A wildfire caused by lightning in the interior is burning near the Village of Dot Lake. The Tanana Slough Fire has burned about 500 acres on an island in the Tanana River. The island is about three miles north of the small Native community off the Alaska Highway near Tok. Area state forester Jeff Hermans says suppression efforts are aimed at keeping the fire on the island.
“Not let it escape out of the slough where theres lots of fuels in front of it in either direction. And so far we’ve been successful in that, it’s tried spotting out a couple of times and we’re able to keep the fire in check.”
Hermans says firefighters hope to conduct a burn out operation to consume fuels on the island when winds are favorable.
Meanwhile, another wildfire is burning in the Yukon Flats, near Ft. Yukon.
The Back Yukon Slough blaze had burned about 40 acres as of Monday night. The human caused fire was about 20 miles northwest of the village. The Alaska Interagency Coordination Center reports that 14 smoke jumpers are working the blaze.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
