Wildland fires dot the Arctic landscape this week after lightning strikes sparked a series of blazes on the dry tundra.
As the Sounder reported last week, the largest fire is located about 16 miles outside Point Hope. Dubbed the Tusikpak Lake Fire because of its proximity to the body of water, it had burned more than 14,000 acres as of early this week.
"The Tusikpak Lake Fire is a surface-burning grass fire," said Alaska Fire Service Spokesperson Beth Ipsen on Tuesday. "They're considered flashy fuels — meaning they burn quickly and for just a short period of time (like in a flash). The ground layers underneath the grass are still pretty wet and probably frozen in some places … It burns off the dead grass on the surface, but nothing underneath."
Eight smokejumpers from Fort Wainwright responded to the fire in its early days, but left June 6, once the critical edges of the fire had been secured.