Denali National Park has closed to visitors due to the rapidly spreading Riley Fire near its entrance, prompting evacuations and a significant firefighting response.
Twenty-three of the 25 fires so far this year were ignited by human activity. While this year’s heavy snowpack and cold spring pushed back the start to fire season in many parts of the state, climate change is generally causing an earlier snowmelt, said climatologist Rick Thoman.
On Tuesday night, the state of Alaska saw thousands of lightning strikes. “Most of the 3,800 lightning strikes were concentrated in the Northwest Arctic,” said BLM Alaska Fire Service spokeswoman Beth Ipsen. There are several communities in close proximity to new fires.
Two individuals died in separate fires in Mat-Su, with one victim found outside his home after escaping the blaze, potentially succumbing to extreme cold.
A fast-moving wildfire near Elliot Highway in Fairbanks, Alaska, has led to a Level 3 evacuation order for residents, with the fire rapidly growing to over a thousand acres.
The fire also comes as the state of Alaska enters its second highest level of fire preparedness, based on the high number of wildfires burning statewide and the possibility for more.
A fire destroyed a Peter Pan Seafoods facility in Sand Point, Alaska, causing a pervasive smell of burning plastic from fishing gear stored on-site.
The smoke is from numerous wildfires burning in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Ketchikan became the first city in Alaska to hit 80 degrees this year on Saturday, as three other cities in Southeast Alaska also set temperature records.
More than 1,000 firefighters are suppressing wildfires across Interior Alaska, and about a third of them are working out of a temporary incident command post set up at the Deltana Fairgrounds in Delta Junction. The focus will be on the 47,000-acre Pogo Mine Road Fire.
There were 4,500 lightning strikes in Alaska Tuesday — the latest in a run of days with thousands of ground strikes. There were also another 13 new, primarily lightning sparked wildfires in the state Tuesday, mostly in the Interior. The lightning storms have coincided with very dry conditions.
The Alaska Division of Forestry is warning Alaskans in the Southcentral region of the state about high fire danger.
Less snow than usual fell in the area this winter. It melted early, exposing the tundra. A steady wind has dried the vegetation, and hardly any precipitation has fallen since early March. Thoman said that with no rain and abundant sunshine, the tundra has remained brown and dry. The fire still is not threatening the community of Kwethluk or any Native allotments.
Parts of Interior and Southcentral Alaska will see poor air quality as a result of wildfires this week, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation warned on Tuesday.
A five-acre fire destroyed one home in Haines and spread to State Forest land Monday night. The National Forest Service is flying in Tuesday evening to aid the local volunteer fire department.
Fairbanks' May 10 temperature was two degrees below the daily record, while snow melt from an above-normal year is flooding Interior rivers.
Wet weather has brought much-needed relief to the ongoing effort to control the McHugh Creek fire in southeast Anchorage. Listen now
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