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

Rural blog

The Village is a Daily News blog about life and politics in rural Alaska. Its main author is ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins. Come here for breaking news on village issues, plus interviews, videos and photos. But that's just part of the story. We want to feature your pictures, videos and stories, too. Think of The Village as your bulletin board. E-mail us anything you’d like to share with the rest of Alaska -- your letters to the editor, the photos of your latest hunt or video of your latest potlatch. (We love video.)

Contributor

Kyle Hopkins

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.

Send a message

Twitter feed

Features

READER-SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Life in Rural Alaska

Post your photos from the Bush and check out what others are sending in.

Post a photo from Rural Alaska

STORY

Fourth-grade whale hunter

A nine-year-old delivered the killing blow to a 32-foot bowhead whale in Barrow.

AUDIO SLIDE SHOW

Relocating Newtok

Residents of the Yup'ik Eskimo village and military reservists on site discuss Newtock's relocation.

Story: Clock ticks on Newtok

VIDEO

Coping with suicide

Willie Ballot, of Selawik, describes life after his daughter's suicide.

Photos: Remembering the Suicides

PHOTOS

Kotzebue in April

While Southcentral Alaska enjoyed warm and sunny April days, in Kotzebue snow and winter-weather maintained.

Rural blog: The Village

Fire near McGrath hits more than 21,000 acres

Posted by thevillage

Posted: May 28, 2009 - 11:32 am

Comments (0) |

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.

login or register to post comments

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

Replica Watches

Tudor japan Watches 2009 New Arrival vintage watches jewelry Heuer Watches Gucci timex Watches Louis Vuitton shanghai Watches Chopard buyer Watches Rado movado Watches Cartier fake Watches toy Heuer Watches Piaget movado Watches

login or register to post comments | flag this »

By submitting your comment, you are agreeing to adn.com's user agreement.

UPDATE ON COMMENTS POLICY: Read before posting

Edit your profile and avatar »