2025 Wildfire Season: Alaska Wildfire Season Highlights

Direct link to Nov 14th video from Alaska DNRDOF on YouTube 

I have never been to Alaska and don't know if I will ever get there. However, for reason that I won't get into here I have a special interest in Alaska including but not limited to the challenges posed by wildfires. I am grateful to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page for sharing this video  from Alaska DNRDOF summarizing the 2025 Alaska wildfire season. The video is over 13 minutes and I enjoyed watching the wildland firefighters working fire in Alaska along with images of aerial support.

Friday Fun: Alaska Aviation Operations

Direct link to video from AlaskaDNRDOF on YouTube

You will hear Andy Jones, Alaska's statewide aviation manager discuss air tankers, air attack and helicopters used to help groundcrews fighting wildfires. Enjoy

2021 wildfire season: BLM Alaska Smokejumpers First Jump

Knowing that is summer in Alaska, I have been thinking about the wildland firefighters in Alaska. I know from my reading that smokejumpers play an important roll in fighting wildfires in Alaska. I wanted to find a way to share something about smokejumpers and/or other wildland firefighting in Alaska. It was not hard for me to come up with a couple of videos to share with you, both are from BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Alaska. I wanted to do something to give a shoutout to all the wildland firefighters in Alaska in the air and on the ground. Thanks for all you do to keep the people in your Alaska safe from wildfires.

The first video is a short video about the BLM Alaska Smokejumper's annual refresher training that all smokejumpers go through.

Direct link to video from BLMAlaska

In the last video you will see the BLM Alaska Smokejumpers preparing for their first jump of the season on May 24, 2021 to the Pilot Point Fire that burned near a remote village. Twelve BLM Alaska Smokejumpers were deployed to the fire, providing important initial attack with burn out operations with the help of at least retardant drop from an air tanker. The Pilot Point Fire  burned approximately 3,750 acres and was 100% contained on Friday night, May 28, 202. See these two articles about this fire from the Alaskanewssource on May 25th and May 29th

Direct link to video from BLM Alaska

IMET deployments (June 15th)

As the wildfire season continues to ramp up,  Incident Meteorologists (IMETs)continue to be deployed to provide onsite weather forecasts to wildfire incidents. IMETs are a national resource, and I am comforted that should the need arise, an IMET would be deployed to your State (including my home State of New Jersey) to work on a wildfire. 

IMETs save lives!

There have been a few IMET deployments since last week. As I have done the last few seasons, I will post periodically about IMET deployments. Deployments are typically for no longer than two weeks with IMETs turning over after two weeks if necessary. 

June 8, 2020: US National Weather Service Tuscon Arizona IMET deployed to Bighorn Fire in the Coronado National Forest near Oro Valley, Arizona. As I write this the Bighorn Fire has burned 13,200 acres (Bighorn Fire on Inciweb).

June 10: US National Weather Service Flagstaff Arizona IMET deployed to the Mangum Fire in the Kaibab National Forest near Fredonia, Arizona. The Mangum Fire has burned 24,708 acres (Magnum Fire on Inciweb).

June 10: US National Weather Service Alaska IMET deployed to the Isom Creek Fire burning near Stevens Village, Alaska. The Isom Creek Fire has burned 12,024 acres. (Isom Creek Fire on Inciweb).

June 11: US National Weather Service El Paso Texas IMET deployed to the Tadpole Fire in the Gila National Forest near Silver City, New Mexico. The Tadpole Fire has burned 6,600 acres (Tadpole Fire on Inciweb).

June 12: US National Weather Service Albuquerque New Mexico IMET deployed to the Bringham Fire in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Morenci, Arizona. The Bringham Fire has burned 14,625 acres (Bringham Fire on Inciweb).

June 15: US National Weather Service Las Vegas Nevada IMET is enroute to the Bush Fire in the Tonto National Forest near Phoenix Arizona. The Bush Fire has burned 14,371 acres. (Bush Fire on Inciweb).

2019 wildfire season: Upper Yukon Alaska wildfires

I have been writing about the wildfires in Alaska of late, see for example my July 26th post about the New Jersey Forest Fire crew, NJS#1 that was deployed to Alaska and my August 2nd post about crews from the continental United States deployed to Alaska. I wanted to do something a little different today, I will get to that in a moment. First, I went to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center to look at the latest Situation Report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (August 8, 2019), the latest situation report may be found here so the numbers I am presenting here (taken from the August 8th Situation Report) may be different from the latest Situation Report. As of Thursday August 8th, there have been 615 wildfires in Alaska this year that have burned 2,434,032.3 acres where lightning caused wildfires account for 2,391,207 acres, new and or staffed wildfires account for 511,541.8 acres with the difference in acreage representing wildfires in monitoring status.

