Fire crews, terrain slow progress of Houston-area wildfire

UPDATE (7:45 p.m. Monday)

The Alaska Division of Forestry said the Horseshoe Lake Fire did not grow on Monday and remains at 52 acres, and spokesperson Tim Mowry said he's confident crews have the blaze under control.

"A containment line has been placed around the entire fire using bulldozers and managers are confident crews will be able to contain the fire within the its perimeter," Mowry wrote in a press release issued Monday evening.

Read the entire update here.

UPDATE (9:45 a.m. Monday)

Alaska Division of Forestry spokesman Norm McDonald said Monday morning that two Type 2 firefighting crews were being brought in to help put out the 52-acre Horseshoe Lake Fire near Houston, which he said did not grow significantly overnight.

"They'll be working it throughout the day," he said.

McDonald said the fire remained inside a dozer line built on Sunday night. He said crews battling the blaze were helped by the fact that winds died down overnight. However, the state continues to keep a watchful eye on the fire, and the Type 2 crews from Tok and Fairbanks are being brought in as a precaution.

"They're here to assist," he said.

The crews recently returned to Alaska from Washington, where they were fighting large fires there.

"They were slated to take some days off, but they'll be around to help out," he said.

ORIGINAL STORY:

HOUSTON -- A second prompt response by firefighters in as many days was helping to slow a fire burning approximately five miles southwest of Houston on Sunday evening.

At around 7 p.m., the Mat-Su Borough reported that the fire had been 100 percent surrounded by a bulldozer-built fire break. Less than two hours later, State Forestry incident commander John Glover said the fire had grown to 52 acres by 8:45 p.m., but that crews had reached the fire with hoses and had it contained within a bulldozer line.

"Progress is going well," Glover said.

Authorities said Sunday afternoon that no homes were threatened and no evacuations were planned. The nearest neighborhood was reportedly 2.5 miles from the fire, according to the borough.

Glover said crews were dousing the fire with water and keeping it within containment lines.

"We are holding it within the dozer line now," he said.

Named the Horseshoe Lake Fire, the blaze was burning in an unpopulated location about five miles southwest of Houston, an area previously burned during the 1996 Millers Reach Fire. Fire crews from the Alaska Division of Forestry, Mat-Su Borough and local fire departments were gathered at a location near the end of Millers Reach Road, which was being used as a staging area for operations.

The fire was burning north of Millers Reach Road, which firefighters said would create a line of defense if strong winds gusting to 25 MPH pushed the fire further south. The cause was under investigation Sunday afternoon.

“We’ve got a man-made road here which is about 40 feet across which will hopefully be a good barrier break for us,” said Jim Keel, a battalion chief with the West Lakes Fire Department.

Keel said the road is between the fire and the nearest neighborhood, which is in the Rogers Road area.

“Any structures south, that road’s in front of,” he said.

The fire was first reported at around 1:30 p.m. and sent thick columns of black smoke drifting south toward Big Lake. Firefighters rushed to the location, and within an hour dozens of emergency personnel, tanker trucks, brush trucks, a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane were on the scene.

Bulldozers and a large excavator were also brought in to help build fire breaks. By around 5 p.m., the Mat-Su Borough reported the blaze had run into swampy terrain and had slowed its growth, and the column of smoke had died down considerably.

“Crews and equipment are making good progress,” read a post on the Mat-Su Borough’s Facebook page at around 5 p.m.

The landscape where the fire is burning is dominated by charred, spindly dead spruce trees engulfed in the 1996 fire that burned 37,000 acres, destroyed hundreds of homes and caused more than $10 million in property damage.

The fire was the second to break out in the area in less than 24 hours. On Saturday evening, a fire near Caswell burned about 35 acres before crews brought it under control. The fire's incident commander said on Sunday that the Sheep Creek Fire was under control and not a danger to any homes. Some firefighters who were already in the area to mop up the first blaze were diverted to help control the second.

The Susitna Valley area has been hard-hit by wildfire this summer. Earlier this year, the Sockeye Fire near Willow burned 7,200 acres and destroyed 55 structures.

There are 640 acres to one square mile.

Conditions in the area were sunny and dry with strong wind gusts Sunday afternoon. However, the borough reported that cool temperatures overnight were expected to help slow the new fire’s growth.

Click here to see a map of the fire's location released by the Mat-Su Borough.

This is a developing story; check back for updates.