Alaska Wildfires Burn Two Million Acres in 2009
Incident: Railbelt Complex Wildfire
Released: 8/1/2009
As of August 1, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) reports 469 fires have burned 2,097,293 acres across the state in 2009. At this time in 2008, 334 fires had burned 90,893 acres.
Extremely dry conditions and lack of significant rain this summer have made control efforts difficult on several large fires.
The Railbelt Complex near Nenana is Alaska's largest fire at 438,447 acres, followed by the Crazy Mountain Complex near Circle at approximately 315,000 acres.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Air Quality Index is expected to remain listed as "unhealthy" through Sunday, as persistent westerly winds push smoke into Fairbanks and Interior communities. The Wood River 1 Fire, 25 miles south of Fairbanks has burned 87,597 acres, mostly on military owned lands. The fire is largely responsible for the dense smoke drifting into Fairbanks. People with respiratory or heart problems, the elderly and children are advised to avoid prolonged exertion during periods of heavy smoke.
Alaska's most active fire season on record was 2004, when more than 700 wildfires burned approximately 6.6 million acres.
