Seasonal rains have helped subdue Alaska’s wildfires and local firefighting personnel will be joining Lower 48 fire suppression efforts.
Nearly 600 firefighters and support staff from Alaska have left for states further south over the past few weeks.
Soldotna Division of Forestry Fire Management Officer Howie Kent said local staff will be heading out soon.
Kent: “So we’ll have six firefighters on that 20 person crew from here locally and that crew is being made up of firefighters from other areas like the Mat-Su area and also with the Forest Service within the state here. As well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service here locally, they’re going to provide a few folks to kind of round out that crew. So it’ll be an interagency Type 2 initial attack crew.”
Two local strike team leaders are also assisting in Northern California and Kent said additional heavy equipment bosses and fire administrators will head out also.
Crews continue to monitor the Card Street Fire in Sterling as they work to restore the areas affected by fire suppression during the fire.
Kent: “Just taking the material that had been removed by dozers and piled up into big berms and we’re taking that woody material and placing it back on the dozer line itself and taking that berm of dirt and moss and just kind of leveling it out. Sweeping it, is what we’re calling it, back into the green area.”
Alaska’s fire season is officially the second biggest on record. More than 5.12 million acres — or 8,010 square miles — has burned this year. The record is 6.6 million acres burned in 2004.
Kent said Alaska’s fire season has been going strong since March but agencies are making sure firefighters get adequate rest before heading to the lower states.