The 2024 fire season in Alaska was compressed, with most of the area burned occurring in a few weeks in June and the first days of July. The total area burned was higher than most recent years but far below 2019 and 2022. During this webinar we will review two wildfires that impacted communities in interior Alaska and what went into the responses. The McDonald fire ignited on June 8th in a remote part of the Tanana Flats Military Training Area, about 31 miles southeast of Fairbanks. At first, the fire did not pose a threat to life or structures but the smoke impacted Fairbanks and other communities in the region. When the fire grew and burned outside the military range, a substantial effort was made to protect a cluster of remote recreational cabins. Later in the season, the Riley Creek Fire ignited near the entrance to Denali National Park during the peak of the tourist season and had an immediate impact on visitors, community members and businesses. We will discuss what goes into the interagency response to different fires like these.
Register for this online event at the ACCAP website - https://uaf-accap.org/event/wildfire_review_2024/