Walt Longmire Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 It started June 3rd by lightning strike. It's up to 60,000 acres and no end in sight. Luckily we have not had big winds. In 2014 the Funny River fire moved 20 miles in 2 days and covered 250,000 acres. My grandson spent yesterday and last night mopping up on the back burn that was lit to keep the fire on the north side of the Sterling Hwy. 10 day forecast is for more hot and dry weather. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 This one is the Swan Lake Fire if you care to look it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dric902 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 Haven’t heard a thing about it stay safe bro . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dric902 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 https://heavy.com/news/2019/06/swan-lake-fire-map/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 5 hours ago, Dric902 said: Haven’t heard a thing about it stay safe bro . Yeah I remember being in the lower 48, east coast actually while the Kenai Peninsula was burning up in 14. Not a damn thing on the news about our 250 sq mile fire, but big news flashes about a tiny 10,000 acre fire in Colorado. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadbart Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 I have a coworker who returned to work after vacationing on the Peninsula this week. She said the smoke obscured some of the view, and that her husband's allergies got the best of him the last 2 days of the trip. She also said that I didn't come near explaining the vastness and beauty well enough. They were both speechless, even after I warned them that AK is special. She brought me a box of Pilot Bread, an AlaskaLife sticker, and some local hooch. Y'all please don't burn up- pondering a Fall 2020 return to the Great Land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 Alaska Life stickers are a thing. I wonder if your coworker got the hooch from my ex gf. She makes some good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadbart Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 @Walt Longmire it's impolite to ask from where came the sauce. I have friends in the hobby, as well. Perhaps If I make a roadtrip outta AK one day, I'll bring a bit to share in a windshield washer jug. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonny Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 (edited) 4DDA7BA7-94BC-4EB2-BC59-78F1B184ED7A.MOV Edited June 30, 2019 by Zonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huaco Kid Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 I'm going to assume that Alaska just lets them burn and mostly tries to contain / direct them. Just a hunch. (If California would subscribe to that theory, they likely wouldn't have all the major problems when a hillside should catch fire.) (they vehemently want everything to be 100% natural and undisturbed; until it comes to fighting a natural fire. Then we immediately have to put it out. And then it's Trump's fault.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonny Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Made it!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huski92 Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Good luck. Tell your grandson to be safe. I do structural firefighting. That wild land stuff is a whole different game. And hard. Those guys get all of my respect. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 3 hours ago, Huaco Kid said: I'm going to assume that Alaska just lets them burn and mostly tries to contain / direct them. Just a hunch. (If California would subscribe to that theory, they likely wouldn't have all the major problems when a hillside should catch fire.) (they vehemently want everything to be 100% natural and undisturbed; until it comes to fighting a natural fire. Then we immediately have to put it out. And then it's Trump's fault.) Depends on where it is. Whether structures are threatened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 Last nights report put the fire at 63,000 acres and growing. 80 degree temps and wind expected to pick up tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Was 70 plus when I got up at 6 am and the wind is kicking up. Super dry and the forecast is for 80 degrees for the next several days. No rain at all in the 10 day forecast. This high pressure is camped out over Alaska. I fully expect another big fire before this is over. The place is a tinder box. I'm sticking close to home in case I need to protect my place. I have a fire plan and have done 'fire wise' around my property. Plus I am an experienced wildland fire fighter. I have heavy equipment. I put a plug in the wiring to my water well so I can run the well off my generator if the power is cut to the area like they did a couple years ago in the Kenai Keys fire. Folks with generators or pumps they could use to pump water from the river were able to save their places. Other not so much. I don't plan to be more than a few minutes from my house until this is over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Stick Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Yep Swan lake is getting big. So is the one up in FBKs. Im expecting to spend the 4th slinging water buckets at this one, same as we did in your neck of the woods in ‘14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 8 minutes ago, AK_Stick said: Yep Swan lake is getting big. So is the one up in FBKs. Im expecting to spend the 4th slinging water buckets at this one, same as we did in your neck of the woods in ‘14 I saw that evacuation plans for parts of Fairbanks are being readied. Swan Lake is over 68,000 as of last night. Wind is picking up. I hope that south and west line hold. Let me know if you make it down this way. I'll beer you and lay you on some moose honey bbq sticks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Stick Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonny Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) I’m going to try my video again. I can’t make it work for some reason. Let me know if you can or cannot open it, please. For some reason, I can view it on my phone but not my computer 70F8D799-7B93-4DEB-A223-1071DFA57421.MOV Edited June 30, 2019 by Zonny 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Over 70,000 last night and still growing. Had another new fire near the Kenai and Killy rivers but choppers dropping water got it contained before it got out of hand. I fully expect more of this with the weather we are having, and the fact that some people don't have enough good sense to poor piss out of a boot before they put it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted July 2, 2019 Author Share Posted July 2, 2019 10 day forecast has not changed. The fire is now nearly 80,000 acres. Wind change is expected tomorrow that will test the south and west fire lines that are protecting Sterling. I plan to spend much of today doing more to prep my place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazy R Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 Best of luck, Walt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted July 2, 2019 Author Share Posted July 2, 2019 31 minutes ago, Lazy R said: Best of luck, Walt. Thanks. I went out and completed 2 of my fire prep jobs already this morning before 8. Only another dozen or so to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dric902 Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 5 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said: Thanks. I went out and completed 2 of my fire prep jobs already this morning before 8. Only another dozen or so to go. Are you gonna stay? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted July 2, 2019 Author Share Posted July 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Dric902 said: Are you gonna stay? . There was a fire that moved through the area where I built my house years ago. In the 70's. It has grown up to mostly birch trees. It would slow a fire down and not be as volatile as the spruce forests the Swan Lake fire is consuming. I have good fire breaks and have more than an acre cleared and down to grass. Yes, I would stay....and fight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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