Rural Alaska blog: The Village : Fire near McGrath hits more than 21,000 acres

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I was born in Sitka, have lived in Kake, Skagway and Fairbanks and joined the ADN in 2005 after writing for the Anchorage Press and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. I started blogging for the paper in 2006 with The Trail, our blog about the governor's race. Then came the Alaska Politics blog. Now I'm covering government and rural affairs and live in Anchorage with my wife, Rebecca. (Update: Our daughter Alice was born May 31. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.) E-mail me at khopkins@adn.com and find me on Twitter at twitter.com/ADNVillage.

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Rural blog: The Village

Fire near McGrath hits more than 21,000 acres

Posted by thevillage

Posted: May 28, 2009 - 11:32 am

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The Broken Snowhoe fire at 8 p.m. Monday. Department of Natural Resources photo

Firefighters estimate the Broken Snowshoe fire burning north of McGrath had grown to more than 21,000 acres as of late last night.

That's about 10,000 acres larger than estimates from the night before. Winds fanned the flames Wednesday, expanding the wildfire to the east, said Andy Alexandrou, public information officer for the Department of Natural Resources.

"Bottom line is, they lost a little bit of ground yesterday," Alexandrou said.

The fire grew Wednesday, but at least part of the increased estimates are due to firefighters using a digital mapping system that gives them a better picture of the size and location of the fire, he said. Officials now estimate the blaze is about 2.5 miles from McGrath — closer than originally reported.

Alexandrou said it’s still unlikely the fire will reach the town of roughly 300 people, which sits across the Kuskokwim River from the burn. But there is a slight risk, he said.

"It went from 10 percent (contained) two days ago to 0 percent as of last night," Alexandrou said.

As many as 20 dwellings are threatened in the area, along with another 13 outbuildings, he said.

Firefighters are concentrating on the fire’s southern perimeter, closest to McGrath, and on the eastern edge where people built cabins along the Kuskokwim River.

Two fire crews are also protecting a homestead – including livestock – along the Takotna River on the western perimeter of the fire. The homestead is about half a mile from the flames.

Dry, brown grass and black spruce trees with limbs that reach into the tundra are fueling the fire, Alexandrou said. "Green up hasn’t occurred here … so we don’t have green shoots of grass coming up out of the tundra to blend in with dead grass from last year."

The fire is the largest of a series of wildfires started by lightning Sunday and Monday. Firefighters are also battling a 1,900-acre fire about 20 miles southeast of Sleetmute and a 235-acre fire roughly 12 miles from Lime Village, which they expected to have under control this morning.

The fires aren’t considered to be a threat to Lime Village or Sleetmute, Alexandrou said.

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1 July 9, 2009 - 9:38pm | boling1525

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