Single Publication

 Minto Lakes Daily Fire Update July 14, 2022

Acres: 37,523 acres | Containment: 52% | Total personnel: 260

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: Hard work by firefighters and favorable weather conditions have enabled Evacuation levels to be downgraded to a level 1 “Ready” status in the Hayes and Himalaya evacuation areas.  Fire Suppression Repair work is beginning on the incident.

July 12th 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:  Fire activity has continued to diminish overall. Work continues securing, improving, and reinforcing protection measures around the fire. Where fire activity has diminished, firefighters have also begun to back haul un-needed equipment. Firefighters will continue to provide for point protection around the fire for values at risk. Additional hand crews have been 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 assessment along the river have been completed. 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.