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Alaska’s wildfire season is reportedly setting records.
According to FOX Weather, June marked the second-worst on record for acres burned.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Anchorage said this year saw the driest May to June on record.
“This, coupled with the more than 67,000 lightning strikes across Alaska this month, are big factors in why we’ve had 507 wildfires burn 2.7 million acres across the state so far this year,” the BLM Alaska Fire Service wrote on Facebook. “Of that number, 239 are lightning-caused fires that have burned a total of 2.7 million acres.”
INTENTIONAL FIRES HELPED SAVE YOSEMITE SEQUOIAS FROM WILDFIRE, ECOLOGIST SAYS
Smoke billows from Alaska’s Troublesome Fire. The Troublesome Fire has burned more than 12,000 acres.
(Idaho Interagency Type 3 Team #1/BLM Alaska Fire Service)
Two of the larger wildfires – the East Fork and the Lime Complex – were responsible for burning more than a million acres.
On Monday, rain aided firefighters battling the lightning-sparked Clear Fire, which has been burning near the community of Anderson.
Evacuation orders were in place for all properties accessed by roads, trails or driveways on the west side of the Parks Highway from mileposts 269 to 275.
In this photo provided by Eric Kiehn, Northwest Incident Management Team 10, Alaska Division of Forestry, a fixed-wing aircraft drops water on the Clear Fire near Anderson, Alaska, July 6, 2022.
(Eric Kiehn, Northwest Incident Management Team 10, Alaska Division of Forestry via AP)
CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS MAKE PROGRESS ON YOSEMITE WILDFIRE THREATENING SEQUOIAS
“It’s not really like a season-ending type of rain, it’s more like a slowing,” said a spokesperson for the wildfire, Mark Enty.
He said that at least one home was lost.
An aerial view of the KichatnaFire taken the evening of June 6, 2022, by the Alaska Division of Forestry.
(Alaska Division of Forestry)
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) has predicted a reduction of fire potential in the late summer and fall across the state.
The agency says nearly 6,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents.
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On Tuesday, the National Multi-agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) increased the national preparedness level to PL3 due to “significant fire activity increasing in multiple geographic areas and more competition for national resources.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
