Smokejumpers, aided in some cases by aircraft, are working on three new fires in Western Alaska on Wednesday night after lightning moved through the area in recent days.
Smokejumpers and water scoopers responded to the Horseshoe Fire (#390), located 11 miles east of Huslia and just east of Willow Lake. Two Native allotments east of the lake are within a mile of the fire. Smokejumpers circling overhead before the fire jump reported that the fire was estimated at 30–50 acres and burning in spruce with pockets of hardwood. It exhibited isolated torching and was spreading in an easterly direction.
The Bishop Fire (#391), located 25 miles north of Galena, was initially estimated at 15 acres and burning in tundra and mixed hardwoods. It was not immediately threatening any sites of value, but it is approximately 4 miles south of a Native allotment. The fire plotted within the Koyuk National Wildlife Refuge, in an area that receives an initial response from suppression resources. Twelve smokejumpers are working on this fire.
Eight smokejumpers and four single‑engine water scoopers also mobilized earlier today for the Blueberry Fire (#386). That fire was initially estimated at about 100 acres and burning quickly through tundra. There are cabins 5 miles north of the fire. Water scoopers dropped on about half of the fire before being reassigned to the Horseshoe Fire.
These are three of 19 new fires that have started in the past two days after lightning moved through Alaska, mostly north of the Yukon River. A heavy concentration of Tuesday’s 3,718 recorded strikes occurred in Western Alaska up to the North Slope, and as of 8 p.m. today, the 2,326 recorded lightning strikes follow a similar pattern but reached slightly farther into the Central Alaska.
Smokejumpers and water-dropping aircraft have done a good job corralling fires during initial response within the U.S. Wildland Fire Service’s protection area, which covers 191.5 million acres across the northern half of the state. Of the 19 new fires in the past two days, 15 have occurred within this protection area. Only a handful have required response from smokejumpers and aircraft, who have successfully contained these fires, demobilized within a few days, and returned to the lineup to respond to new starts.
It’s a good thing, because there will likely be more new ignitions as a hot and dry trend continues across northern Alaska this week. As of 8 p.m. today, 322 wildfires have burned an estimated 34,886 acres statewide. Of those, 175 were human-caused, 142 were naturally caused — mostly by lightning — and five remain undetermined.
Contact Public Affairs Specialist Beth Ipsen at Elizabeth_ipsen@ios.doi.gov or (907)356-5510 for more information.
-USWFS-
U.S. Wildland Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703
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Categories: AK Fire Info, US Wildland Fire Service
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 