Alaska wildland fire crews ready for action, with state funding to reduce hazardous fuels – Alaska Public Media News
Members of the Gannett Glacier Fire Crew takes notes during a fire training scenario near Palmer on Thursday, April 29, 2018. (Casey Grove/Alaska Public Media)
Alaskas wildland firefighters have been completing annual training and now with help from a state grant strategically cutting and removing trees, many of them standing, dry and dead, killed by spruce beetles.
That hazardous fuels reduction comes as long-term forecasts signal a normal fire season ahead, with about a million acres expected to burn total somewhere between the sizes of Rhode Island and Delaware.
Norm McDonald, the state Division of Forestrys Chief of Fire and Aviation, said the prep work cutting fire breaks is helpful and likely to save money in the long run.
But McDonald said all it would take to go from an average fire season to a huge one is some hot, dry weather and a lightning strike, or the careless burning of some brush or a campfire.
Listen here:
[Sign up for Alaska Public Medias daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Norm McDonald: If you look historically at our most devastating fires, they are in the urban interface, and they have been human caused. So these are all fires and, in theory, should be preventable. So I think just the awareness that anytime you do an activity that includes either burning or open flame in the wildland setting, just use extreme caution, especially this time of year, May, as we have that dry grass and these windy conditions. It does not take much of a start for a fire to get out of control, past where a homeowner can suppress it on their own. And those are our most expensive fires. Those take the most resources, the most firefighters and aircraft. So we really ask people to use extreme caution, whether thats their typical Alaskan, you know, outdoor activities like camping and hunting, or when youre doing your land clearing, look at other options. Instead of burning in May and June when its dry and windy, save that burning for fall when we get our wetter conditions or that first snow in October. That is something that we really try to encourage people to do.
Casey Grove: Gotcha, yeah. Nobody wants something getting away from them like that and causing damage to their neighborhood or anybody else.
NM: No, and people are always surprised at how quickly they have a burn barrel or a small fire or a barbecue in the grass how quickly a fire starts to something that they cant control with what they have on site. And then the fire department shows up and the helicopter show up, and its just every person that we go through with that always says the same thing, I had no idea how quickly that fire could spread. And so just something to be aware of, for anybody doing that type of activity this summer.
CG: Theres a lot there that you cant really control, like the weather or where lightning strikes, and things like that. And you can get the word out about how residents should be behaving to be fire safe. But I guess there are a few things that you can do ahead of time to prepare. And one of those things is what you call hazardous fuels reduction, right? And I guess thats a big push this year, it sounds like.
NM: Yeah, and its nothing new to the division. Weve been doing fuel brakes and the hazardous fuels reduction, you know, going back to the mid 90s. And that really started with the first beetle epidemic we had going back to 95, 96, that timeframe. And so its something weve used and have had success with. Whats changed this year is we have, for the first time, last year we received state dollars. Weve relied entirely on federal grants up until last year, for fuels reduction. And with this administration, public safety is a big part of their push. And we received a $10 million capital improvement project, just earmarked for fuels reduction. And so that gives us state funds to leverage more federal funds, which this year come to us through the infrastructure bill. So we are really in a good place when it comes to actually funding for this work. And now building capacity to meet the requirements of that work is really where were at now. Yeah, its a really exciting time as far as opportunities to provide a better service and public safety and develop these fuel breaks around some of our critical infrastructure and communities.
CG: Well, what are fire crews doing right now, other than reducing fuels and cutting fire breaks? What are they doing to get ready for the coming fire season?
NM: So our Division of Forestry crews, they come back starting about mid-April, and they do what we call our 80 hours or two weeks of training. And thats their physical fitness, thats their fire readiness. Theyre getting their gear up and ready. Theyre ready to go May 1, so our crews are staffed. Theyre ready to respond. We have them pre-positioned around the state, including Kenai and the Mat-Su Valley. The Fairbanks crew is down in Kenai, because snow still on the ground means fire season is a couple weeks behind. So we have them pre-positioned to where theyre available to do the most good and in a short order. But while theyre not assigned to fires, theyre doing this fuels reduction work. So this is really good preseason work and that kind of crossover training for a lot of the similar work they do when theres a wildland fire. And thats running chainsaws and, you know, clearing those fire breaks is very similar to what it looks like on the fire line, as it is when theyre building a fuel break ahead of the fire. So theyre engaged with that work and theyre ready and theyre pre-positioned and ready to go, should they be needed anyplace in the state.