Always looking for something a little different, as I was today, I checked out Mike Archer's Wildfire News of the Day (go here for subscription information). In his August 5th edition of his Wildfire News of the Day e-mail, I found a nice story from Must Read Alaska showcasing drone footage of the 500,000 acre Chalkitsik Complex (upper Yukon). The Chalkitsik Complex has a page on inciweb. The drone aka (UAS) footage is from the AKIMT/BLM AFS Alaska Fire Service/DNR Alaska Division of Forestry. The video below was embedded in the Must Read Alaska article, uploaded by the 2019 AKUYD Chalkyitisk Complex.


Direct link to video from the 2019 AKUYD Chalkyitisk Complex

I then went to Alaska Fire Info to see if I could find any interesting photographs and I was in luck. I found a nice photo essay from a wildland firefighter from the Tanana Chiefs Initial Attack Crew, the photo essay is dated August 8th and an August 7th photo essay of the Chalkyitisk  Complex. The Chalkyitisk Complex is, if I am not mistaken, located in the Upper Yukon in Alaska, Alaska Fire Info posted an update about the status of the wildfires burning in the Upper Yukon, with a map here.

2019 wildfire season: crews from lower 48 in Alaska

On July 22nd, I wrote about U.S. based crews from outside Alaska who were deployed to Alaska. I am writing this article to follow-up on crews from outside Alaska who are currently deployed to Alaska wildfires as of August 2nd. I obtained this information from the August 2nd Out of Area Crews report that I found on the crews page linked to on the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) website. Information on wildfire acreage is either obtained from Alaska Fire Info or the AICC Situation Report for August 2nd. If you are arriving here after August 2nd, you may found the August 2nd Situation Report in the section labeled Previous AICC Situation Reports on this AICC Predictive Services Intelligence / Reports page.

Chalkyitsik Complex (Upper Yukon), 501,629 acres

Crews from the lower 48 assigned to the Complex: Winema IHC (OR),Big Bear IHC (CA). T2IA crews: CA(3),MN, OR.

A Type 2IA crew from OR is assigned to Small Timber Lake (34 acres) within the Complex.

August 1st update from Alaska Fire Info includes link to video embedded below



Cornucopia Complex, 85,511 acres

Crews from lower 48 deployed to complex: Type 2IA: CA(2), IN
Crews from lower 48 deployed to individual wildfires within complex:

• Chandler River, crew from lower 48: Type 2IA: CA
• East Fork Chandler, crew from lower 48:Type 2IA: CA
• Hadweenzic River, crews from lower 48: Tallac IHC (CA), Redmond IHC (OR)

August 1st update from Alaska Fire Info

Grouse Creek, 49,121 acres, crew from lower 48: Type 2IA: CA

Rainbow 2, 19,757 acres, crews from lower 48: Type 2IA: MN, OR

Alaska Fire Info
Alaska Fire Info on Facebook

2019 wildfire season:NJ Forest Fire Service Crew nears end of two week deployment in Alaska

The NJS #1 crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service is near the end of their two week deployment in Alaska. NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association has been doing a great job under difficult circumstances (no direct communications with crew due to remote location) providing updates on NJS #1 crew. Here is their July 24th update on the Grouse Creek Fire where the NJ# #1 crew has been assigned. The Grouse Creek Fire is located about six miles north of Rampart, Alaska.

The size is now estimated at 30,276.1 acres. Personnel assigned remains at 107. There is still no direct cell phone communications with NJFFS crew, due to the remote location. Report from the AICC SitRep - Numerous residences commercial facilities and infrastructure as well as many structures and out buildings are under threat from this fire. Protection efforts are needed as well as continued assessment of best strategy to work on this fire. Crews will continue notification and survey of community along with preparing structures as needed. Continue needs assessment and complete evacuation plan for Rampart Village.

Also on July 24th, NJFFS A2 shared a short video shot by wildland firefighters assigned to the Grouse Creek Fire. The fire was burning in Black Spruce along and near the Yukon River.

