Single Publication

Minto Lakes Daily Fire Update July 15, 2022

Acres: 37,551 acres | Containment: 52% | Total personnel: 284

Start Date: June 21, 2022, | Cause: Lightning| Location: Located between Washington Creek and the Chatanika River Fuels: Hardwoods and hardwood litter, timber, black spruce

Highlights: Drier conditions yesterday allowed crews to better identify remaining areas of heat that need attention. Hard work by firefighters and favorable weather conditions have enabled Evacuation levels to be downgraded to a level 1 “Ready” status in the Hayes and Himilaya evacuation areas. Fire Suppression Repair work is underway on the incident.

Please continue to limit unnecessary travel to areas around the fire perimeter where fire personnel are working. This includes the Murphy Dome area down to the MDR Boat Ramp and the Chatanika River. Equipment and fire fighters are working around the Hayes and Himilaya Subdivisions, please use caution in these areas. The fire area remains under a fuels and fire behavior advisory. Fuels and Fire Behavior Advisory.

Operations:  Humidity dropped as low as 28% yesterday in some areas of the fire. Work continues securing, improving, and reinforcing protection measures around the fire. Back haul of un-needed equipment is ongoing. Firefighters will continue to provide for mop up and tactically patrolling around the values at risk. Additional hand crews have been swapped in along the river. There is a dozer line in place to protect the communities east of the fire. Much preparation work has been done, among the communities of Himilaya and Hayes Creek. Along the Chatanika river moving west from the communities of the Himilaya/Hayes Creek assessments along the river have been completed. The structure protection group in the Murphy Dome area (Lincoln, Vancouver, Murphy, Martin etc.) southeast of the fire have finished assessing structures and finalized plans for protection in the event of any spread south. Crews continue to reinforce fire line and mop up heat around the Native allotments on the southwestern flank. Resource Advisors have been assigned to the incident.

Evacuations: For the Fairbanks North Star Borough Emergency Operations evacuation map, scan the QR code or go to https://tinyurl.com/MintoLakes. Follow the FNSB Government Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FNSBGov) for updates and notifications. Receive FNSB Emergency Alerts via text message by texting: FNSBWildFire2022 to 67283.