The Caribou Fire that was reported near Homer still continues to burn as the holiday weekend approaches. Authorities from the Division of Forestry and Kachemak Emergency Services were initially called to respond to the wildland fire that was located at the head of the Kachemak Bay, in the Fox River mud flats area. It was reported at 1:53 p.m. on Wednesday and was estimated to be at 13 acres in size.
Kenai Fire Management Officer Howie Kent provided an update on Thursday that containment was up to 20% Wednesday night:
“The fire is still holding in that footprint, 13.3 acres. It’s approximately 20% contained right now and the plan is to reach full containment on that fire by the end of shift today. We do have a hose lay all the way around that fire so we’re able to get water to all points of the fire. We’re not expecting any growth or any evacuations or anything like that associated with it. we have 21 Pioneer Peak Hotshot Individuals. They are our hotshot crew. They are our elite crew that we put on there. The Pioneer Peak will probably be on the fire for a couple of days until we reach full containment and mop that fire up at which point, we’ll pull them back into our initial forces here.”
Kent explains further what containment means:
“What that constitutes is just putting a saw line in around that fire and we already have a hose lay around it so that is going to help us keep that in check until we get the saw line put in, which is just making sure we remove the fuel on the edge of the fire, the perimeter of the fire so that the fire can’t advance any further. Then, over the next couple of days we’ll be, what we call mopping up the fire, which is essentially going through the fire with a fine-tooth comb. Everybody spraying water on that fire, mixing, and stirring and ensuring that every part of the fire is out. It’ll take a couple of days to make that happen.”
According to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, the fire is burning in beetle kill, black spruce, and grass.
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