Finally, the NJFFS A2 just provided an update about an hour ago (July 26th), saying in part:

All indications are that the New Jersey crew will complete today's assignments and then begin the demob process. Information from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center this morning is vague, at best. "Prior to the morning hours on Thursday, the fire pushed in a northeast direction toward Troublesome Creek. Ongoing point protection work will continue with structures and allotments both up and downriver from Rampart. Hose lays and sprinklers will be tested. Mop up will continue." 

To the NJS #1 Crew, I am so very of you. You honor us here in New Jersey with your service helping out in Alaska. I am so very proud of you. Stay safe and safe travel home.

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). Updates about when the NJS #1 crew was released was also obtained from the Eastern Area Coordination Center's  Interagency Resource Representative Report (IARR), updated daily while Eastern Area crews are deployed.

2019 wildfire season: out of state crews working in Alaska

I had heard that were many United States based crews located outside Alaska that are working in Alaska. I got curious and went looking and am sharing this information with you. The information below is only U.S. based crews and does not reflect crews from Canada that may be helping in Alaska. The information below on U.S. Crews working wildfires in Alaska is from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center obtained from the  Situation Report for July 22, 2019 (updated daily). Out of State crews in red. Crews are usually 20 persons.

Part of Cornucopia Complex
1. Chandalar River, 1,000 acres
Type 1 IHC: American River (CA), Union (OR)

2. East Fork 143 acres
Type 2: AK

3. Frozen Calf 6,528 acres
Type 2 IA: AK

4. Hadweenzk River 54,953 acres
Type 1 IHC: Chena (AK), Eldorado (CA), Mad River (CA), Tallac (CA)
Type 2: AK
Type 2 IA: CA
Type 1 Modules : SD, CO 

5. Tony Slough, 4,937 acres
Type 2 IA: MT

Grouse Creek 13,498 acres
Type 1 Module, MT
Type 1 IHC: Prineville, OR
Type 2 IA: NJ, OH

Hess Creek 173,467 acres
Type 2 modules: AK, 3

Klutina River 126 acres
Type 1 IHC: Bitterroot, MT

Kobe 896 acres
Type 1 IHC: Midewin, IL
Type 2: AK, WA
Type 2 IA: MO (2), AK

Little Creek 135 acres
Type 1 IHC: Midnight Sun, AK

McCall Creek 3,384.5 acres
Type 1 IHC: Pioneer Peak, AK

Rainbow 2 15,000 acres
Type 1 Module: UT, ID
Type 2 IA: MT, WA

Shovel Creek 21,309 acres
Type 2: AK, 2
Type 2 IA: CA, WA, AK

Swan Lake 107,027 acres
Type 1 IHC: Flathead, MT
Type 2 IA: AK, 4
Type 1 Module: ID, CA
Type 2 Module: OR

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).

2019 wildfire season: NJ Forest Fire Service Crew in Alaska (July 17th)

I continue to follow NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association's coverage of NJS Crew #1 in Alaska on the Grouse Creek Fire, see my earlier post of July 16th. Here is an excerpt from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association July 17th update of about 10:30 AM EDT, they are referring to a late night (July 16th) report from Alaska:

Ninety-five people are assigned to the Grouse Creek and Twin Pond fires, which are burning about 6 miles northeast of Rampart. The two fires have burned together and are estimated at 7,750 acres combined. … Structure assessment and protection around the village of Rampart is complete and is continuing on the north edge of the fire and at the nearby mine. The Incident Management Team is finalizing an evacuation plan, should an evacuation become necessary, and the structure protection plan.

NJFFS A2 has accessed and incorporates daily intelligence situation reports and other information about the Grouse Creek Fire from the Alaska Interagency Fire Center in their reporting. This takes a bit of time to go and fetch it and I appreciate their efforts.

The NJ Forest Fire Service posted a report and photo of NJS Crew #1 in Alaska on July 16th; they wrote that this was the first time a NJFFS crew has been deployed to Alaska.

NJFFS Section B10 is also covering the fire on their Facebook page.

The only local reporting from the New Jersey region of the NJS Crew #1 that I know of to date is from NJ Advance Media (aka NJ.com) who published an article on July 17th.

My thoughts are with the NJS Crew #1 as they work the Grouse Point and Twin Pond Fires in Alaska. Thank-you for honoring New Jersey with your service. Stay safe.

