The Tustumena Lake fire in Alaska is 25% contained, with efforts including smokejumpers and over 56,000 gallons of water deployed to combat the 35-acre blaze.
Denali National Park has closed to visitors due to the rapidly spreading Riley Fire near its entrance, prompting evacuations and a significant firefighting response.
A fast-moving wildfire near Elliot Highway in Fairbanks, Alaska, has led to a Level 3 evacuation order for residents, with the fire rapidly growing to over a thousand acres.
The McDonald Fire has grown to over 39,000 acres west of the Tanana River, with statewide fires consuming 72,000 acres; critical fire danger and smoke advisories are in effect.
The Atchuelinguk Fire, an 800-acre tundra blaze near Marshall, Alaska, extinguished naturally. Ipsen said that the fire occurred in an area where blazes are allowed to play out when not threatening known sites of value or people. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
A fire destroyed a Peter Pan Seafoods facility in Sand Point, Alaska, causing a pervasive smell of burning plastic from fishing gear stored on-site.
Two individuals died in separate fires in Mat-Su, with one victim found outside his home after escaping the blaze, potentially succumbing to extreme cold.
More than 1,000 firefighters are suppressing wildfires across Interior Alaska, and about a third of them are working out of a temporary incident command post set up at the Deltana Fairgrounds in Delta Junction. The focus will be on the 47,000-acre Pogo Mine Road Fire.
An evacuation alert was also issued Friday for residents of the Lower Salcha River, from river mile 3 to 40. The Middle Salcha remains under a SET status, from river
The smoke is from numerous wildfires burning in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Takhini River resident Georgina Widney said she is packed and ready to go if the evacuation alert for her area in the Ibex Valley changes to an evacuation order.
Twenty-three of the 25 fires so far this year were ignited by human activity. While this year’s heavy snowpack and cold spring pushed back the start to fire season in many parts of the state, climate change is generally causing an earlier snowmelt, said climatologist Rick Thoman.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply