Quick start to fire season keeps crews busy

PALMER — Fire officials say they have seen a fast, early start to wildfire season this spring, with fire season igniting about two weeks ahead of its usual schedule.

“We’re definitely I guess drier than normal for this time of year. Usually our fires this time of year are grass fires and we’ve already transitioned from grass fire season into stuff burning in the spruce and also the hardwoods,” said Norm McDonald, Mat-Su Area Fire Management Officer for the state’s Division of Forestry.

He said that usually the grass and dried plant material — the so-called “duff layer” — is the first to catch fire and trees come later. This year, though, the trees are ahead of that schedule.

Forestry crews managed to contain Mat-Su’s biggest fire of the year thus far on Friday. In that blaze, 21 acres burned along the popular Plumley-Maud trail that runs between two Butte-area roads of the same names.

McDonald said that two Hot Shot crews from Mat-Su — Gannett Glacier and Pioneer Peak — battled that blaze since its start late Wednesday night. He said the cause was determined to be a campfire that got out of control. He said fire investigators didn’t find the traditional ring of stones around it.

“We’re calling it an illegal campfire. It was unattended and it did not have a proper fuel break around it,” McDonald said, though he pointed out Forestry couldn’t say for certain exactly what happened with the person who started the fire. “If they thought it was out and they walked away or if it got away from them and they freaked out and left — I don’t know that.”

When a fire is first reported, Forestry sends out its initial attack crews. Those folks get the firefighting effort started but once a Hot Shot team shows up, the initial attack firefighters head back to headquarters to wait for the next call.

It’s a system that got a workout Thursday and Friday, with multiple smaller fires requiring response as crews worked the fire off of Plumley-Maud.

One of those involved a quarter acre of grass burning off of Spencer Road in Meadow Lakes.

“Upon arrival of Forestry units, it was found to be smoldering in grass. Personnel took action on the fire and called in contained and controlled, turned it over to the landowner and declared administratively out. A written warning was issued for burning during a suspension with no burn permit. The fire was stated by a debris burn,” reads a report on the fire from Forestry.

McDonald said that with both crews tied up there, Forestry decided to send down a third hot shot team, this one the Chena Hot Shots based out of the Fairbanks area. The team will be available for fires anywhere they start.

McDonald said Forestry hadn’t even finished its yearly training sessions before the fires began.

“The first part of the season we were doing our training and responding to fires at the same time,” he said. “If we need to we can pull people out of training. We were able to get most of our training completed without having to interrupt it for fires.”

With such a brisk start to the season, Forestry reminds folks they need to file a permit before they burn. The permits are available online at forestry.alaska.gov or in kiosks at most fire stations in Mat-Su. That website is also the best place to go to find out if it’s OK to burn. Before starting a fire it’s also a good idea to check fire conditions by calling the information hotline at 761-6312.

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