A thick plume of smoke visible during a fire burning in a remote corner of a military training range south of Fairbanks – Alaska Wildland Fire Information

(FAIRBANKS, Alaska) 7:30 p.m., Saturday June 8 update – Alaska BLM Fire Department is deploying eight smoke bombs to protect military infrastructure located near Blair Lakes, west of the fire. Smoke engineers will remove flammable vegetation and install hoses and water pumps in case fire threatens the site.

Smoke visible from the Fairbanks and North Pole areas Saturday is from a large wind-driven fire burning in an isolated part of a military training range south of Fairbanks. The smoke from Late McDonald (#119) will likely be very visible in the coming days due to continued dry and warm conditions.

BLM Alaska Fire Service firefighting personnel flew over the fire around 4:30 p.m. and estimated that the fire had burned a 3.4 mile long and quarter mile wide expanse of land, covering 750 acres. The fire, fueled by wind gusts up to 20 mph from the southeast, was spreading rapidly through black spruce trees on the west side of the Tanana River, about 9 miles southwest of Salcha. The wind was pushing the fire deeper into the Tanana Flats training area and away from a group of cabins more than five miles southeast of the fire's source. Winds are expected to ease to 3-7 mph, with gusts up to 7 mph on Sunday, continuing to blow from the east.

The fire was initially reported by a private pilot around 1:20 p.m. It is burning in a designated limited management area, meaning that unless the fire threatens property or people, it will be able to do its part. ecological natural. If the fire threatens a valuable site nearby, land and fire managers can mobilize firefighters to protect the site without stopping the spread of the wildfire. This strategy takes into account firefighter safety, risk values ​​and impacts on the surrounding area. Because the fire is in a large, roadless training area, firefighting efforts would largely depend on air support. The fire will be monitored by routine flights conducted by BLM Alaska Fire Department Military Fire Management Area personnel.

The cause of the fire remains to be determined. There was no military training in this region.

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for most areas north of the Alaska Range to the foothills of the Brooks Range and the Canadian border west of McGrath due to low humidities , high temperatures and strong winds. The Red Flag Warning and Fire Weather Watch will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and continue until 9 p.m. Sunday.

Due to these conditions, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection is suspending burning permits in all areas of the Fairbanks Prevention Zone effective Friday, June 7. Permits will be suspended in the Delta and Tok prevention zones on Saturday and Sunday. The suspensions will remain in effect until conditions improve. To find out if it is safe to burn, contact your local burning permit hotline. You can also find more information about the forest burning permit program and suspensions.

Contact Beth Ipsen, BLM AFS Public Affairs Specialist, at (907) 356-5510 or [email protected] for more information.

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Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Department, PO Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703

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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS), located in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services on more than 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation lands in Alaska. In addition, the AFS has other statewide responsibilities, including: interpreting fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuel management projects; and the operation and maintenance of advanced communications and computing systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a national incident support cache with an inventory of 18.1 million. The Alaska Fire Department provides wildfire suppression services for America's “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Forest Service USDA, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Alaska.

Categories: Active Wildfires, AK Fire Info, BLM Alaska Fire Service

Keywords: McDonald Fire, Military Zone, Tanana Flats Training Area