Single Publication

Minto Lakes Daily Fire Update July 13, 2022

Acres: 37,523 acres | Containment: 52% | Total personnel: 349

Start Date: June 21, 2022, | Cause: Lightning| Location: Located between Washington Creek and the Chatanika River Fuels: Hardwoods and hardwood litter, timber, black spruce

Highlights: Fire activity has significantly diminished overall because of the precipitation and increased relative humidity over the last few days. More rain is anticipated today. Heat could still hold in exceptionally dry deep duff and heavier fuels.

Yesterday a public meeting was held at the Ken Kunkel Community Center the recording was posted on both the Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry & Fire Protection- DOF and the BLM Alaska Fire Service Facebook pages.

Please continue to limit unnecessary travel to areas around the fire perimeter where fire personnel are working. This includes the Murphy Dome area down to the MDR Boat Ramp and the Chatanika River. Equipment and fire fighters are working around the Hayes and Himilaya Subdivisions, please use caution in these areas. The fire area remains under a fuels and fire behavior advisory. Fuels and Fire Behavior Advisory.

Operations: Crews continue working to secure, improve and reinforce protection measures around the fire. As activity has diminished around much of the fire, they also began to back haul un-needed equipment. Firefighters will continue to provide for point protection around the fire for values at risk. As hand crews begin to time-out, additional hand crews will begin to be swapped in along the river. There is a dozer line in place to protect the communities east of the fire. Much preparation work has been done among the communities of Himilaya and Hayes Creek. Along the Chatanika river moving west from the communities of the Himilaya/Hayes Creek firefighters continue to assess needs for protection measures along the river. The structure protection group in the Murphy Dome area (Lincoln, Vancouver, Murphy, Martin etc.) southeast of the fire have assessed structures and developed plans for protection in the event of any spread south. Crews continue to reinforce fire line and mop up heat around the Native allotments on the southwestern flank. Resource Advisors have been assigned to the incident.

Evacuations: For the Fairbanks North Star Borough Emergency Operations evacuation map, scan the QR code or go to https://tinyurl.com/MintoLakes. Follow the FNSB Government Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FNSBGov) for updates and notifications. Receive FNSB Emergency Alerts via text message by texting: FNSBWildFire2022 to 67283.