Fire season kicks off

May 26, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - May started off cool and cloudy, but those clouds didn't drop much precipitation in the Mat-Su Valley, and now the Valley is tinder-dry and ready to ignite.

&#8220Fire season started off slow, but we're making up for it now,” said Norm McDonald, a technician with the Division of Forestry in Palmer. &#8220Just yesterday, we had four fires.”

Statewide, the division had responded to 100 fires by early Thursday afternoon, McDonald said.

The National Weather Service in Anchorage issued a red-flag warning early this week, which means that all burn permits are suspended.

McDonald said all of the fires they responded to so far have been caused by people, and the majority have been from burn piles that were not extinguished.

Even if someone burned a pile of brush earlier this year or last winter, they need to make sure the fire is completely out, McDonald said.

&#8220All it takes is a little wind in this dry weather for it to spring to life,” he said.

Jack Krill, chief of Central Mat-Su Fire Department, echoed McDonald's concerns.

&#8220This weekend is going to be very dangerous, and we are staffing up,” Krill said. &#8220But we want people to understand they can't burn.”

High temperatures, low humidity and wind are a recipe for a disastrous fire, said Kenneth Bullman, forester with the Palmer division.

&#8220These are the same conditions as Millers Reach Fire 10 years ago,” Bullman said Wednesday. &#8220We've had 34 fires in the area to date, with at least one every day since May 18.”

One of those fires, now called the Sunset Fire, burned more than 19 acres off Mile 10 Knik-Goose Bay Road. The fire started Monday evening in or next to a three-story house off Carmel Road, Krill said. The fire started just south of where the Millers Reach Fire stopped.

&#8220There was no wind, fortunately,” Krill said Thursday. &#8220The fire was called contained by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, and forestry will call it under control and be demobilizing today.”

Forestry attacked the fire with two helicopters, an air tanker and three engines, Krill said. Central Mat-Su brought six tankers, three engines, three brush trucks, an ambulance and a rescue truck to the fire with four chiefs, he said.

&#8220Plus we had a chief and crew on standby in Wasilla,” he said. &#8220And Big Lake and Meadow Lake departments were paged to stand by on the north side, on Hollywood.” After an all-night fight, the fire still was smoking and about 50 percent contained Tuesday morning, he said.

Another fire roared to life Tuesday just before 5 p.m., crowning in black spruce near Otter Lake on Fort Richardson. The Alaska Army National Guard attacked the fire with a Black Hawk helicopter crew, according to Maj. Mike Haller, spokesman.

The latest report said the fire burned 50 acres, and the cause still is under investigation.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.