Fire crews took on two fires in the same general region of Nikolaevsk on Monday, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. Forestry and multiple fire departments extinguished them on Monday. Two outbuildings and multiple vehicles were destroyed in the fire, which was reported just after 11:00 a.m.
Howie Kent, Kenai/Kodiak Area Fire Management Officer for the Alaska Division of Forestry spoke with KSRM, “The first fire we responded to was reported initially at eight acres. Upon arrival, it was much smaller than that, a quarter acre in size, but it was the result of an escaped debris fire, that’s why we instituted the burn suspension (yesterday). It was a fire that had been lit previously and there was still heat in it and it escaped from the intended area there and burned along a fence line. The second fire was an active burn that was going on that somebody was burning without a burn permit. They didn’t realize there was a burn suspension in place. The fire escaped the control of that individual and burned just over a tenth of an acre as well. That was on the south end of the North Fork Road. (They were) in fairly close proximity to one another.”
State forestry responded with five engines and a Helitack load while firefighters from Kachemak Emergency Services, Homer Volunteer Fire Department and Western Emergency Services also responded. The fire was under control around 12:30 p.m.
Kent said that the forecast is predicting an average fire season this year along the Kenai Peninsula, “We’re going to have periods of hot, dry weather like we’re experiencing now, which that gives us potential to have some large fire growth very quickly. We have potential to have large fire every year when we get these kind of windows of weather events occurring. On a bigger scale, you know, they’re calling for an average season, but one wrongly placed ignition on the wrong day would be a significant fire.”
The fire is under investigation, but the suspected cause is an escaped debris burn. As a reminder, there is a burn suspension in place for the Kenai Peninsula, as of Monday, which will prohibit all burning requiring a permit, both large and small scale. That includes the use of burn barrels and the burning of brush piles.
Photos were courtesy of the Alaska DNR- Division of Forestry Facebook page.
