Butte fire contained

Update:

BUTTE — Almost exactly a day after it started, the state’s Division of Forestry has declared contained a fire that burned 21 acres off of an ATV trail.

According to a situation report posted Friday afternoon, the fire was contained at 10 p.m. Thursday. The fire, off of the Plumley-Maud Trail in Butte and at its closest a half-mile or so from homes, was first reported sometime after 10 p.m. Wednesday evening.

Forestry says that it will next work on mop-up operations.

It’s been a busy start to fire season with high temperatures and little in the way of rainfall. As of Friday morning, though, the National Weather Service had lifted its Red Flag Warning for the Matanuska Valley — Palmer, Wasilla, Big lake, Houston, Knik, Butte — but left it in place for the Susitna Valley — Willow, Talkeetna, etc. Weather maps of the state show half of Alaska painted red with warnings, areas from the Copper River Basin and western Prince William Sound but also including communities from Tok to Fort Yukon to McGrath.

Despite the lifted Red Flag Warning in the core area of Mat-Su, Forestry’s burn ban for the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys remained in effect. Burn barrels and any fire larger than a camping or cooking fire are not allowed.

Original story:

BUTTE — Crews battled a 21-acre forest fire off a four-wheeler trail in the Maud Road area Wednesday night through to Thursday evening.

As of Thursday evening, officials were not labeling the fire as contained or controlled but said it hadn’t grown significantly since it hit 21 acres. Crews of up to 50 firefighters were working to clear brush and build a fire line around the blaze using chain saws and hand tools.

One hot-shot crew from the Mat-Su Area, the Pioneer Peak Hot Shots, was on the fire Thursday morning with a second team — the Gannett Glacier Hot Shots, another Mat-Su team that was staged in McGrath when the fire broke out — headed home to help.

As firefighters did their work, the Mat-Su Borough decided to close the Plumley-Maud ATV trail that runs between Plumley and Maud Roads. Firefighters used that trail to access the fire, as it’s the only way in. The borough says the fire was determined to have been human-caused.

Mat-Su Area Fire Management Officer Norm McDonald said aircraft began dropping water on the fire Thursday morning and continued throughout the day.

Also continuing throughout the day — sporadic reports of people burning grass and debris, despite a burn ban in place since Wednesday. Crews got a quick handle on a fire in Meadow Lakes and put out other backyard fires throughout the day.

As for the prognosis, McDonald said the firefighting effort was going well but the weather forecast wasn’t on Forestry’s side.

“It’s a bad day for fires,” he said.

He said Thursday’s warm, dry temperatures made the work more difficult. The wind, however, was cooperative and the fire hadn’t grown significantly in size by Thursday evening.

“But this is Palmer, and that could change quickly. So we’re definitely keeping an eye on that,” McDonald said.

As of Thursday, a Red Flag Warning from the National Weather Service was still in effect. In response, Forestry banned burn barrels and open burning in Mat-Su, except for camping and warming fires.

The Red Flag Warning actually covered half the state, from Fort Yukon to Homer, Tok to Bristol Bay, but excluded Prince William Sound. It’s been kind of the story of the summer fire season so far. The Alaska Interagency Coordination Center reports 106 fires have burned 174 acres in the state.

“Human related activity continues as the main cause of the fires,” reads a press release on the website akfireinfo.com, which posts news from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

The Butte area fire was first reported shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday. A fire assessment from Wednesday notes the area contains black spruce and that groups of them were torching off.

McDonald said it’s between a half-mile and three-quarters of a mile from homes in the area. But worried residents made calls to Forestry through the night, he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.