A grass fire near Wasilla was reported by a pilot about 3:00 pm Wednesday. The fire had burned into the trees and had spread to about 15 acres later in the afternoon, according to state fire information officer Norm McDonald:
“Right now we have a fairly good response to there with cooperators the Mat-Su Borough, and division of forestry is our heli-tac crew and air tanker, two engines and a hand crew enroute. If we get those folks on there and utilize their resources, we are hoping to catch it before it gets a significant spread.”
McDonald says the fire is burning to the North, and Northwest, near Schrock Road. Winds in the area are 5 to 10 miles and hour, with stronger gusts. He says there are several buildings to the East of the fire, but there are no residences in the immediate vicinity.
A fifteen-man crew is responding to the blaze. McDonald says no cause of the fire has been determined yet.
Conditions in the Mat-Su are extremely dry, and on Tuesday night, McDonald spoke to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly to inform the public about new state permitting requirements for burn barrels.
The fire is burning in black spruce near logging trails in the area known as Meadow Lakes. Buckets of water are being dropped by helicopter, according to Mat-Su Borough emergency services director Bill Gamble. An air tanker has dropped retardant and is returning for more.
Air traffic restrictions are in place to keep pilots away from the fire. This latest wild-land fire has been named Sunrise Fire.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
