State wildfire officials report a rare winter incident in Delta Junction. An Alaska Division of Forestry post said a 20 by 50 ft. fire was called in by passerby December 20th, who spotted the burn on trails behind the Delta High School.
Delta area state fire management officer Mike Goyette said 20 to 30 trees burned, noting that the fire also burned down to mineral soil, evident of this season’s very dry conditions.
Goyette suspects the fire resulted from an abandoned campfire and cautions that even with snow on the ground people need to treat campfires the same as they do during the summer, and completely extinguish them before leaving. He said in the winter that means stirring snow through coals until they are cold.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
