A concerning forecast for statewide wildfire danger has local, state and federal authorities in Alaska’s largest city working on projects to mitigate the threat, including cutting a major fire break through one of Anchorage’s largest areas of parkland.
The work will span just over 3 miles of Campbell Airstrip Road, between Anchorage Fire Department Station 14 and the Basher Drive trailhead, the fire department said in a statement. Under a contract approved Tuesday by the Anchorage Assembly, workers will clear potential wildfire fuels, including spruce and hardwood stands as well as ladder fuels, 150 feet out from each side of the road.
Early forecasts from the National Weather Service call for significant wildfire risk In Alaska.
“The outlook for the wildfire season so far for 2025 has been consistently demonstrating that we are expecting a very busy and heavy wildfire season statewide,” said Stephanie Dufek, the fire department’s wildland-urban interface project manager.
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Trees around Anchorage are already drying out after a winter with relatively low snowfall, Dufek said. With little snow remaining on the ground, the periods during which different fuels are available to wildfires – a “grass season” followed by a “timber season” – are beginning to overlap.
“This year, because of the low snowpack, we're moving from one right into the other, and really it's in the same season,” Dufek said. “So we have that risk right now that if grass catches fire, it could spread into timber.”
The Wildfire Division was recently formed in October, funded entirely by a federal grant from the U.S. Forest Service, Dufek said. Although the division is working on other mitigation efforts around town, Dufek said the Stuckagain Heights neighborhood near Campbell Airstrip poses unique challenges to wildfire responders.
“Campbell Airstrip Road is the only means residents of Stuckagain Heights have to evacuate,” Dufek said. “It is also the only way that responders can access a fire on that side of the Hillside. So a shaded fuel break, which is what this is, will allow for safer access and egress.”
Numerous stakeholders have been consulted about the project, Dufek said, and the fire department has received letters of support from the Basher Community Council and the municipal Parks and Recreation Commission. Staff have met with affected landowners, as well as state Department of Fish and Game officials, she said.
Clearing the road’s fire break will begin in the next few weeks and is expected to be completed within six months, Dufek said, at an estimated federal cost of $400,000 to $500,000. The break won’t remove all trees and plants.
“We're going to remove all standing dead and downed trees within that area,” she said. “And we want to remove all the low-level fuels up to eight feet from ground level. So basically just clearing that ground floor of the dead and downed trees, and then limbing up the trees to around eight feet from that ground.”
Fewer trees will be removed from areas near two forks of Campbell Creek that flow beneath the road, as well as a curvy stretch of the road where residents asked that trees be left to stop out-of-control vehicles. Dufek said that after consulting with Fish and Game, crews will also minimize disrupting known habitat for moose, bears and smaller animals in the area.
Residents may see lane closures during the work, Dufek said, but the road shouldn’t be blocked entirely. In addition to greater wildfire safety, residents will see another benefit: free firewood, for which the department will announce availability as the work proceeds.
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Dufek said other projects include mitigation work with Parks and Recreation at Forsythe Park, on Birch Road south of O’Malley Road. Work is also slated to start early next month on a project in the Hilltop area, in conjunction with the state Division of Forestry.
Updates will be available on the fire department’s project website. Dufek said the department will also hold a town hall meeting on wildfire preparedness, set for 6:30 p.m. May 19 at the Loussac Library.
Fire department spokeswoman Megan Peters said urban fires have also picked up recently in Anchorage, with crews responding to five residential fires last weekend. No humans were hurt, but a dog died in one fire and responders gave oxygen to a cat after another.
Peters said the department has information about mitigating wildfire dangers posted on the Wildfire Division’s website, including how to create fire breaks around a home. Doing so, she said, protects not only private property but the community as well.
“It's also about making it so it's harder for a home fire to spread outward,” she said.
Military officials on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson plan to start controlled wildfire-mitigation burns beginning Saturday in ranges of the Richardson Training Area, off the Glenn Highway near Eagle River. Drivers may see smoke plumes in the area.
