Small Wildfires Push Smoky Haze Toward Fairbanks

[Mike]

FAIRBANKS — A handful of Interior wildfires, some burning east of Fairbanks and some west, have left a sheet of smoke hanging over town through the holiday weekend.

Fire managers said Saturday’s smoke was coming from fires burning southwest of town, along the edges of the Minto Flats State Game Refuge. The fires posed no major risk to heavily populated areas, said Robert Schmoll, a manager with the state Division of Forestry.

The state sent a helicopter crew Friday and a squad of emergency firefighters Saturday to manage a 300-acre fire in the Minto Flats area, Schmoll said.

Among the wildfires burning southwest of Fairbanks are the Bear Creek, Bear Lake and Minto Flats South fires, Schmoll said. The Bear Creek Fire, the largest, covered almost 16,000 acres as of Saturday afternoon, according to Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

The smoke over Fairbanks earlier this weekend likely came from the other direction: northeast of Fairbanks, specifically from the Little Black One Fire and smaller, nearby blazes, the coordination center reported.

“Unfortunately, smoke is expected to remain in the area until at least mid-week due to the current stagnant weather pattern and numerous wildland fires currently burning,” fire managers said in an agency news release.

There were 57 wildfires burning across the state as of Saturday, and a total of 334 had been reported this season, according to the coordination center. Almost two-thirds of those were caused my human activity, with the bulk of the remainder sparked by lightning, the agency reported. Four were staffed by firefighters as of Saturday afternoon.