Tag: Alaska

An excerpt from the Anchorage Daily News:

Crews battling wind-driven wildfires that grew fast overnight are trying to protect the village of Tyonek on the northwest side of Cook Inlet and get ahead of a blaze that has burned more than 3,000 acres near Soldotna.

The Tyonek fire, which has prompted dozens of residents to evacuate, jumped the Chuitna River and started burning near the airstrip and a new subdivision in the village of about 150 residents, state forestry and Native corporation officials said Tuesday morning. The fire had burned 450 acres as of noon Tuesday, state Division of Forestry officials say.

Ground view looking SE from Soldotna, #Alaska toward #FunnyRiver #wildfire est. at 2,500 acres on #Kenai Pen. #AKwx pic.twitter.com/wrcrV0uYmp

— NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) May 20, 2014

There is a report that a lack of snow in some areas on the course of the Iditarod has organizers of the 1,000-mile long sled dog race concerned about wildfire prevention. We searched and found hundreds of photos of this year’s race which began March 2, but they all had snow. However, I suspect that 99 percent of the route is not easily accessible by photographers.

Below is an excerpt from a Facebook post by Husky Homestead Tours.

…Snowless stretches of trail are wreaking havoc on sleds…

Hydration is a key word right now. With the dry trail conditions dogs are not able to dip snow as they would during a run in “winter”. (By the way – we’re still looking for you folks in the Lower 48 to send us our weather back!) Mushers may not find much snow, if any, along the trail to melt for their dogs, either. Many will carry some, stop along the trail wherever there is open water and let the dogs lap some up, as well as offer plain water to the dogs as soon as they arrive in a checkpoint. Mushers know that keeping a team hydrated (and themselves!) is key.

While on the “dry trail conditions” subject… this years’ race has a fire danger! Dry conditions in Rohn caused Race Marshall Mark Nordman to state that monetary fines would be given to any musher with an unattended fire. How’s that for news we haven’t heard of before??

 

Thanks and a hat tip go out to Keith

If someone told you about a fire named “Mississippi” that was near Delta, would you guess it was in Mississippi? If so, you’d be wrong.

The Mississippi Fire started May 30 ten miles west of Delta, Alaska. The last time it was updated on InciWeb was August 25 when the Type 1 Incident Management Team turned it back over to the BLM – Alaska Fire Service. At that time it had burned 67,288 acres.

Normally by October firefighters in Alaska don’t have to worry about wildfires — they can’t spread very far under snow. But this year firefighters have to worry, at least a little. Temperatures in Delta Junction on Monday did not just set a new record, they blew it to smithereens — 19 degrees higher than the previous record.

Under those conditions, and combined with winds that gusted to 63 mph, the Mississippi fire found new life, crossing dozer lines and burning another 300 acres. A 10-member Alaska Fire Service crew responded to the fire Monday.

Alaska Fire Service Manager Kent Slaughter said the fire is 2.5 miles from Whitestone Farms but there is little threat it will spread to the community.

Last year in late November dry conditions and strong winds contributed to the rapid spread of a fire near Palmer, Alaska that burned 200 acres and required homes to be evacuated.