Burn ban issued across the Mat-Su Borough

Even though there are cloudy skies, cooler temperatures, and rain in the foreseeable future, a burn permit suspension remains in effect after the Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) issued a suspension for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough due to increased fire activity across the interior Alaska on June 21. The DOF also cites limited fire resources from across the state to respond to escaped fires.

Burning of debris piles, lawns, or utilizing a burn barrel is prohibited.

State law requires those wanting to conduct any open burning on state, private and municipal lands from April 1 through Aug. 31 to get burn permits from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection either online or at your local Forestry office. This includes burning brush piles, using burn barrels, agricultural burning and burning of maintained lawns

The burn permit suspension also extends to the Kenai-Kodiak and Copper River Prevention Areas. The suspension will remain in place until fire activity is reduced, and resources become more readily available.

Currently there are dozens of wildfires across the state, jumping from over 3,000 acres for the year across Alaska, to over 100,000 last week.

While more wildfires are expected this week, officials are hopeful that there could some much needed weather improvements for firefighting efforts, as cloudier skies and rain builds across the state.

While using burn barrels and burning of debris is prohibited, the DOF says that small cooking and warming type fires under 3 feet in diameter are still allowed, but people must use extreme caution due to the wildfire potential should an ember escape or a fire be left unattended or not completely put out. Please check with your local fire departments and local land managers to verify that they do not have additional fire restrictions in place.

During times of limited fire resources and the delayed response of first responders to respond to an escaped burn, new fires will spread rapidly with increasing intensity. Fires in light or dead fuels may quickly demonstrate high intensity characteristics. Fire suppression and mop-up with limited resources will take an extended and thorough effort. Please call your local permit hotline listed below for the status of Burn Permits as conditions change.

You can find more information about the Forestry Burn Permit program and suspensions at www.dnr.alaska.gov/burn

For current information on DOF Burn Permits, call the hotline at DOF Area Offices in the Mat-Su at (907) 761-6312.