A slight uptick in containment on the Ptarmigan Complex and two additional fires declared out in the Upper Yukon Zone reflect the dedicated work of firefighters to actively monitor area fires and strategically respond.
Based on a detection overflight yesterday, fire managers were able to call the Kathul Fire (#091) and Little Andrew Fire (#185) ‘out,’ meaning no heat, smoke, or other fire behavior has been observed and, therefore, there is no risk of the fire again becoming active. The 1,009-acre Kathul Fire was discovered May 25, and the 335-acre Little Andrew Fire was discovered June 18. Both are located near the Yukon River in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
Twenty-eight percent of the fire perimeters within the Ptarmigan Complex are now contained, meaning firefighters have established a control line around that part of the fire to keep it from spreading. Crews continue to track fire activity, but have transitioned mostly to rehab and backhaul work as fire behavior remains minimal. Yesterday, crews removed hose and other suppression equipment from the north edge of the Turtle Fire (#243) as the edge remains contained and secure. The Crow Peak Wildland Fire Module got repositioned to remove equipment along a Alaska Native allotment near the Turtle Fire. They will spend today removing hoses and other suppression equipment near the allotment and rehabbing a nearby fuel break to make it more passable for wildlife that are otherwise unable to cross thickly piled logs and stacked brush. A heavy equipment operator and fire resource advisor (READ) are working together to repair bulldozer line on the Deadwood Fire (#214), which was declared out on July 21.
High pressure building from the north will bring a warm, dry, and sunny weekend to most of Interior Alaska with breezy northeast winds continuing through Saturday. Fire managers are closely tracking the area forecast and monitoring localized weather conditions as higher temperatures, lower relative humidity, and wind gusts could cause fire behavior to increase.
A PDF of this update can be found here.
For more information, contact the BLM AFS Public Affairs Office at (907)356-5511 or blm_ak_afs_public_affairs@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 http://www.blm.gov/AlaskaFireService, and on Facebook.
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 