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Firefighters cut line around Otter Fire; aircraft dropping water to slow spread

By BLM Alaska Fire Service on June 28, 2025

Twenty smokejumpers and the Vale Helitack crew succeeded in cutting a saw line around the Otter Fire (#344) late Friday night. They had hoses around 50% of the fire perimeter, including the head, by Saturday afternoon.

Graphic with black and red background, BLM logos and the words BLM Alaska Fire Service and Wildfire Update.

Two helicopters continue to conduct repeated bucket drops. Single-engine scooper planes are also dropping water on the fire to help slow its spread.

Firefighters reported hot, dry conditions Saturday morning, with the temperature at 8 a.m. in the high 70s and fire activity already picking up.

The Otter Fire was reported Friday morning. It was caused by lightning, and is burning in rugged terrain on the north side of a canyon above Otter Creek about 50 miles northeast of Venetie. The fire is not threatening any structures or Alaska Native allotments, but is located in a full suppression area.

-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.