Updated on July 17th at 7PM

The NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association posted two more articles today. In the first article (about 2PM) they shared that the Grouse Creek Fire is now at 8,500 acres. In another article, that they just posted, they share a picture of NJS 1 Crew (courtesy of Donna Storch) unloaded an airplane at the Rampart Airport. The photo and another short update on the Grouse Creek Fire is found in a longer article (dated July 17th) on the Alaska Wildland Fire Info Website about fires burning in the Tanana district of Alaska, where the Grouse Creek Fire is currently burning, you will have scroll down to read the piece about the Grouse Creek Fire with Ms. Storch's photo. Note, I am not sure how long this link with the article will be valid.

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).

2019 wildfire season: New Jersey Forest Fire Service Crew deployed to Alaska

I am late in posting that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service deployed NJS crew #1 to Alaska on Friday, July 12th. See the NJFFS Section B10 July 13th Facebook post for a statement on the deployment, they say in part:

Friday’s mobilization of a 20-person interagency handcrew of New Jersey firefighters to Alaska marks a first for the state. Experiencing record-breaking high temperatures and unseasonable dryness, Alaska has reported over 160 active large fires burning almost 1.5 million total acres. With local resources strapped by the demands of active incidents, Alaska’s area Preparedness Level has been declared a 5, the highest on the scale.

The crew traveled to Fairbanks Alaska then to Fort Wainwright for staging.

The NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association has been posting updates on NJS Crew #1 deployment in Alaska. According to their July 14th post the crew is assigned to the Grouse Creek Fire, perhaps caused by lightning, six miles from Rampart Alaska near the Yukon River.  In their July 15th Facebook post, the NJFFS A2 Firefighter Association says in part:

NJS #1 is assigned to. Undergoing extreme fire behavior. Fire growth in several directions but predominantly moving northeast. 3 separate columns were observed. Expecting acreage to double in the next 24hrs and to possibly double again within 48 hrs. Threatened in addition to Rampart are allotments and structures from NE to SW of the fire along and near the Yukon River. … Working on MAPs. Will continue needs assessment and draft evacuation plan. 

I may have been late in this first post about NJS Crew #1, but be assured that I have been thinking about them the last few days. I am very proud of the crew. You honor New Jersey. Stay safe.

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).

2019 wildfire season: Alaska (July 9)

The State of Alaska has had a very active wildfire season so far this year. According to Bill Gabbert's July 8th article, the National Interagency Fire Center has Alaska at it's highest level of prepardness, level 5. He goes on to report on the deployment of additional hotshot crews to Alaska and some of the larger wildfires. There are National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) currently deployed to Alaska, see this July 5th Facebook Post from the US National Weather Service IMETs. IMETs save lives!

Inciweb has information on five Alaska wildfires, I suspect that this is just a partial listing of the active wildfires in Alaska as inciweb only lists wildfires on federal lands:

Swan Lake Fire: 96,889 acres at 14 percent containment
Montana Creek Fire: 356 acres at 30 percent containment
Nugget Creek Fire: 6,937 acres, no containment information
Shovel Creek Fire: 12,053 acres at 15 percent containment
Hess Creek Fire: 146,321 acres, no containment information

Here are some recent videos about the wildfires in Alaska, thanks to my friends at NJFFS Section B10 for sharing these videos this week.

From the National Interagency Fire Center, uploaded on July 3rd


Direct link to video

Alaska National Guard at Montana Creek Fire


Direct link to video

Fire footage


Direct link to video

Alaska Wildfire Updates (Monday June 22)

June 24, 2015 11:15 AM EDT

Some updates for you on the wildfires in Alaska that I have been following. Before I do so, I again refer you to the following site for information on other fires that are burning in Alaska: Alaska Wildland Fire Information, the Fire Information Map from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, and the latest daily situation report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. In addition, you will want to check out Bill Gabbert's June 23rd article, "Alaska -- 46,000 lightning strikes and many fires"

Chisana River 2 Fire

I just went to the Chisana River 2 Fire's incident page on Inciweb to see that the latest update was posted at about 3 AM EDT on JUne 24th (estimated) where they are reporting that the fire has burned 35,000 in a limited protection area of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and they are estimating that the fire could grow by an additional "2-2,500 acres over the next two days." I am going to stop providing regular updates on this fire, but I will keep on eye on the Inciweb page to see what the fire is doing and report back here as appropriate.

