Alaska’s largest city to update decades-old wildfire plan after several record-setting seasons

Pyrocumulonimbus cloud / smoke from the MacDonald fire south of Fairbanks, Alaska, which ignited on June 8, 2024. The fire burned the Tanana Flats Military Training Area and grew to more than 172,000 acres before merging with the Clear Creek fire. The fire was caused by lightning and was propelled by strong winds and dry conditions.

Anchorage is set to update its city-wide wildfire plan after nearly 20 years to face the increasing threat of wildfires throughout the state.

Alaska has experienced several record-setting fire seasons over the past two decades, including 6.6 million acres burned in 2004, 5.1 million in 2015, 2.9 million in 2019, and 1.7 million in 2022, according to the city’s new community wildfire protection plan. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Climate Hubs said most of the increase in the state’s burned area has been in tundra and boreal forests.

“From 2000 to 2020, 2.5 times more acres in Alaska burned than in the previous 20 years, and 3 of the 4 highest-acreage fire years have occurred since 2000,” the Department said on its website. “By 2050, burned area is projected to increase by 24 to 169% in Alaska. Changes in climate will cause longer wildfire seasons, increased fire frequency, size, and total area burned, and possibly increased wildfire severity.”

The state also had an early season in 2025, which forced its famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race to change, and was attributed to early snowmelt.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Early Alaska wildfire season has quick snowmelt to blame

“These evolving conditions continue to affect life safety, forest health, air quality, and overall community resilience,” the Anchorage document said. “This plan represents a proactive step toward a more wildfire-resilient Anchorage, developed collaboratively by the Anchorage Fire Department and partner agencies.”

City officials presented the plan to community members at a town hall on Nov. 12, which aims to provide an analysis of fire behavior across the city by grouping the most densely populated areas into suppression planning units with similar wildfire hazards and recommending actions to reduce those hazards.

Click here to read the more on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Circumpolar wildland fire and permafrost thaw – Global climate implications: Wildfires in the Arctic

Calling all Alaska Hotshots!

ALASKA FIRE SERVICE CREWS ARE HOSTING A REUNION

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF TYPE 1 STATUS!
May 10-11, 2024

We are celebrating the 40 years of Type 1 status, but we recognize that the Alaska crews existed long before then — and that the program was built up over time. It’s an important part of our shared history!

Alaska 'Shots Reunion

We’d love to see anyone who was on the crews before, during, and after we were around, and anybody associated with AFS in any capacity since the beginning of time.

Horvath Pond – Chena River Lakes Flood Plain
(RV and tent camping on site)
64.71756964969562, -147.25810594061997

Alaska 'Shots Reunion
How much?
Our priority is attendance — so there will be no cost to attend.
We will, however, sell t·shirts, hats, and other stuff to help cover costs.
Alaska Hotshot Reunion 2024

► ► RSVP HERE ◀︎ ◀︎

*This is not an official BLM event, and the BLM is not endorsing or sanctioning the event. 

Burning Alaskan permafrost increasing methane emissions

The flames have died out on Alaska’s largest river delta, but emissions are still seeping out of the tundra’s ground.

A recent NASA study found that methane “hot spots” in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are more likely to be found where wildfires burned into the tundra. The greenhouse gas reportedly originates from decomposing carbon stored in the tundra’s permafrost for thousands of years.

“We find that [methane] hotspots are roughly 29 percent more likely on average in tundra that burned within the last 50 years compared with  unburned areas, and that this effect is nearly tripled along burn scar perimeters that are delineated by surface water features,” the researchers said. “Our results indicate that the changes following tundra fire favor the complex environmental conditions needed to generate emission hotspots.”

Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories
Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories

The correlation also nearly tripled in areas where fires burned to the edge of a lake, stream, or other body of standing water, according to NASA. The highest ratio of methane hot spots occurred in recently burned wetlands. Researchers detected roughly 2 million hot spots across 11,583 square miles. The team believes more hot spots could soon emerge.

“By some projections, the fire risk in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta could quadruple by the end of the century due to warming conditions and increased lightning storms – the leading cause of tundra fires,” they said.

Alaska had two of its largest tundra fires ever in 2022. The East Fork Fire ignited on May 31 after a lightning strike, and burned more than 150,000 acres along the Yukon River. The Apoon Pass Fire, the second largest, burned 84,130 acres.

Previous research found that the majority of yearly methane emissions from Alaska’s tundra occur during the cold season between September and May, indicating that total emissions are sensitive to soil climate and snow depth.

Alaska sends hotshots and airtanker to Alberta

The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection (DOF) has sent resources to the Canadian province of Alberta, where agency information officer Lily Coyle says they’re dealing with an unusually intense early wildfire season.

Tanker 544

“They declared a state of emergency over this past weekend,” Coyle told Alaska Public Media (PBS). “On Saturday they had over 100 wildfires spreading out of control. Their Premier Danielle Smith deemed it an unprecedented crisis.”

