Red Flag: Mat-Su conditions ripe for wildfire

By Christina Seine

For the Frontiersman

MAT-SU — While the major fires in Alaska are happening at a distance, conditions in the Mat-Su Valley are ripe for fire as well. A Red Flag Warning has been issued for the Susitna Valley area, and burn permits have been suspended for the entire Mat-Su area.

Throughout the Mat-Su, only campfires in designated fireplaces or fire-pits are allowed until further notice. All other fires are banned at this time.

Yet local responders have been kept busy with small fires getting out of control — especially burn barrels.

“Conditions are very volatile right now,” said Tom Greiling, Supervisor of Fire Prevention for the Division of Forestry’s Mat-Su office. “In spite of the burn suspension, there have been a tremendous amount of fire prevention calls … instances of negligence, most often because someone has left a burn barrel unattended.”

He added, “I just got back from Jim Creek, where someone left the site, and had a campfire left burning. There was a five-foot diameter area of red hot coals and embers just waiting for a gust of wind.”

Jim Keel, battalion chief for the West Lakes Fire Department, said local firefighters have been responding to several calls a day because of negligent burning.

“A lot of people just don’t get it,” he said. “It is very dangerous right now. And, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be getting any rain until next Monday or Tuesday … and even that’s a maybe.”

Greiling underscored that sentiment.

“It’s a big issue, right now — the lack of rain, the dry conditions. If the public doesn’t jump on board, things can get very, very bad.”

Greiling said most people are being cautious and following proper procedures. However, some are not. There is a tendency, he said, for people to light a fire without being concerned for conditions.

“If someone lights a fire and walks away, it only takes a couple seconds for a spark to get out and ignite nearby grass, leaves or any available combustible material,” he said.

As an example, he cited the recent McRoberts Creek Fire, which burned 21 acres near Butte on May 15. That blaze was started by a campfire that got out of control.

Part of the problem right now, Greiling added, is that “people are seeing the smoke (from the Funny River fire on the Kenai Peninsula) and thinking the burn suspension is lifted.”

The burn suspension is still in effect. Cooking fires and campfires are excluded from the suspension. However, safe burn procedures are still mandatory.

Alaska State Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said even though a lot of Mat-Su residents vividly remember the Miller’s Reach Fire, which burned 37,000 acres near Big Lake in May and June 1996, over time people can become complacent.

“They think it will never happen to them,” Peters said. “But that fire that’s raging in the peninsula right now — that could easily be us. We have very similar conditions.”