Wildfires in Alaska in the 1980s (Compiled from Annual Fire Reports of the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center)

摘要

The winter of 1979-80 was another in a series of mild winters that began in 1976. The evidence of the dry winter and an equally dry spring started showing up in early May. The State of Alaska battled a fire in the Delta Barley Project that started May 11. The Bureau of Land Management supported the State's effort but took no direct role on the fire. The fire ended up at 7,155 acres. On May 5, smokejumpers attacked a persistent fire of unknown origin in a coal seam near Eagle. After two weeks of frustrating work, with very little rain, the decision was made to secure the perimeter and let the coal seam bum. The dry spring produced the worst fire of the year when two fires on military lands south of Fairbanks combined and, burned over 125,000 acres of military and state land. Although the fire burned from May 17 to mid-July, BLM's involvement ended in June. From May 17 to June 14, BLM provided advisers to the military and some on-line personnel. On June 14, BLM was given control of the fire. With a large commitment of equipment and personnel and the first substantial rains of the season, the BLM firefighters were able to contain the fire in five days. The fire was released back to the military, and the BLM provided an adviser for another 10 days.