Aerial Fire Magazine reported that at least 29,000 Albertans have been forced from their homes in the north and central regions of the province. Fire managers in Alberta have made large resource requests for outside assistance, including the airtanker and hotshot crew from Alaska. The Northwest Compactstrong intergovernmental agreement known as the Northwest Compact allows Alaska and other states and provinces to request or share resurces internationally.

Considering Alaska’s delayed snowmelt, late spring, and recent widespread moisture, the DOF made available Airtanker 544 — a Conair Dash 8 – 400
AT Airtanker — and the Pioneer Peak Hotshots, both based in Palmer. Tanker 544 departed for Alberta on May 9. Pioneer Peak IHC has extensive experience in managing fires, and the crew has completed their required 80 hours of pre-season training. The 23-person crew left Tuesday, May 9 in a smokejumper aircraft.

“Alberta was a significant contributor to the Alaska response effort last season,” said DOF Chief of Fire and Aviation Norm McDonald. “Supporting their efforts this spring is an excellent example of not only national but the international cooperation it takes to manage fires during extreme conditions. As we are just beginning the Alaska fire season with our late breakup, we will continue to monitor fire behavior and our own fire protection needs.”

Pioneer Peak Hotshots
Pioneer Peak Hotshot Crew after completing their annual 80-hour spring training in front of Pioneer Peak in Palmer, Alaska. Photo courtesy of Pioneer Peak Hotshots

Coyle said Alaska fire agencies often send resources outside the state in the fall, but she said the spring deployment is very unusual. “This is the first time we’ve sent a crew to Canada in May,” she said. “Our late fire season, coupled with the early drought conditions that Alberta is facing — that just set us up for this pretty unprecedented situation.”

On the federal side, Alaska Fire Service public affairs specialist Beth Ipsen said no resources have yet been sent to Alberta, but the agency has two hotshot crews that will be finishing training this week and may be available for deployment.

2023 Alaska outlook – dry again in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

The Alaska Division of Forestry and Alaska Interagency Coordination Center’s early season wildfire outlook is now available, and normal fire potential is expected from March through June, except for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, where above-normal potential exists beginning in April. AICC’s Fire Weather Program Manager Heidi Strader said that low snowpack could result in a busy early season out on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

“Keep in mind that we have few indicators to tell us how mid-summer will be at this point,” Strader said. “For some of the more populated corridors around South Central and parts of the Interior, it’s more about fuels, wind events, and human activity.”

Alaska potential

A typical fire season in Alaska includes about 500 wildfires that burn an estimated 650,000 acres. Every year more than 80 percent of these fires are human-caused and result from careless or negligent use of fire, often in escapes from burn barrels, campfires, burn piles, or other sources.

Alaska has been enjoying significant sunshine in March, and April will probably bring the first early-season human fire starts to low-lying areas of the state as the snowpack retreats. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows no current drought in Alaska, while the Climate Prediction Center calls for a slightly warmer and wetter spring for western and northern Alaska. Fire activity the first week of March in Alaska was non-existent with a thick blanket of snow for most of the state. Additional details are available online at the akfireinfo.com website.

Flight crews in Alaska having trouble finding lodging

Single engine air tankers at Ladd Field at Fort Wainwright
Single engine air tankers at Ladd Field at Fort Wainwright, AK June 22, 2022. AGray/BLM Alaska Fire Service.

The fire season in Alaska is on track to become one of the busiest on record. The number of acres burned so far this year, 1.4 million, is already more than the 30-year average of the total burned each year, 1.2 million.

The Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) published an article on their AK Fire Info page saying that with the increased fire activity and the additional firefighting aircraft being used in the state they were having trouble finding lodging near airports for all of the pilots and their flight crews. Facilities were available in other locations throughout the state but the long travel distances between lodging and airports was decreasing flight time, and limiting how much the pilots could assist the firefighters on the ground.

The DOF wrote that in the Mat-Su area they were in need of help and were looking for services similar to a hotel or vacation rental. They were hoping to find hotel rooms, vacation rentals by owner, or bed and breakfasts for the pilots, air crews and aviation mechanics.

Later that same day they reported that the response was overwhelming and secured rooms for all of their fire personnel. “We couldn’t do this without you”, they wrote. “Thank you Alaska for making a difference!”

Pilot killed in Alaska helicopter crash

From the Alaska Division of Forestry, June 27, 2022:

It is with sad and heavy hearts that we share the news that a pilot supporting the Clear Fire outside Anderson, AK, died in a helicopter crash. The pilot and sole occupant was Douglas Ritchie, 56, of Wasilla, AK. Wildland firefighters and aviators are a close community and are in support of the family, friends, and co-workers during this tragic time.

The crash occurred Sunday evening, June 26, 2022, while landing at the Anderson Airport’s helipad near milepost 280 of the Parks Highway. The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DOF) had contracted the 1960 Bell 204B “Huey” helicopter operated by Northern Pioneer Helicopters. The division is assisting the Alaska State Troopers and National Transportation Safety Board who are conducting an investigation.

We send our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and coworkers of Mr. Ritchie.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.