Officials urge caution on July 4

MAT-SU — Eyeing the long weekend ahead, state officials are warning Alaskans to be safe this Fourth of July.

“As of the end of yesterday, we have 263 human-caused fires and 14 lightning-caused,” state of Alaska Division of Forestry spokesman Sam Harrel said Monday.

Since lightning is the only natural source of fire in Alaska, that means that humans caused 94 percent of the fires in Alaska this year.

Harrel said that wet conditions with the soggy weather Alaska has experienced recently should help keep escaped fires to a minimum. But the holiday still causes concern for Forestry.

“Remember, fuels dry out quickly,” reads a press release he distributed on the subject.

The vast majority of man-made fires come from escaped campfires and burn barrels and burning brush piles, he said. But fireworks, Harrel said, are still a concern. They just happen to be a concern that is most acute during this one weekend, whereas campfires are a danger spread out over the course of the entire summer.

Forestry reminds people that fireworks are illegal in a lot of municipalities — including the Mat-Su Borough outside of the city of Houston — and that the state actually prohibits leaving “burning materials” on forested land. Burning materials can include the remnants of fireworks.

“Fireworks are best enjoyed at a time when they can be enjoyed and will not start a wildland fire. That time is winter,” Harrel’s press release states.

Meanwhile, Alaska Wildlife Troopers have been out this summer as part of their anti-drunken-boating campaign “Operation Dry Water.”

Troopers say the operation is a nationwide event organized by the National Association of Boating Law Administrators in the run-up to the July 4 weekend.

“Alcohol is the leading known contributing factor in recreational boating deaths. Alcohol and drug use can impair a boater’s judgment, balance, vision and reaction time. It can also increase fatigue and susceptibility to the effects of cold water immersion,” troopers state in their press release.

Not to be left out, the state fire marshal’s office on June 26 put out a press release advising people to be safe this holiday season, especially with fireworks, though not from a wildfire perspective so much as from a health and safety perspective.

“People often forget that they are playing with dangerous chemicals and combustibles that can destroy property and injure people. These deceptively simple objects explode, throw hot sparks through the air, and can often reach temperatures hotter than 1,200 degrees,” reads a press release disseminated by Mahlon Greene with the office’s training and education bureau.

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