Continue reading here:
Alaska wildland fire crews ready for action, with state funding to reduce hazardous fuels - Alaska Public Media News
- Bitfocus Buttons Enterprise Edition Unveiled at IBC2025 with Advanced Features - Digital Studio India - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Assembly Launches 'Assembly Control' to Elevate Brand Safety, Suitability, and Campaign Performance in Programmatic Media - Yahoo Finance - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Bluesky Gives Users More Control Over their Notifications - Social Media Today - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Spin Control: Media struggles after Trump swears with cameras rolling - The Spokesman-Review - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Beyond banks and brokers: All about decentralized finance (DeFi) - Britannica - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- The Future of Crypto Payroll Security: Bitchat and Decentralized Messaging - OneSafe - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Paradigm leads $11.5 million funding round in Kuru Labs, a decentralized exchange blending CLOBs and AMMs - The Block - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Decentralized Payroll: The Future of Work - OneSafe - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Jack Dorsey tests Bitchat decentralized messaging without internet - Cointelegraph - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- CrossFis Haley Cromer on Bridging Traditional Finance and Web3 for a Decentralized Future - BlockTelegraph - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- India's Crypto Tax: Navigating New Norms with Decentralized Solutions - OneSafe - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Turkey Tightens Its Grip on Crypto: What It Means for Decentralized Exchanges - OneSafe - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Spheron and AIxBlock Unite to Democratize Decentralized AI - CoinTrust - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- The Role of Web3 in Shaping NFT Marketplace Opportunities - Vocal - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- BNB Adds Centralized Features, But Lightchain AI Adds Decentralized Incentives That Drive New Demand - Modern Diplomacy - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Taiko and Nethermind Partner to Enhance Ethereum Rollup Infrastructure - Blockchain News - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- The Rise of Decentralized Stablecoins: Can They Replace Centralized Counterparts in 2025? - Vocal - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- On MSNBC's Deadline: White House, Angelo Carusone highlights how Trump is losing control of narrative dominance due to "fractures" in... - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Assembly Control Transforms Programmatic Advertising with Revolutionary Brand Safety Platform - Stock Titan - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Now, United States Border Control Scrutinizes Social Media: For The Travelers To The United States from France, Spain, and Beyond, Here Is All You... - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Assembly Launches 'Assembly Control' to Elevate Brand Safety, Suitability, and Campaign Performance in Programmatic Media - Macau Business - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Breaking the Studio Social Media Blackout: Caylee Cowan Takes Creative Control and Financial Freedom with Fanfix - Silicon UK - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Aleema's control over PTI social media makes her all-powerful within Imran-founded party - Geo News - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Tuenti social media co-founder takes control of Puerto Bans bullring with plans to demolish it - Sur in English - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- InMobi Advertising Unveils Mobile-First Curation Platform Empowering All Media Buyers with Precision, Transparency, and Control - Passionate In... - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Trump takes control of media cycle with travel ban, Harvard visa restriction, Biden investigation policy spree - Washington Examiner - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Pushed Out and Unfiltered: Joy Reid, Misogynoir, Media Control,and the Fear of a Black Womans Voice - Daily Kos - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- GitGuardian urges shift to machine identity control - SC Media - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Opinion: Its time to lose control - Main Street Media of Tennessee - May 8th, 2025 [May 8th, 2025]
- Opinion | How a Professional Bully Is Winning Control of the Media - Common Dreams - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Social Media, Social Control, and the Politics of Public Shaming - - Political Science Now - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Tariff saga creates a meme war on social media, making it difficult for brands to 'control the message' - Digiday - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Conservatives are limiting media access to Poilievre. Is it helping or hurting him? - CBC - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Robert W. McChesney, who warned of corporate media control, dies at 72 - Editor and Publisher - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez Sounds Alarm Over Trump Administrations Absolute Pattern of Censorship and Control - Variety - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- 'Attack lined up': Grenon says he offered compromise but believes NZME board has 'no interest' - NZ Herald - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Russia seeks full control of partially occupied Ukrainian regions in talks with US, media reports - Kyiv Independent - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Navigating the digital world without letting it control you. - Psychology Today - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- ANZ Digital Padlock to give customers real-time control in fight against