Wildfire activity exploded across Interior Alaska late last week amid widespread red flag warnings and the state’s first-ever heat advisory.
Dozens of lightning- and human-caused fires have started, intermittently closing major highways and leading to the evacuations of hundreds of people around Fairbanks, Healy and Tok. Some homes and other structures have burned, but it is not clear yet how many.
A spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska Fire Service said in an email that experienced wildfire managers have told her that this year “feels different.”
“What stands out is the number of fires immediately threatening communities – and the number of evacuations happening simultaneously – which they say is unprecedented,” Beth Ipsen said.
Cooler, wetter weather is in the forecast, but a spokesperson for the Alaska Forestry Division cautioned that Alaskans should not expect that to slow down the fires very much.
“The rains that are in the forecast now for us, with this cool weather, is pleasant,” Sam Harrel said. “But it's not going to be enough rain to end the current wildland fire situation. It may slow it down a little bit — it may give firefighters more of an opportunity to actively engage with a fire.”
Bear Creek Fire
The Bear Creek Fire, near Healy, is burning on both sides of the Parks Highway, which is the main artery connecting Fairbanks to Anchorage. Ipsen said the fire is the state’s top priority.
Harrel said that fire, which was discovered on June 19, was caused by lightning and fueled by wind.
“It grew rapidly towards the north along the Parks Highway,” he said. “There's a lot of thick black spruce stands in that area, and that area has had challenging wildland fires for the past several years.”
Denali Mayor Chris Noel said borough officials do not have a comprehensive count yet, but they know that some homes have burned. Noel did not have a count of how many people have been evacuated.
Heather McGrorty said she lives five miles north of the Bear Creek Fire. She and her husband knew they had to act when they saw the fire had crested the ridge at June Creek.
“We had to start getting everything ready,” she said. “We have three big, large pools that we had to fill up, put sprinklers out and start moving stuff around the yard to be able to keep it safe.”
McGrorty said she has asthma and on Saturday she evacuated with her two daughters, 8 and 12, to stay with family in Healy. She said her husband stayed to clear their 40-acre property and cut trees.
“He is protecting our home,” she said. “We don't really live anywhere else. We're there all year round. Whether we have 10 feet of snow or the fire, we try not to leave.”
Harrel said the fire had jumped the Parks Highway and is burning on either side of the road. He said that, as smoke and fire conditions allow, pilot cars are leading groups of motorists through the fire area between mile markers 259-278. But he encouraged people traveling between Anchorage and Fairbanks to take the long way around.
“We've told a lot of people how to get to Fairbanks by taking the Glenn Highway over to Glenallen and then going north up to Delta and coming around,” he said. “It's a beautiful scenic drive. It's a little longer, but it's not impacted by the fires like the Parks Highway has been.”
Evacuations near Fairbanks
About 200 households in the Fairbanks area have been evacuated from neighborhoods north and west of town. Residents of several other neighborhoods on the fringes of the city are under less severe notices to prepare to evacuate from smaller fires, like the Nenana Ridge Complex.
Fairbanks Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins said no structures have burned in the borough so far, but there were some close calls over the weekend in the vicinity of the Himalaya Road Fire, just northeast of town.
“There were six homes that were protected by firefighters — burned right up to the edge of the home and the property,” he said. But even though the firefighters couldn't see maybe 20, 30 feet, they were still able to protect those homes.”
Sharon Baker said she was at her log cabin at the lower end of Haystack Mountain, less than a mile from the Elliott Highway, when the Himalaya Road Fire broke out. She said she was working outside and saw tall, billowing clouds of smoke rising above her cabin. Later, Baker got a “Go Now” evacuation alert.
“I already had clothes, tax and other important documents as well as a bag of toiletries by my front door. I grabbed them and other items and left,” she said. “I was prepared.”
Baker evacuated with her neighbor to nearby Hilltop Gas Station, which has a large parking lot.
“We remained there, while I was in touch with other neighbors who I knew were packing to leave but declined help. Quite a few of us from Haystack Mountain arrived shortly after receiving the alert.”
Baker said she was able to return to her home the next morning. But she was deeply touched by the many people who offered rooms in their homes and help with evacuating people, equipment and animals.
“This is a community that takes care of each other,” she said.
Now over 3,000 acres, the Himalaya Road Fire is the state’s second highest firefighting priority, behind the Bear Creek Fire. A federal firefighting crew is traveling up to Alaska from the Lower 48 to help contain it.
The borough’s animal shelter is currently open to taking in evacuees’ pets. The borough is also offering hotel vouchers through the Red Cross for people who have had to flee the fire. Hopkins said that if the number of evacuees continues to climb, the borough will consider setting up a shelter.
Seven Mile Lookout Fire
Further south, residents of the Tok neighborhoods near Butch Kuth Avenue, Osprey, Moose Nugget, and Goshawk Road were asked to evacuate this morning due to the uncontained Seven Mile Lookout Fire southwest of town. A community wildfire meeting will be held today at 6:00 PM at the Tok Dog Mushers Association
More crews expected from the Lower 48
The fires grew rapidly during a spell of hot weather that led the National Weather Service to issue Alaska’s first-ever heat advisory. But the area was already primed for intense wildfires.
“Even though we had a cool May and start of June, we weren't getting much rain, so the forest was drying out,” said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. “The duff — that organic material that's right on the ground — that accumulates year after year because we have very slow decomposition rates. Which means there's lots of fuel available.”
Thoman said the dry fuel, hot weather and abundant lightning all contributed to the fires.
“Thunderstorms were able to form each afternoon, and because it was a slow changing pattern, we got day-after-day of lots of thunderstorms,” he said. “Most areas that were getting lightning were getting little or no rain.”
Thoman pointed out that fires like this are nothing new in Alaska, but intense wildfire behavior should be expected more and more frequently as the climate changes.
“Wildfire is a natural part of the northern boreal ecosystem, but we've seen much more fire in recent years — especially the frequency of those big seasons and these explosive periods within the fire season,” he said.
Harrel, of the Alaska Division of Forestry, said more firefighters are on their way from the Lower 48 to help the Alaska crews already fighting the fires.
“We have a jet load coming to Fairbanks with four hot shot crews on it, and those crews will be assigned to fires that are highest in priority based on defense of life and defense of property.” he said.
He said more crews would be flying in on Wednesday, but they hadn’t firmed up the staffing for flight planned for Friday yet.
“We are also in competition with the lower 48 for resources, and as their fire season starts to grow and escalate, it becomes challenging,” he said.
The Anchorage Fire Department is also sending up seven volunteer firefighters to help suppress the Bear Creek Fire near Healy.
Meanwhile, Harrel said road highway closures are in flux, so travelers should check conditions by calling 511 before heading out.
“Don't drive into dense smoke,” he said. “You have no idea what's in there.”
Alaska Public Media's Chris Klint contributed reporting.
