2019 wildfire season: NJ Forest Fire Service Crew in Alaska (July 20th)

The crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, NJS Crew #1 continues their work near Rampart Alaska on the Grouse Creek and Twin Ponds Fires. I believe that they are at the end of their first week of a two week deployment. The last information I was able to find is that posted by the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association on July 19th, who wrote that the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center website is offline. I myself tried to access this site just now, and I was unable to. To the best of my knowledge what the A2 Firefighters Association posted on July 19th, information for July 18th, is the last available information. For those interested, I wrote about NJS Crew #1 on July 16th and 17th.

From A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page on July 19th:

Friday, July 19, 2019 - NJS Crew 1 - Grouse Creek (#485) and Twin Ponds (#486) – 8,500 acres, 95 firefighters 

The Grouse Creek and Twin Pond fires are burning about 6 miles northeast of Rampart. Growing to roughly 14,000 acres, the fire has pushed through the tundra driven by 5-10 mph winds. Crews continue to assess and protect structures and allotments at fish camp and Alfred’s cabin. A perimeter flight is planned for today around Grouse Creek. 

The Garnet Creek Fire, 12 miles southwest of Rampart, has burned 2,000 acres and is being monitored by the incident management team stationed at Rampart. Increased fire activity, driven by the wind, moved the fire east on Thursday toward a sparser fuel component. Smoke will be visible throughout the Rampart area and likely settle in low lying drainages and along the Yukon River. 

Updated on July 31 2019: the links to the Facebook posts from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association are no longer active. Other sources of information are the daily situation reports from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), and Alaska Fire Info (daily updates during fire season).