Card Street Fire

The Card Street Fire remains at 7,352 acres burned with 25 percent containment as I write this update. Check out incident information in the Card Street from Inciweb. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports in a June 24th article about some of the difficulties wildland firefighters had fighting this fire.

Sockeye Fire

Good news on the Sockeye Fire. I see from yesterday's update (June 23rd) from Inciweb's Sockeye Fire page is at 90 percent containment. Acreage burned has been reduced to 7,220 acres after the completion of more mapping operations. Also see a June 23rd report on Alaska Wildland Fire Information

The Matanuska Susitna Bourough has completed damage assessment in the Borough; 55 residences were destroyed and 44 properties had some damage. See this report from Matanuska Susitan Bourough for more information.

I have no new information at the moment on the Tanana Slough (Dot Lake) Fire at the moment. The last update I have is the one I reported on below (on June 22nd) stating the fire was at 40 percent containment on June 20th.

I have been writing recently about some of the wildfires that have burned recently in Alaska, see for example my post of June 19th. I continue with this today. Please note that when I am refering to inciweb incident pages, that I am linking to the current page, which changes as these inciweb pages are updated, so there may a discrepency with the acreage that I report in an article and that listed on Inciweb, the latest acreage on Inciweb will be the correct acreage.

These are but four of many other fires burning in Alaska, for more information about the fires that I am not reporting on here, please see Alaska Wildland Fire Information, the Fire Information Map from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, and the latest daily situation report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center


June 22, 2015 3:30 PM EDT

Chisana River 2 Fire

At the time that I write this on Monday June 22nd at 3 PM EDT, Inciweb is reporting on their Chisana River 2 Fire incident page (last updated June 21st, about 8 PM EDT) that the fire has burned 28,889 acres in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, with an increase in acreage burned of about 18,00 acres since I last reported on the fire on June 19th. According to the incident overview:

The fire is burning in a limited protection area and no suppression efforts taken thus far. Federal land managers have opted to let the fire take its natural course, as fire in the boreal forest of Alaska is an essential process that restores ecosystem health and helps to maintain species diversity.

Card Street Fire

As of Monday, June 22nd (3 PM EDT) the Card Fire has burned 7,352 acres according to the latest incident information from Inciweb (updated about 2PM EDT on June 22nd) and is at 25 percent containment.

I thought you might enjoy these videos from the Alaska News Dispatch that they posted on Youtube. In addition to their great videos, the Alaska News Dispatch (ADN) is a good source of current information about any wildfires burning in and around Anchorage, AK. You will see an Airtanker and  helicopter with bucket working the fire in the first video. In the second video you will see ground crews doing a controlled burn. Both videos were uploaded on June 17, 2015.


direct link to ADN video on Youtube


direct link to ADN video on Youtube

Sockeye Fire

Wildland firefighters, assisted by Airtankers and Helicopters, have made progress. As I write this article at 3 PM on June 22nd, the Sockeye Fire is at 7 percent containment having burned 7,264 acres. Evacuations have been lifted and ground crews and aircraft are being released to other fires. The last Inciweb incident update for this fire was updated on June 22nd about 1 PM.

Here is a video from the Alaska News Dispatch you might enjoy.


direct link to ADN video on Youtube

Tanana Slough Fire (near Dot Lake)

The last update I have about this fire is from Alaska Wildland Fire Information on June 20, 2015 reporting that this 730 acre wildfire was at 40 percent containment on June 20th.

Alaska wildfires -- updates

June 24, 2015, 10:50 AM

Please note that when I am refering to inciweb incident pages, that I am linking to the current page, which changes as these inciweb pages are updated, so there may a discrepency with the acreage that I report in an article and that listed on Inciweb, the latest acreage on Inciweb will be the correct acreage.

Unfortunately, when I posted this on June 19th at both 10:15 AM and 4:20 PM, I probably failed to notice updates in acreage burned in the Chisana River 2 Fire, which as I write this update has burned 35,000 acres in the Wrangall-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, in a limited protection area. The latest information on this fire, which changes with each update, may be found on the Chisana River 2 Fire's incident page on Inciweb. I will make some more updates to this and the other wildfires in Alaska that I have been following here, in a little while.

