While heavy rain last week brought a temporary halt to the wildfire season throughout much of the Interior, it caused rivers to rise dramatically and prompted flood warnings from the National Weather Service in many areas, including Nenana, where the Tanana River was predicted to reach flood stage on Thursday or Friday.
So when Nenana Volunteer Fire Department/EMS Fire Chief Joe Forness put a call out for help filling sandbags to prepare the small town on the bank of the Tanana River 55 miles south of Fairbanks for potential flooding, wildland firefighters at the Alaska Division of Forestry Fairbanks station did just what the rivers did – they rose to the occasion.
Approximately 40 DOF firefighters spent about five hours on Thursday filling hundreds of sandbags for the City of Nenana.