fraud and scams - ANZ - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Trump Handpicking Reporters and Bezos Partisan Shift: A Trend in Media Control - MSN - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Spains New Media Law Sparks Fears of Censorship and State Control - The European Conservative - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- We dont feel we have control: How social media algorithms have warped our attention spans - MSNBC - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House takes control of the press pool covering Trump - Reuters - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House takes control of the press pool covering Trump - Reuters - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- We dont feel we have control: How social media algorithms have warped our attention spans - MSNBC - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Reuters and Associated Press among outlets barred from Trumps first cabinet meeting - Semafor - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Reuters and Associated Press among outlets barred from Trumps first cabinet meeting - Semafor - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House seizes control of press pool, will decide which outlets cover events with president - POLITICO - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House seizes control of press pool, will decide which outlets cover events with president - POLITICO - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Epson And Show Sage At USITT 2025 Showcasing New 4K Projection With New Media Server And Control Tech - Live Design - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Epson And Show Sage At USITT 2025 Showcasing New 4K Projection With New Media Server And Control Tech - Live Design - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House takes control of picking media who cover Trump - El Paso Inc. - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- White House takes control of picking media who cover Trump - El Paso Inc. - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Trump administration to take control of media access at White House - New Straits Times - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- USAID spent millions of dollars to promote media control through Internews which is linked to India based Factshala - Organiser - February 16th, 2025 [February 16th, 2025]
- Inaccurate reporting on foot and mouth disease controls - Defra in the media - February 16th, 2025 [February 16th, 2025]
- Russian forces take control of two settlements in eastern Ukraine, Media - APA - February 16th, 2025 [February 16th, 2025]
- TikTok's woes in the United States highlight the 'Godfather' battle to control social media - ABC News - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Jesse Watters: Air traffic control was "unable to meet their own DEI quotas, and thats what is leading to staffing shortages" - Media... - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Hive to launch Beeblade Nexus media control engine - Installation and AV Technology Europe - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- Pakistan introduces law allowing government to block platforms, imprison users for spreading 'disinformat - The Times of India - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- This little media control button is the gadget I can't live without - MSN - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Effective role of media is a must for tobacco control, experts say - bdnews24.com - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Effective media role vital for tobacco control: Experts - United News of Bangladesh - UNB - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- How Government & Legacy Media CONTROL What We Think - iHeartRadio - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- SNL kinda banned this 1998 'Schoolhouse Rock' parody warning about corporate media control - Upworthy - December 30th, 2024 [December 30th, 2024]
- Palestinian Authority: Jews Lied About Oct. 7 Because They Control the Media - Algemeiner - December 30th, 2024 [December 30th, 2024]
- NDCs control of major media houses gave them edge in 2024 polls Bawumia - Adomonline - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Hallmark Insights to Tackle the Debate on Social Media Management and Control in Organizations - PC Tech Magazine - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Rupert Murdochs bid to change familys trust over Fox News media empire control is rejected - Washington Times - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Rupert Murdoch loses battle to control succession to his media empire - The Guardian - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Journalist Abducted in Guinea Amid Military's Increasing Control Over Media - Oneindia - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Aleppo and Idlib Under Opposition Control, With Eyes on Hama - The Media Line - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Remilekun Dosumu takes the helm as Head of Media Buying & Control at PHD Nigeria - Marketing Edge - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Media reports US Republicans regaining control of House of Representatives - MENAFN.COM - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- Social media misinformation is scaring women about birth control - STAT - November 5th, 2024 [November 5th, 2024]
- The (Lack Of) Science Behind Social Media Claims Of Weather Control - Forbes - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- No, the government is not controlling the weather. "It's so stupid, it's got to stop," Biden says - CBS News - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Column: Media tries to control the narrative | Aiken Standard - The Post and Courier - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- DoubleVerify To Introduce Pre-Screen Content Control On Meta, Strengthening Brand Safety, Suitability, Media Performance - Business - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]