BLM Alaska Fire Service smokejumper training jumps start March 27

Starting March 27, Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (BLM AFS) Smokejumpers will conduct training jumps in the skies above the Fairbanks and North Pole areas in preparation for the upcoming fire season. The required refresher and training jumps will occur throughout April and May, primarily between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weather permitting, the refresher jumps for returning smokejumpers will occur once or twice per day between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on certain weekdays between March 27-April 28. The tempo will increase in May with the addition of rookie smokejumpers and parachuted cargo drops, known as paracargo. The rookie training jumps start on May 5 and, excluding weekends, will occur up to two times a day between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. through May 19.
Alaska Wildland Fire Information

Body of missing woman found in Unalaska Lake

The body of a missing Unalaska woman was found and recovered from beneath the ice on Unalaska Lake early Tuesday evening, just over two days after she was last seen. Searchers found Charlene Malepeai Mamea, 34, at 4:48 p.m. in the lake on the north side of Broadway Avenue, at the intersection with Dutton Road, Interim Fire Chief Ben Knowles told KUCB Tuesday evening. Roads in the area were temporarily closed Tuesday night. As fire officials were following up an unrelated tip in the area, which had been the focus of the search since it began Sunday evening, Knowles said a firefighter spotted what appeared to be shoes at the edge of the ice line. A group of officials waded into the water, discovered Malepeai Mamea beneath the ice, and transported her to the morgue at the Department of Public Safety, where her family positively identified her remains.
Alaska Public Media