Moose Creek Fire 70 percent contained

WASILLA — Alaska Division of Forestry (AFD) reported Thursday morning, containment on the Moose Creek Fire on Glenn Highway near Mile 54 north of Palmer 70 percent contained. ADF personnel said on scene fire managers remain optimistic full containment on the late-season wildfire will be achieved before the end of the weekend.

“If (the weather) stays the way it is right now we’re hoping for full containment by the end of shift Friday,” AFD Incident Commander Phil Blydenburgh said Thursday morning. “Snow and rain will definitely speed things up; they’re calling for freezing rain later today.”

The fire’s estimated size is 303 acres and there are still approximately 80 personnel working on the blaze, though that number is slowly decreasing. AFD officials said thanks to a substantial decrease in wind, crews were able to bump up containment by 24 percent on Wednesday, pushing it up from 46 percent to 70 percent. Thursday afternoon brought scattered and sometime moderate showers to the affected and surrounding areas.

Firefighters were able to close gaps on the parts of the northern, western and southwestern perimeters on Wednesday. Thursday, crews focused on securing the rest of the north and east flanks before turning their attention to the south and west flanks paralleling the Glenn Highway.

Though the wind has abated, the cold conditions continue to pose problems for crews. Firefighters have had to winterize pumps and engines to keep the plumbing from freezing in the sub-freezing temperatures and any hose lines left out overnight are frozen in the morning.

In addition, the cold temperatures have made conditions miserable for firefighters trying to stay warm. Firefighters are reportedly going through considerable amounts of coffee and hot chocolate to combat the cold temperatures.

Firefighters are also working to fully contain a smaller fire that started about 10 miles north of the Moose Creek Fire on Monday when a tree was blown into a power line. The King Fire is estimated at five acres and is near Mile 68.5 of the Glenn Highway.

A crew of three smokejumpers from the BLM Alaska Fire Service has been working on the fire the past two days and the fire has been placed in monitor status. Firefighters found and extinguished several hot spots on the fire Wednesday and remained on the scene Thursday to monitor and search for additional hot spots.

The next official update was expected as the Frontiersman went to press Thursday evening.