McKinley Fire command to transfer soon. Hunting re-opened in Willow Swamp

As progress continues on the McKinley fire, personnel numbers have dropped significantly in recent days.  As of Thursday afternoon, there were 200 personnel assigned to the McKinley Fire.

Much of the recent work on the fire has been felling hazard trees and clearing woody debris.  Trees that are stacked in the highway right-of-way are available for public harvesting.  The incident command team says those harvesting wood should be mindful of private property lines and only cut on public property.

As mop-up continues, teams are working to repair dozer and hand lines that were cut to limit the fire’s initial spread. This weekend, command of the McKinley Fire is being transferred to a smaller team.  The command center for that team, which has been at the Willow Community Center, will be moved to the existing base camp.

Command of the Deshka Fire has been returned to the Alaska Division of Forestry.  Part of Game Management Unit 14a was closed to hunting while there were a significant number of firefighters in the area.  That restriction for the area around Willow Swamp has been lifted as of Wednesday.