Around 4:30 pm today, Alaska Wildland Fire Information released an update on the Montana Creek Fire, which remains at an estimated 253 acres with zero percent containment. No structures have been damaged and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
There is a retardant line around 90 percent of the fire but the fire perimeter remains active in many places. Firefighters are engaged in suppressing active fire behavior while also constructing control lines, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. There is a marked decrease in fire activity today.
On Thursday, firefighters began cutting saw line and laying hose line to tie the fire into a slough on the east side of the fire. A bulldozer was used to begin constructing containment line on the north perimeter of the fire that will connect to the same slough.
Today the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks Wildland Fire Crew and the White Mountain Type 2 Initial Attack Crew from Fairbanks joined the effort, adding to the more than 100 personnel that are working on the fire. The update says that “the additional boots on the ground should bolster containment efforts.”
Other organizations fighting the fire are the Alaska Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, the Saskatchewan (sass-CATCH-uh-wan) Canadian tankers, Gannett Glacier Hotshots, Baker River Hotshots, Engine Task forces from Montana, Idaho, and California, Anchorage Fire Department, and Alaska State Division of Forestry Mat-Su Area.
Area residents woke to visible smoke on Friday morning. This was due to an early morning inversion causing drifting smoke to hang low over the fire. Residents should expect these night time inversions to continue with drift smoke dissipating by mid-morning.
There is still a Level 1 “Get Ready” evacuation notice in place for all residents accessed through South Montana Creek Road due to the potential for the fire to threaten egress for those residents. This is not an evacuation order but an alert for residents to be aware there is a possible threat in the area.
Evacuation shelters have been set up at the Upper-Susitna Community and Senior Center, Montana Creek Baptist Church, Trapper Creek Elementary School, Willow Elementary School, and Houston High School for any residents who choose to voluntarily evacuate.
Fire managers are asking for the public’s cooperation in avoiding the fire area for safety reasons.
