Home › AK Fire Info › Fire Crews Adjust to Muddy Conditions, Focus on Long-Term Repair on the Himalaya Road and Aggie Creek Fires

Fire Crews Adjust to Muddy Conditions, Focus on Long-Term Repair on the Himalaya Road and Aggie Creek Fires

By 2025HimalayaRoadFire on July 31, 2025

Acres: 6,057 (Himalaya Road); 34,837 (Aggie Creek)

Start Date: June 19, 2025

Location: 25 miles North of Fairbanks

Cause: Lightning/natural

Personnel: 55 on Himalaya Road; 19 on Aggie Creek.

Fuels: Black spruce, grass

Containment: 60% on Himalaya Road, 5% on Aggie Creek

Highlights: Due to extremely muddy road conditions, the backhauling of equipment has been a primary focus. Operations have shifted to be more heavy equipment-focused, with Caribou Creek repair work scheduled for tomorrow.

Operations: Due to challenging weather and muddy road conditions, fire suppression activities were impacted yesterday, and operators had to withdraw from certain areas. Despite this, suppression efforts are continuing, with a shifted strategy that utilizes more heavy equipment and fewer crews.

Fire suppression repair is actively underway for the parts of the fireline not located in permafrost areas. However, repairing the permafrost layers is a long-term plan because the ground needs time to heal. When a wildfire burns away the protective soil layer, the frozen ground underneath thaws and becomes an unstable mess. Trying to fix things with heavy machinery on this soft ground is not only dangerous but can also cause severe erosion and release climate-warming gases. Instead, crews will wait for the winter when the ground refreezes and becomes hard. This will allow them to safely access the area and complete the necessary repairs without causing further damage, ensuring a more effective and lasting recovery for the landscape.

More excavator orders were placed today to execute the long-term repair plan. The backhauling of equipment remains ongoing.

Nodwell vehicle full of bakhauled fire hose on the Himilaya Road Fire. PC: Sam Porter, Custom Steel.

Weather: High temperatures of around 70 degrees are anticipated, with a 15% chance of isolated showers. Light southwest winds are also in the forecast.

Closures: Olnes Pond Campground remains closed to the public for use by the fire crews.

Evacuations: Level 1 “READY,” evacuations are still in effect. Level 1indicates that a fire is present in the area and to prepare for potential evacuation. Visit https://bit.ly/FNSBevac for current evacuation levels.

Safety: A Temporary Flight Restriction is still in place, but the affected airspace restrictions have been modified; check https://tfr.faa.gov/ for changes.

Do not fly drones over the fire area. Unauthorized drone use poses serious risks to firefighter and public safety – If you fly, we can’t.

For a PDF version of the Himalaya Road Fire and Aggie Creek Fire Daily Update for July 31st click here