Winds give Alaska firefighters a break

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Southwest winds pushed wildfire away from the community of Central, then calmed, allowing firefighters on Saturday to reinforce lines of defense.

Winds gusting to 20 miles per hour kicked up Friday afternoon, fire information officer Smitty Parratt said from the headquarters for the Central complex of fires at Circle Hot Springs Resort.

While fanning fires away from the resort and Central, a community of 115, about 100 miles northeast of Fairbanks, the winds pushed the fire toward a handful of homes 11 miles northeast of Central.

“There were some exciting hours there,” Parratt said.

At one point, the fire became so hot, firefighters had to pull back to safe areas. When they returned, they found that the fire had not leaped protective lines cleared by bulldozers and backburns.

“We had done a lot of prework in those areas,” he said. “Those efforts plus our efforts that day and that evening appear to have resulted in none of those residences burning, but it was close.”

Six large fires have consumed most of the 317,000 acres in the Central complex. Parratt said acreage would grow after fire officials reported in late Saturday.

Calmer conditions Saturday allowed for more backburning and stabilizing of lines, he said.

“We’re trying to wall it off from the inhabited areas,” he said.

Air crews made bucket drops on several fires, including one northeast of Central that could have spread to Circle 34 miles away at the end of the Steese Highway.

Fifteen buildings, including seven homes, have been lost so far but none in the past few days.

Firefighters anticipate another difficult week. Overnight Friday, .04 inches of rain fell and there’s no more predicted for at least seven days, Parratt said.

Overall, Alaska’s 563 fires have so far burned nearly 4.9 million acres.