USFS

Current Fire News

Alaska Interagency Coordination Center - Current Alaska wildland fire information

AICC Current Fires Map - Imagery of current fires throughout Alaska

National Park Service Fire Information - Current information about active fires in Alaska's national Parks

Tok Fire Information - current fire information for specific areas

For up to date information on summer fire conditions in Alaska, you can follow http://twitter.com/alaskanps

Managing Fire in Alaska

Wildfires in Alaska burn hundreds of thousands of acres every year. Although aggressive fire suppression is a high priority for all agencies, the management objective for suppression have been modified to integrate resource-management goals with fire protection by the “Fire Protection Levels.” The primary reasons for this change are:

• At certain periods during a fire season, wildfires can be so widespread, numerous, or burning so hot that they cannot be put out easily.
• Fire is a natural part of Alaska’s ecosystem; many positive benefits of fire have been recognized.
• Fire-suppression efforts sometimes are more damaging than the wildfire.

Suppressing all fires is sometimes economically impractical; total elimination of burning in Alaska is physically impossible and not always necessary.

For these reasons, Alaska’s state, federal, and private land managers got together in the late 1970s to plan for cooperative fire fighting; the Alaska Interagency Fire Management Council was formed, and a plan was developed.
The Alaska Interagency Fire Management Plan recognizes that fire is a part of the natural cycle as well as a potential destroyer of life, property, and resources. The plan divides the state into fire-suppression areas based on major natural fire breaks and the objectives of land managers—because fire does not recognize political boundaries.
The plan focuses fire-suppression emphasis near communities and valuable natural resources. In remote and unsettled areas, fires will be monitored to assure they do not burn unchecked toward areas where human life or development could be threatened. This cooperative plan is working well and has saved millions of local, state, and federal tax dollars.