June 19, 4:20 PM, EDT

Card Fire A little while ago I was on Inciweb and checked out their latest incident page on the Card Fire to find out that due to better mapping the current estimate of acreage burned is 7,578 acres. Both KTUU and KTVA have updated their reports to reflect the current estimate of 7,578 acres burned, both are stating that an official from the Alaska Division of Forestry provided an estimated acreage burned figure of 4,400 acres highers, perhaps in error.

No new updates on the Sockeye Fire, the Chisana River 2 Fire or the Tanana Slough Fire (Dot Lake) Fire.

June 19, 10:15 AM, EDT

I wrote about the Sockeye Fire (burning in Willow Alaska) on June 15 (with updates on June 16th and June 17th) and I wrote about the Card Fire burning near Sterling Alaska on the Kenai Pensulia on June 17th (along with the Tanana Slough Fire and the Chisana River 2 Fire). There are other wildfires currently burning in Alaska, I focus here on the ones that I have already written about. See Alaska Wildland Fire Information for information on these and other wildfires burning in Alaska

Wondering about the Airtankers from Canada and the United States working the wildfires in Alaska? Then you will want to see Bill Gabbert's reports on Fire Aviation. In a June 17th article Bill reports on Fire Aviation that Canada sent seven Air Tankers to Alaska with Alberta sending a Convair 580 and four CL-215Ts (scoopers) while British Columbia sent two Convair 580s. On June 18th, Bill reported in Fire Aviation that the three Air Tankers from the United States are in Alaska: RJ85 T-160 from Aero-Flite, BAe-146 T-10 from Neptune Aviation, and MD87 T-101 from Aero Air.

Card Fire

As I write this, the Card Fire both KTUU (with photos) and KTVA (with photos) (both are in Anchorage, Alaska) are reporting that the fire has burned 12,000 acres and is not contained. Evacuations are in places with reports that 11 structures have been burned. Firefighters on the ground have been aided by Airtanker and helicopters dropping on the fire. I have seen photos on both KTUU and KTVA of Neptune Aviations BAe-146 T-10 dropping on the fire and a helo and bucket. I expect that there are other tankers and helos working the fire.

Inciweb now has an incident page devoted to the Card Fire where as I write this the last update reports that the fire has burned 9,000 acres.


direct link to KTVA video on Youtube (published on June 17, 2015)


Sockeye Fire

Meanwhile the acreage burned by the Sockeye Fire has been reduced to 7,066 acres due to better mapping of the fire according to the latest update on Inciweb's incident page for the Sockeye Fire, the fire is at 5 percent containment. Also see reports on the Sockeye Fire from KTUU (with photos and a map) and KTVA (with photos and maps of the Sockeye Fire)

Chisana River 2 Fire in the Wrangaell-St.Elias National Park and Preserve has now burned 10,142 acres according to the latest report from Inciweb.

Finally, Alaska Wildland Fire Information reported on June 18th that the Tanana Slough Fire (Dot Lake has burned 718 acres and is 30 percent contained.

Other wildfires in Alaska

As I had been following the Sockeye wildfire near Willow Alaska (35 to 40 miles north of Anchorage), I got interested in some of the other wildfires currently burning in Alaska. So, I thought I'd write about some of the wildfires here.

I found information on the fires that I mention in this article from Alaska Wildland Fire Information, among other places. I also found information for somethe Card Street Fire and the fire burning near Dot Lake from the Alaska DNR - Division of Forestry Facebook page as well as the Alaska Interagency Management Team Facebook Page

Card Street Fire


direct link to video from KTVA on Youtube

The Card Street Fire started on the afternoon of June 15th, and as burned an estimated 2,000 acres to date. The Card Street Fire is burning near the town of Sterling on the Kenai Pensula about 55 miles southwest of Anchorage, evacuations are in place. I understand that Airtankers dropped on the fire.

• Alaska Wildland Fire Information (June 16th article) -- Card St. Fire
• I first learned about the Card Street Fire from Bill Gabbert's Wildfire Today on June 16th (that he has updated).
• Alaska Dispatch News has a nice article (with photos) on the Card Street Fire by Laurel Andrews, Megan Edge, and Alex DeMarban dated June 16, 2015
• KDVA 11 in Anchorage has a report on the fire (updated June 17th, 11 AM local time)with a video (embedded above), a map, and photos.

Tanana Slough Fire

The Tanana Slough Fire was started by lightning on Sunday June 14, 2015 according to the Alaska Wildland Fire Information report on June 16th. It is near Dot Lake, which is near Tok Alaska. Also see this article from the Alaska Republic. To date this fire has burned approximately 500 acres.

