Author Archives
The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 244 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 with a $10 million inventory. 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.
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Alaskans should prepare for wildfire season
Advice from Alaska Wildland Fire Managers reminding people of key ways to protect each other and our communities from wildfire dangers.
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Prescribed burn operations planned on military training lands in FNSB to reduce wildfire threat
Starting as early as May 14, prescribed burning will be implemented on military training lands within the Fairbanks North Star Borough to reduce the wildfire danger.
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Smokejumpers mopping up wildfire after first jump of the 2022 Alaska fire season
Six BLM Alaska Fire Service Smokejumpers are mopping up a 4.6-acre fire that started near at Pitkas Point about 4 miles of southwest St. Mary’s after the first fire jump of the 2022 Alaska fire season for smokejumpers.
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Burning operations planned for military training lands in Interior Alaska to reduce wildfire threat
BLM Alaska Fire Service and U.S. Army Alaska to conduct prescribed burning on military training lands near Delta Junction, Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright to reduce wildfire threat. Burning could start as early as May 1 and last through May 31.
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Recruitment for BLM AFS North Star Fire Crew is open
Recruitment for the 2022 BLM Alaska Fire Service’s Type 2 North Star Fire Crew is open until April. This crew is an entry-level crew that provides a pathway to a career in wildland firefighting.
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History of the fire beater
How Alaska smokejumper ingenuity led to the development of a tool widely used by Alaska wildland firefighters.
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BLM innovates rural Alaska wildland firefighting and keeps traditions alive
BLM AFS Type 2 contract crews are predominately made up of Alaska Natives whose families have spent generations working on emergency firefighting hand crews in Alaska, supplementing agency employee crews.
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BLM Alaska’s Jenn Jenkins receives global award for creation of widely used online fire information maps
BLM Alaska GIS Specialist Jennifer Jenkins received the Esri Special Achievement in geographic information systems (GIS) award this summer for creating mobile-friendly online dashboards that provide near real-time information about wildfires in Alaska and maps that deliver more in-depth information than before in the Alaska Wildland Fire Information Map Series.
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BLM AFS, USARAK to burn debris piles on Interior Alaska military training lands
Smoke may be visible from woody debris pile burning on the Yukon Training Area east of North Pole and Donnelly Training Area near Delta Junction.
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Work finishing up on Yukon Flats fires
The BLM Alaska Fire Service is wrapping up work on a pair of Yukon Flats fire this week as the days get shorter, cooler and wetter. With work reaching completion, equipment and firefighting personnel will be pulled from both the Marten Creek Fire (#386) and the Discovery Creek Fire (#388) on Wednesday.
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 