Small business owners who can show that they lost customers because of the Swan Lake Fire on the Kenai Peninsula can now get low-interest federal loans to help them recover.
The U.S. Small Business Administration declared the Kenai Peninsula and surrounding areas an “economic injury zone” due to the widespread Swan Lake Fire this summer. The fire, which started June 5 and burned more than 167,000 acres, threatened the Sterling Highway in August and burned across the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge between Sterling and Cooper Landing.
Though firefighters controlled fire activity through the early summer and scaled back operations in July, a windstorm and exceptionally hot, dry conditions in mid-August caused the fire to flare again, crossing the Sterling Highway and threatening Cooper Landing with evacuation.