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20 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said:

This will be smoldering long into winter, and parts of it will likely winter over.

That just amazes me. 

For those that would like a taste of the beauty that is Cooper Landing: 

 

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Fire has burned all the way to Skilak Lake. There is 15 miles of vehicles stopped on the highway and getting longer. My grandson is in that snarl trying to get back to the Peninsula to fight fire. We had 3 other fires today in very windy conditions. Luckily all 3 were contained, but just learned of another that just started at Anchor Point. Crews enroute. We have large fires going in the Matsu Valley. Resources are stretched thin. More crews incoming from the lower 48. Lots of competition for air tankers and choppers. I imagine Stick is in a chopper on a fire right now.

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Thankfully the winds have died down. Have not seen a new size estimate yet, but I'm gonna guess this fire is way over 130,000 acres now. The new fire in Anchor Point is still not under control. Up north of Anchorage in the Valley there is a fire burning on both sides of the Parks highway that has consumed a whole bunch of buildings and vehicles near Casswell Lakes. Still no rain in the 10 day forecast. I'm keeping my lawn and surrounding vegetation watered.  

Grandson found a place to spend the night in Seward rather than sleeping in his pickup out on the highway. Sterling highway is still closed. It is our only road between the Peninsula and Anchorage. Glad I have a pantry full off food and a freezer full of moose and salmon. 

I have friends in Sterling that posted pics last night where the fire made a run to Skilak Lake. You could see the flames from their deck. Fortunately the Card Rd fire a few years ago created a burned out area to the East of Sterling.

Alaska has about 700,000 acres actively on fire. That is way more than all the fires in the lower 48. I believe we are currently running at #3 for the worst fire season ever in the state. In 2015 Alaska burned over 5 MILLION acres. 

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21 hours ago, Zonny said:

That just amazes me. 

For those that would like a taste of the beauty that is Cooper Landing: 

 

Nice video. Everything in that video is quite familiar to me. Been down the river many times. Worked on the highway. Hunted there. Been inside most of the businesses and all the restaurants. Hiked the trails. Camped in the mountains.

Thanks for sharing.

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The most recent estimate on the Swan Lake fire that I have seen is just about what I stated earlier. 128,000 acres and growing. The North Fork fire at Anchor Point is also growing but still small. Level 1 evacuation warning for some residents. Pretty smoky at my house 20 miles from Swan Lake today, but worse in Anchorage. Sterling highway is open again.

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7 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

Thankfully the winds have died down. Have not seen a new size estimate yet, but I'm gonna guess this fire is way over 130,000 acres now. The new fire in Anchor Point is still not under control. Up north of Anchorage in the Valley there is a fire burning on both sides of the Parks highway that has consumed a whole bunch of buildings and vehicles near Casswell Lakes. Still no rain in the 10 day forecast. I'm keeping my lawn and surrounding vegetation watered.  

Grandson found a place to spend the night in Seward rather than sleeping in his pickup out on the highway. Sterling highway is still closed. It is our only road between the Peninsula and Anchorage. Glad I have a pantry full off food and a freezer full of moose and salmon. 

I have friends in Sterling that posted pics last night where the fire made a run to Skilak Lake. You could see the flames from their deck. Fortunately the Card Rd fire a few years ago created a burned out area to the East of Sterling.

Alaska has about 700,000 acres actively on fire. That is way more than all the fires in the lower 48. I believe we are currently running at #3 for the worst fire season ever in the state. In 2015 Alaska burned over 5 MILLION acres. 

50 structures and camp caswell last night alone. 

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5 hours ago, Zonny said:

Read a few articles in the Clarion today (until they cut me off). The possibility of Gwin's and Wildman's not being there the next time I drive through, sickens me.

 

The hwy is closed again. The parts of the fire that made a run to Skilak have now turned back towards the hwy again. 138,000 acres and still growing. Had a new fire near Homer yesterday, but now there is ANOTHER. Both growing. North Fork fire and Caribou Lake fire. 

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15 hours ago, Zonny said:

Read a few articles in the Clarion today (until they cut me off). The possibility of Gwin's and Wildman's not being there the next time I drive through, sickens me.

 

Check out the pics of the Casswell Lodge that burnt in the McKinley fire. 50 plus structure lost there so far. Very smoky here today. Air quality advisor says "unhealthy." The Sterling Highway remains shut down. Those procrastinators with a 2-3 day supply of food will be bumming soon. I need to make a run into Kenai today and plan to have a look at store shelves. My bet would be that even though some traffic got through yesterday, that the produce aisles are looking pretty sad. It has happened before. The Alcan was closed several years ago for fires in Canada, and the grocery stores were really lacking inventory.

The Swan Lake Fire has been burning since the first week of June, although for most of July and early August smoke was the main issue. The highway was only closed briefly when they were doing back burns to prevent the fire from crossing the highway.

Things are so dry around here the birch and cottonwood trees are losing their leaves already. 

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19 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

Bad deal. I saw a KW with the drive tires on fire and wondered why no one moved it to a safer area. I have my stuff parked in the open at my pit and shop.

That was camp caswell, I’m not sure if it was drivable, but it blew through there pretty quick. May have evacuated before they had a chance to move it.  

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There are tourists still arriving here that are completely clueless that Alaska is ON FIRE. I read about a couple that brought up an entire wedding party only to find out the place they had scheduled the wedding at had burned to the ground. They had no idea until they arrived. Hundreds of fires burning in Alaska and apparently it doesn't make the news in the lower 48. But a fire of a few hundred acres down there will be on the national news. Go figure.

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But a fire of a few hundred acres down there will be on the national news. Go figure.

Don’t be butt hurt, Ross. We have several fires every year. The only one I remember seeing on National news was 130k acres that burned for a couple of months this summer. ‘Twas nothing to Poohoo. 

Edited by Zonny
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I don't suppose that anyone realizes that the fires in Alaska are being totally ignored, but fires in the rest of the world are a crisis.  That because of it's fires, Brazil is being threatened by many nations for not stopping their fire.

What the hell is wrong with Alaska that millions of acres of burning forests are inconsequential when compared to other countries.  Now you see the value liberals place on their own country.

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On 7/2/2019 at 2:33 PM, Walt Longmire said:

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.

Good luck..  I wish you folks well...

Dave..

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1 hour ago, DrB said:

Good luck..  I wish you folks well...

Dave..

Running sprinklers again today. We have only had 2" of rain all summer and none in the forecast. The Swan Lake fire is still growing and now stands at about 150,000 acres. My grandson is out there fighting it right now. Long hitch. It's so dry out where I hunt moose that most hunters are staying home. Giant dust clouds on every gravel or dirt road. 

The fire kicked up yesterday and moved 3 miles in about an hour. The highway has only been open sporadically with pilot cars, and often only 1 lane open. To add to the fire mess, that entire stretch of road is under major reconstruction this summer already. I haven't been to the grocery store to see what things look like there, but in the past when events like this happened, the shelves began to look a little sparse. Everything comes in by truck......on that one road.

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1 hour ago, janice6 said:

We don’t have the facilities to reload that tanker in a timely manner. 

 

Secondly, when they tested them up here, we found that the mega tankers had trouble getting in low to drop water when many of our fires are in the mountains and valleys between them where the smaller, more maneuverable planes can get in and back out. 

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