The Pioneer Hotshots, April, 2020. Behind them is their namesake, Pioneer Peak, in the Chugach Mountains. Photo courtesy of the crew.
The Pioneer Peak Interagency Hotshot Crew has completed their annual critical refresher training and is ready to fight fire. Most Hotshot crews are managed by the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, or NPS, but Pioneer Peak, based in Palmer Alaska northeast of Anchorage, is one of three that are part of state organizations. The others are Alta and Lone Peak in Utah. The only county crew is Rio Bravo in Kern County, California. (The complete list is here.)
The text below was posted April 24 by Pioneer Peak along with the photo on their Facebook page. It is used here with permission:
“The 2020 Pioneer Peak Hotshot Crew! We’ve just finished our 2 weeks of critical training. You won’t see this crew socially distancing from each other while we train. We will train as we fight and we will be fighting together as one family unit. It’s the only safe way to do our job effectively. We’ve implemented new SOP’s into our program so we don’t help the spread of this virus while in public settings.
“A lot of sacrifices are being made by our folks and their families to make this happen and they really need your support. We will keep our distance from the general public and we will wear masks if we enter public spaces like gas stations or grocery stores. We’re also disinfecting our rigs and facilities twice daily. Those are just a few examples. Our hand washing skills are also on point these days! Thank You for the support!”
Max Ryan of the Chena Hotshots gives a tour of the crew’s fire camp. Screenshot from the video below.
Since firefighters in Alaska are often based far from roads they may establish camps where crews can be self-sufficient for days or weeks at a time, resupplied by helicopters or paracargo. In this video produced August 1, 2019 by the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service, Chena Interagency Hotshot Max Ryan gives a tour of the crew’s fire camp on the Hadweenzic River Fire at the Cornucopia Complex about 20 miles northeast of Beaver. He explains how they store their food to protect it from bears and use permafrost to chill their perishable items.
A smoke plume from the McKinley Fire burning along the Parks Highway is seen from the highway on Sunday, August 18. Photo by Maureen Clark/Alaska Division of Forestry.
(UPDATED at 8:43 a.m. PDT August 20, 2019)
From the Incident Management Team
Calmer winds Monday helped slow the spread of the McKinley Fire as firefighters continued their efforts to protect buildings and infrastructure. An evacuation order for the area along the Parks Highway from Mileposts 82 to 91 remains in effect.
The Alaska Type 2 Interagency Incident Management Team assumed management of the fire Monday evening. The addition of a dozen engines from Fairbanks and two crews from the Lower 48 in the next 24 hours are expected give a good boost to the firefighting effort. With the additional resources, fire managers will be adding a night shift to patrol the subdivisions in the fire area.
The McKinley Fire, which began Saturday near Milepost 91 of the Parks Highway is estimated at 3,012 acres. Fueled by north winds gusting to 35 miles per hour, it quickly moved south on Sunday, burning along both sides of the Parks Highway corridor for 7 miles. An estimated 50 structures were destroyed by the fire.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Fire Marshal and Alaska State Troopers are working with the Alaska Division of Forestry and Matanuska Susitna Borough to get a better estimate of structures burned and determine how many were residences. The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Alaska State Troopers are working to account for persons in the evacuation area. If you know of persons who may be unaccounted for please contact the Matanuska-Susitna Borough call center at 907-861-8326.
(Originally published at 2:44 p.m PDT August 19, 2019)
The McKinley Fire along the Parks Highway in Alaska burned at least 50 structures Sunday afternoon as firefighters and other emergency responders worked furiously to evacuate and rescue residents threatened by the fire.
The fire is 19 miles south of Talkeetna near Milepost 88 on the highway. (see map below)
Alaska Division of Forestry and Matanuska-Susitna Borough personnel are still working to account for residents who chose not to evacuate their homes or go to an evacuation shelter. Forestry, borough and Red Cross officials are working to determine how many structures were lost but specific details about structures that burned are not currently available.
