow Alaska Wildland Fire Information, Inciweb, and updates on social media. For information about the Bear Creek Fire and Saint George Creek Fire, call 907-318-2018 or email 2025.bearcreek@firenet.gov.

Download a pdf of the Update for June 28, 2025.