Alaska is experiencing its first large wildfire of the season, and it’s burning near Kwethluk. Officials say that the fire is not currently threatening villages, but it is threatening the Kwethluk fish weir and two Native allotments. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources says fires around this time of year are normal.
As of noon on Monday, April 18, the fire had grown to 2,000 acres. It’s burning 25 miles east of Kwethluk, 34 miles southeast of Bethel, and 35 miles southeast of Napakiak. The cause of the fire is unknown.
According to Kale Casey, a spokesperson from the Alaska Division of Forestry, the wildfire is the largest of the season so far in the state. He said that tundra fires in April are not uncommon.
“When you have a long, big, deep winter, like we had in Alaska, areas are dried out and getting these 16 hour days and 17 hour days of sunlight, that you’re gonna have that possibility,” said Casey.
Casey said that as the spring snow melts, the sun dries out the dead, brown vegetation, turning it into kindling. That kindling can quickly ignite and become a tundra fire.
The Alaska Division of Forestry said that it plans to investigate the cause of the fire.
Commercial pilots first spotted smoke from the tundra blaze on April 16 at noon. They reported it to the state. A pilot and firefighter from the Alaska Division of Forestry’s fire prevention branch flew over the fire on April 16 and April 17.
Casey said that although the fire is threatening two Native allotments and a fish weir, it is not expected to endanger villages or lives. After hearing reports that the fire was moving westward toward Three Step Mountain, the division planned to fly over the fire again on the evening of April 18.
