Alaska News

Crews control small wildfire on Kenai Peninsula as fire danger increases

Wildland firefighters and local emergency responders responded Tuesday evening to a small fire that started in road construction debris near Cooper Landing.

Crews brought the fire under control Tuesday night and were working Wednesday to extinguish hot spots and clean up the area, said Sam Harrel, an information officer with the Alaska Division of Forestry.

No homes were threatened.

The fire, first reported around 5:30 p.m., started when a pile of chipped woody debris left over from the ongoing construction for a Cooper Landing highway bypass ignited, Harrel said. Crews from Cooper Landing Emergency Services were first to respond to the fire at Mile 46.5 of the Sterling Highway, the department wrote online.

The fire was burning in slash on the south part and timber on the north side, according to an Alaska Interagency Coordination Center update Wednesday.

The blaze began on Kenai Peninsula Borough land and spread to U.S. Forest Service land, covering about 2.5 acres overall, Harrel said. Crews from the U.S. Forest Service, state and local agencies worked to control the fire, he said.

A wildland firefighting crew based in Fairbanks arrived and helped control the fire into Tuesday night, Harrel said. “They were able to stop its forward progression last night and get a line around it before they called it a day.”

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The fire is considered human-caused because there was no lightning in the area, officials say. It’s not clear how it started.

A fire sparked by lightning in 2019 burned 170,000 acres in the same area, fouling air across the Peninsula and into Anchorage, triggering public complaints about lost business and recreational opportunities during the short summer season.

Fire conditions throughout the Kenai Peninsula are especially dangerous right now, Harrel said, because of limited rain and high winds.

A burn suspension began Tuesday for the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Kodiak Island. The suspension puts a stop to all burning that would normally require a permit, Harrel said, but small campfires are still allowed.

“People just need to be safe,” he said. “We’re right at this critical point where we’re losing our snow but we haven’t hit green-up yet. And the weather’s nice and people are anxious to get outdoors, but people need to be careful with their outdoor activities. Don’t be the one that sparks a fire.”

Tess Williams

Tess Williams is a reporter focusing on breaking news and public safety. Before joining the ADN in 2019, she was a reporter for the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota. Contact her at twilliams@adn.com.

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