Canadian Firefighters Arrive to Aid in Alaska Wildfires
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 18 (UPI) — Alaska’s officials issued a ban on fireworks and open burning in the central and interior regions of the state as wildfires continue Thursday.
Hundreds of firefighters from across the country and Canada are trying to battle two major wildfires that have spawned some 53 smaller blazes, “which in Alaska terms is not the end of the world, but business is certainly picking up,” said Pete Buist of Alaska’s Division of Forestry. The firefighters are working to beat back the fires quickly, he said.
“The idea is, if we can kick things when they’re small, then they don’t get big and expensive,” Buist said.
Hundreds who have been evacuated are anxiously awaiting word to get back to their homes to see the damages. So far, up to 100 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
The most recent round of wildfires began Monday, with a one-acre blaze quickly spreading across 640 acres near the town of Sterling in the Kenai Peninsula. By Wednesday, a second fire, which began as a two-acre blaze, spread across 6,500 acres in a town about an hour outside Anchorage.
So far this year, 78,000 acres have burned in 280 fires in Alaska, which is considered lower than average.
“Early in the season, we have a lot of fires that are human caused, and then as the season progresses, we get into the time of year when lightning is common,” Buist told KTOO. “And that happens, frankly, about now; it’s actually a little late this year.”
In 2004, Alaska’s record-high fire season, about seven million acres burned.
