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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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Crews head south for Lower 48 fires
Click on photos to see image. Aug. 3, 2016 – Five 20-person Alaska firefighting crews boarded a jet Wednesday afternoon to join firefighting efforts in the Lower 48. The Division of Forestry Type 2 Initial Attack (IA) Gannett Glacier and White Mountain crews, the… Read More ›
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Where you go to help you know; wildland fire mobile apps cheat sheet
Wildland Mobile Technology Cheat Sheet July 28, 2016 – These days, a world of information is at our fingertips. Here’s a list of mobile applications widely used within the fire and aviation management community. The cheat sheet, provided through the… Read More ›
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Fire activity gets a short-lived boost
3:25 p.m., July 27, 2016 – Fire season briefly bumped up yesterday, mostly in a small part of northern Alaska. There were two new fires and BLM Alaska Fire Service smokejumpers were sent to two older fires that increased in size due to… Read More ›
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BLM AFS working on a new fire west of Venetie
6:30 p.m., July 20, 2016 – The BLM Alaska Fire Service is working on a 20-acre fire burning along the Chandalar River five miles west of Venetie. Eight smokejumpers are already on the ground with a Bell B-212 helicopter headed… Read More ›
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Cooler temperatures, rain help BLM AFS efforts on northern fires
8 p.m., July 17, 2016 – Cooler temperatures and rains helped moderate fires along the Yukon River corridor and in western Alaska, allowing the BLM Alaska Fire Service to pull people from two fires. No new fires popped up in the… Read More ›
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BLM AFS busy with Yukon River fires
July 16, 2016 – The BLM Alaska Fire Service has been busy with fires along the Yukon River corridor that were threatening structures upriver from Rampart and burning near a Bible camp downriver from Tanana. A load of eight smokejumpers… Read More ›
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BLM AFS smokejumpers catch fire near Minto Friday
July 16, 2016 – BLM Alaska Fire Service smokejumpers caught a fire burning north of the Elliott Highway near Minto Friday. The Starvation Creek Fire (#527) was spotted by an agency aircraft at 7:20 p.m. Friday while it was flying… Read More ›
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Fire gains ground, threatens lodge near Gates of the Arctic
July 16, 2016 – A fire burning 25 miles east of Kobuk grew from 1,355 to an estimated 35,000 acres and pushed nine miles in two days thanks to recent record high temperatures, low humidity and winds. The Mauneluk River 2 fire (#386)… Read More ›
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BLM AFS smokejumpers responding to fire north of Minto
9 p.m., July 15, 2016 – BLM Alaska Fire Service smokejumpers and aircraft are en route to a fire burning north of Minto and directly north of the Elliott Highway at milepost 106. Once there, they’ll be busy trying to… Read More ›
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BLM AFS sees 21 new fires Thursday
July 15, 2016 – For the second day in a row, there were more than 40 new fires in Alaska, most of them burning in a limited protection area in remote parts of the state. BLM Alaska Fire Service will… Read More ›
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 