Driven by strong north winds, the fire jumped from the east side of the Parks Highway to the west side at around 6 p.m. Sunday, prompting immediate evacuations on both sides of the highway from Mileposts 82 to 91.
The Parks Highway was closed at milepost 71.25 on the south and the Upper Susitna Senior Center on Helena Avenue at approximately milepost 98.5 on the north. The highway remained closed as of 11 p.m. There was no timetable for when the road will be reopened at the time of this report.
Map showing the approximate location of the McKinley Fire south of Talkeetna, Alaska at 4:52 a.m. local time August 19, 2019. Map by Wildfire Today.
The latest size estimate on the fire was approximately 1,800 acres as of 10 p.m. Sunday.
Evacuation shelters have been established north and south of the Highway closure. The shelter on the south end is located at the Menard Sports Complex in Wasilla and the shelter on the north end is at the Upper Susitna Senior Center at approximately Mile 98.5.
The fire started Saturday afternoon when the wind blew a tree onto a power line near Milepost 91. The fire grew to about 150 acres overnight and burned up to the highway but remained east of the highway. That changed late Sunday afternoon when strong winds and warm, dry conditions resulted in extreme fire behavior that prevented suppression efforts and forced firefighters to focus their efforts on evacuating residents and protecting structures.
A Type 2 Incident Management Team from Alaska will be assuming command of the McKinley Fire on Tuesday. Two more incident management teams from the Lower 48 are en route to take over management of the Deshka Landing and Swan Lake Fires.
With the increase in wildfire activity in South-central Alaska the past two days, Forestry is also bringing up multiple other resources from the Lower 48 to assist with containment of fires. Ten hotshot crews are traveling to Alaska and should arrive Monday afternoon. Those crews will be split among the three fires listed above. Two large air tankers and four water-scooping aircraft are also en route.
A portion of the McKinley Fire, Sunday, August 18, 2019 after the fire burned through the area. Photo by Maureen Clark/Alaska Division of Forestry.
Most of the information above provided by Alaska Division of Forestry.
North Cascade Smokejumper Nicolas Glatt from Washington state packs a parachute at the Alaska Smokejumper Base at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on July 20, 2019.
Story and photos by Geoff Liesik, Alaska Fire Service, July 21, 2019
A record that stood for nearly 30 years fell this past week when the roster at the Alaska Smokejumper Base at Fort Wainwright was filled with the names of 206 jumpers at the same time.
That’s more than half of the roughly 400 smokejumpers on rosters nationwide this year. The previous record in Alaska was 202 jumpers on the roster at once. It was set during the 1990 fire season, according to Alaska Smokejumper Chief Bill Cramer.
Alaska has 63 smokejumpers and has added up 143 jumpers at one time from bases in the Lower 48 to respond to fires that continue to pop up across the state.
“We were outnumbered, but never outfought,” Cramer said.
Shane Orser with the Redmond Smokejumpers from Oregon said he’s been to Alaska at least six times in his 12 years as a jumper. The camaraderie at the base makes assignments to Alaska fun, he said. “All the guys are pretty welcoming up here,” Orser said.
Redmond Smokejumper Shane Orser from Oregon packs a parachute at the Alaska Smokejumper Base at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on July 20, 2019.
The Alaska Smokejumper Base’s 10-year average for jumps between April and September is 495. As of July 20, the base had notched 829 jumps during 123 jump missions. It had also delivered more than 500,000 pounds of para-cargo as of July 20, Cramer said. The 10-year average for para-cargo delivery between April and September is 313,000 pounds.
For speed, payload and range, Cramer said it’s impossible to beat smokejumpers as a firefighting resource. “We travel faster, carry more and go farther than anyone else,” he said.
The BLM smokejumper program started in 1959 with the first fire jump happening near Flat, Alaska, on June 3. The Alaska Smokejumpers celebrated their 60th anniversary on June 14, 2019.
