Blaze burns 150 acres

May 28, 2006

By DAWN DE BUSK

Frontiersman

POINT MACKENZIE - Heavy wind gusts early Saturday evening downed a tree onto a power line running across Point MacKenzie Road, and may have started a fire that within 45 minutes had consumed 150 acres in an area 5 miles southwest of the old town of Knik, according to John See, Mat-Su Regional Fire Manager with the Division of Forestry.

At 7:30 p.m., four structures lay in the potential path of the fire, and the forestry service was coordinating an evacuation effort with Alaska State Troopers, See said. Authorities quickly blocked Point MacKenzie Road to thwart onlookers.

Point MacKenzie Road begins about Mile 17 Knik Goose Bay Road, and snakes for about 25 miles before it ends above the shoreline of Knik Arm.

Palmer Fire Dispatch said the initial report of the fire came in at 5:40 p.m.

&#8220That one was the first of an influx of about 80 to 100 calls about the fire. Point MacKenzie is a ways out there, so by the time responders got there, it had spread. It's very windy out there,” a dispatcher said.

At 8:30 p.m., the heavy smoke and low visibility made it difficult to provide an official count of people evacuated or the number of structures threatened, Forestry Public Information Officer RaeShaun Bibbs said.

&#8220The state troopers are going door to door, letting people know to leave,” Bibbs said.

Officials with Goose Bay Elementary School, located on Vine and Hollywood roads, gave permission for families displaced by the wildfire to stay at the school, Bibbs said.

The fire, which started as a 10-acre grass fire and quickly was reported, jumped to black spruce, Bibbs said. The flames torched the crowns of the spruce and jumped a quarter mile, she said.

&#8220It has four miles before it runs out of fuel. The wind is blowing the fire southwest, so it's burning toward the tidal, swampy area,” Bibbs said.

Steve Ramsey, who lives at Mile 6, was headed home from work, but had to turn around when he got to the road block.

&#8220I got to Mile 5, and there was fire on both sides of the road, and the road was blocked so I couldn't get home,” he said at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. &#8220I'm just worried about my house. But the wind right now is dying down. Someone said they're letting people through now, so I'm going to head home.”

Wasilla Airport reported peak winds of 17 mph out of the northeast, temperatures of 75 degrees, and relative humidity of 16 percent, See said.

&#8220Anything in the teens (for humidity) gives us extreme fire danger, especially coupled with winds,” See said, adding the fire was fairly close to an unused prison facility and the military's old Nike Battery Complex, See said.

In addition to two helicopters, all the Mat-Su Borough's fire departments were paged, and only some reserve unit were left to cover their respective fire stations, See said.

See said the Point MacKenzie fire was the fourth or fifth wildfire reported on Saturday.

&#8220The red flag warning was issued this morning, and we're just dealing with that now,” Bibbs said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.