High danger sparks borough fire ban

State forestry officials ordered a ban on burning in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough until further notice because of hazardous fire conditions.

The ban applies to all open burning, although residents can still use barbecue grills.

Burning in campfires and approved burn barrels is also allowed, though fire officials discourage unnecessary burning.

"When we get some kind of change in the weather, a little more humidity or a good rain, then we call off the ban," said Chris Olson, fire prevention officer with the Division of Forestry.

Near Yenta a 150-acre fire flared up after Tuesday evening's thunder storms and continued burning into Wednesday. The National Weather Service recorded 849 lightening strikes Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, making the area vulnerable to more fires.

Kevin Koechlein, spokesman for the Division of Forestry, said they also had placed a flight restriction over the Yentna area. Private aircraft are to stay a five-mile radius away from the fire zone. "We need pilots to be very careful out there -- we have helicopters going back shuttling crews and supplies," Koechlein said.

"We had four crews on it and a helicopter by Wednesday night, after Tuesday's initial attack," said Gary McGeorge, fire prevention coordinator with the Division of Forestry. Their office has received a lot of calls from people who own cabins in the Yentna area, and has been able to reassure them that there's only one cabin near the fire zone, and it is two miles away.

Wednesday was a critical day, McGeorge said, because of the season's prolonged dry spell and forecasts for winds that would quickly spread a fire. There also was concern about continued thunder storms over the Talkeetna mountains.

"It's a red-flag alert for some of these areas, and we're really hoping the forecast for rain comes true. Because of what's been happening in the Lower 48 fires, we don't have more crews to help out if another fire starts, so we're really asking people to take to heart all the measures we've been taking for fire prevention," McGeorge said.

For more information, call 761-6233.