Boise Smokejumper Kevin Norton packs a cargo chute at the Alaska Smokejumper Base in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on July 20, 2019.
The Garnet Creek Fire (#576) as seen from the air on Monday, July 15, 2019, was burning about 12 miles southwest of Rampart, Alaska. The fire was started by lightning. Alaska Fire Service.
Alaska
Wildfire activity is moving north. Of the 26 new fires reported over the past two days in Alaska, ten were above the Arctic Circle. Isolated thunderstorms are expected in the central and eastern interior today, Tuesday, with high temperatures reaching the low 80s in the Yukon Flats area.
Fifteen new fires were reported across Alaska Monday. Twenty-three fires are actively burning in the Tanana Zone today, with a total of 30 fires reported this year.
Greenland
In addition to the fires in Alaska, on July 10 a satellite detected heat signatures in Greenland that were consistent with those seen at wildland fires. And another satellite photographed what appears to be smoke.
6 VIIRS active detections (nominal confidence) for 10 July 2019. Location (66.991 N, -53.192 W) very near Arctic Circle Trail public hut. See the 8 July 2019 @planetlabs 3-band image of fire area & map w/ relation to 2017 fire location + 2 fire detects in Avannaata. pic.twitter.com/cpIazDSBFX
South Idaho Hotshots on the Chatanika River assigned to the Shovel Creek Fire in Alaska. InciWeb. Click to enlarge.
The Shovel Creek Fire, started by lightning about three weeks ago, has spread to about 20 miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. As of July 12 it had burned 23,734 acres and was described as “smoldering” due to recent rain.
The number of personnel assigned dropped yesterday by 118, to bring the total down to 621. That number includes 13 crews, 18 engines, and 7 helicopters. So far $17.8 million has been spent on suppressing the fire.
Crews continued to make progress Friday with mop-up operations on the western and southern fire lines, securing the fire’s edge near Murphy Dome and along portions of the scar from the 2009 Hardluck Fire. Saturday, firefighters will continue mop-up along Old Murphy Dome road and the ridge line north of Perfect Perch to the Chatanika River.
During this break in fire behavior due to the weather, crews have taken the opportunity to scout for fire line opportunities along the Chatanika River north of the fire. As work to secure the northern edge continues, firefighters have kept hose lays, sprinklers, and other equipment in place around the structures along the Chatanika River. Aerial resources will continue to be available to cool hotspots near fire lines, as smoke and fog conditions allow.
Map of the Shovel Creek Fire July 12, 2019.
The rain in the area has cleared some of the smoke. With fire activity north and east of Fairbanks, forecasting air quality continues to be a challenge. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital created a 24-hour smoke respite center in the Chandler Room at 1650 Cowles Street, Fairbanks, AK 99701.
Burnout on the Hess Fire in Alaska. InciWeb photo.
Five more hotshot crews are leaving today from Redding to assist with fires in Alaska: Elk Mountain, Modoc, Mad River, Eldorado and American River.
Alaska is in Preparedness Level 5, the maximum on the scale. The state has had more wildfire activity than usual for the last month or so, but record high temperatures last week beefed it up even more. The number of acres burned in the state varies greatly annually. In most years the total acreage burned is between 300,000 and 500,000. In 2013 it was 1.3 million and in 2015, 5.1 million acres burned. So far this year the total is 937,000 acres. The average over the last 10 years is 1.3 million.
Hotshot crews mobilizing from Redding to Alaska. USFS photo.
The largest fire currently burning in the state is the 145,000-acre Hess Creek Fire 26 miles southeast of Steven’s Village. The blaze was very active Sunday, adding another 30,000 acres.
The second largest is the 96,000-acre Swan Lake Fire 50 air miles south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula. The activity on this fire has slowed in recent days.
Hotshot crews mobilizing from Redding to Alaska. USFS photo.