Chisana River 2 Fire

The Chisana River 2 Fire (25 miles west of Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada) in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park has burned 8,668 acres.

• Alaska Wildland Fire Information (June 16th article) - Chisana River 2 Fire
• Inciweb incident page for the Chisana River 2 Fire

Sockeye Fire near Willow Alaska

June 17 at 4:20 PM EDT
Both Inciweb and Alaska Wildland Fire Information (report of June 17th) are saying that 7,555 acres have burned to date. Updates from KTVA 11 (maps, photos, etc) and KTUU. As many as 50 residences may have been burned in the fire. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Alaska)  continues to have special page devoted to the Sockeye Fire (I don't know how long the Borough will maintain this webpage once the threat to their community is over). Evacuations continue, and there will be a community meeting tonight.

June 16, 2015 at 3:10 PM EDT
I have read reports that the Sockeye Fire was grown to between 7,500 and 7,600 acres. For example Sockeye Fire information available on the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center's Fire Information Mapping page (I clicked on "Sockeye Fire") reported earlier this morning that 7,512 acres have burned. You might also want to see the reporting of two media outlets in Anchorage, AK: KTTU reporting on Sockeye Fire and KTVA11's report on the Sockeye Fire. By the way, both of these media outlets have done a good job of reporting on the Sockeye Fire.

As I write this update, Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Alaska)  has a special page devoted to the Sockeye Fire, they reported earlier today (June 16th)  that the Alaska Division of Forestry estimates that the Sockeye fire has burned 7,585 acres.

There are some freely available pages on Facebook that some of you might be interested that have information on the Sockeye Fire:

• A Facebook page for the Sockeye Fire
• The Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team has a Facebook page. They report on the Sockeye Fire on their Facebook page as well as other wildfires in Alaska as well as other important news pertaining to wildfires in Alaska such as fire weather conditions.
• Alaska DNR of Forestry also reports on wildfires in Alaska including but not limited to the Sockeye Fire.
• Matanuska-Susitna Borough's Facebook page

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June 15, 2015 2 PM EDT

The Sockeye Fire near Willow Alaska (35 to 40 miles north of Anchorage Alaska in or near the Mat - Su Area Forest) was first reported about 1 PM (local time) on June 14, 2015, quickly burning 6,500 acres. I understand that evacuations are in place According to information obtained from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center's Fire Information Mapping page (I clicked on "Sockeye Fire") 45 structures have been burned including about 20 primary residences. Shelters for those who have evacuated have been set up. Helicopters with buckets, Single-Engine Airtankers (SEATs), and larger airtankers are working the fire. The latest information on the Sockeye Fire from inciweb may be found here.

CBS2-KTTU in Anchorage, AK is covering this wildfire. As I write this, their latest report (with a video and photographs) was posted on June 15, 2015 at 8 AM local time and may be found here. I found a report on the fire from NBC News dated June 15th (with video, photos, and updates), they report that crews from the lower 48 (United States) are on their way to Alaska to help fight this wildfire. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today is reporting on the fire in a June 15th post.

Alaska Smokejumpers

I was hoping to write a little more about the different types of smokejumper aircraft. As sometimes happens, I have to take a little more time to do some more research before I write my article. Sorry about that. I’m not going to take too long on this phase of my research, and it is my intention to post a second article next week, either on March 9 or March 11.

In the meantime, I have previously shared videos about Alaska Smokejumpers on December 28, 2012 (SJ training) and on January 2, 2013 (2012 season). I found some more videos about Alaska Smokejumpers that I want to share with you to share with you from the Alaska Film Archives. They have a collection of nine videos showcasing Alaska Smokejumpers, I am sharing three with you.

Air to air video of Alaska smokejumpers jumping from a Volpar aircraft (1986)



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Alaska smokejumpers exiting airplanes (2005)



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Wildfire and retardant drops from Alaska Smokejumpers collection (1985-1996)



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wildland firefighters: smokejumpers in action

Smokejumpers in action working a wildfire in Alaska during the 2012 season



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Wildland Firefighting: smokejumper training in AK

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Smokejumpers in Alaska

I found this cool video just now on youtube looking for videos. It was shot in June 2012 over the course of three hours as Smokejumpers from Alaska and Montana fought Fire 225 in Alaska. For more on the video please go and see the information page.