Work is steadily winding down on the seven staffed fires within the U.S. Wildland Fire Service protection area in northern Alaska, as fire managers turn turn their attention to the possibility of new ignitions. There are red flag warnings in the Yukon Flats and Copper River Valley issued for Saturday. The red flag warning for the Yukon Flats was issued due to the predicted lightning paired with temperatures climbing into the 80s accompanied by low humidity levels.
Building on the momentum of recent rapid responses, the USWFS has continued to quickly curb fire growth and move many incidents toward containment within just a few days. As a result, firefighters are beginning to demobilize and reposition for new starts. This agility will be especially important heading into the weekend and early next week, as warm, dry weather could lead to additional lightning‑sparked ignitions across northern Alaska — both from new lightning and from potential lightning holdovers left behind by strikes earlier this week in other parts of the region. There have been several days with more than 2,000 lightning strikes, most of them occurring north of the Yukon River and extending up toward the North Slope.
Even as staffed fires wind down, preventing wildfires remains critically important. Residents and visitors are encouraged to use caution with any activity that could produce sparks or heat, especially with dry fuels and ongoing lightning activity across northern Alaska. Please do your part to prevent wildfires. Never leave a fire unattended, make sure your campfire is completely dead out and avoid burning on windy days.
Here’s a rundown of the staffed fires (this will be our final update on these incidents unless significant changes occur):
Oblaron Fire (#370), located on the outskirts of Selawik, was stopped at 21 acres and held about 100 yards from a solar array and not far from a tank farm — both key power infrastructure for the remote northwestern community. The four remaining smokejumpers will complete a grid search for any remaining heat on the tundra fire and demobilize today.
Notakok Fire (#367), about a mile outside Kaltag, is 100% contained. The USWFS North Star Fire Crew and seven smokejumpers are continuing mop-up operations on remaining interior hot spots on this 55‑acre fire, which ignited after a lightning strike on Monday. The fire was named after a nearby mountain as shown on wildfire maps.
Horseshoe Fire (#390), located 11 miles east of Huslia near Willow Lake, has two Native allotments within a mile of its eastern flank. The Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection’s Gannett Glacier Crew and three smokejumpers will continue mopping up remaining hot spots through the weekend. The fire is estimated at 24 acres.
Bishop Fire (#391), located 25 miles north of Galena, is estimated at 115 acres. The 12 smokejumpers assigned made good progress under favorable weather conditions, working to identify and extinguish isolated areas of heat. They will keep expanding their search around the perimeter and through the interior burn today while planning for potential demobilization either today or Saturday.
Siruk Fire (#340) is 100% contained with the Chena Hotshots mopping up hot spots. This lightning-caused fire ignited on June 30 and estimated to have burned 589 acres. It is located about 23 miles northwest of Allakaket.
Big Fire (#313) and Cecil Fire (#315) are both 100% contained, with personnel remaining in Ruby through the weekend to close out both incidents. The two fires were managed together in Ruby under a Type 3 incident management team from Alaska. Detected on June 26, these lightning‑caused fires are located about 11 miles east of Ruby and are separated by roughly half a mile.
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: Active Wildland Fire, US Wildland Fire Service
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 