June 21, 2007

• Wildfire Update

  Doug and I did a water run this afternoon, and stopped by a local general store.  From our firsthand observations, what we heard at the store, and the local news on radio after we returned home, here is the situation:

  Last night’s heat lightning sparked 14 wildfires in the Susitna Valley.  It was probably also instrumental in the system-wide power outage that lasted from just before midnight until almost four AM.  With Xanga down and the power off, I really felt disconnected, kept waking up and asking Doug for updates.

  Some of the smaller fires have been contained.  The largest fire, north of here at Trapper Lake, now covers about five thousand acres.  Another one, west of here near the Susitna River, cannot be reached by land-based fire-fighting methods and is being doused with river water picked up by helicopter-borne buckets.

  We don’t have enough local resources to handle the situation.  Fire crews are being sent up here from the Lower 48.

  No matter which way the wind blows, or if it grows calm, we are going to be living under a pall of smoke for a while.  Health authorities are advising the elderly, small children, and people (like me) with heart or lung conditions, to remain indoors with windows closed, and to avoid strenuous activities.  Now that we have a supply of water, I can stop doing strenuous stuff for a while, but I don’t think I could survive the heat if we closed the windows again.

  We were parked at the spring for half an hour or less, and in that time an observable coating of ash accumulated on the car, including some pieces like inch-long strings and flakes as big as sunflower seeds with the shells on.  It looks like this out there now:

   

  

  

  

  

  • 11:01 pm
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