Wildland fire season has arrived in Southcentral Alaska. An escaped lawn fire destroyed a storage shed on East End Road over the weekend.
Called the Bradley Fire, it was reported to Kachemak Emergency Services at approximately 3:40 p.m. Saturday. A woman told the State Division of Forestry staff she was burning off dead grass on her lawn when the wind picked up, carried the fire across her driveway into more grass and ignited a covered storage area. The fire, at about three-fourths of an acre, was contained a little after 5 p.m. Forestry had no damage estimate, and there were no injuries reported.
With the winter snowpack just about completely melted off and no precipitation to speak of this month, conditions are extremely dry in the region, increasing the likelihood of grass fires. The exposed, dry grass at this time of year is considered a very volatile fuel that can ignite and spread quickly to nearby structures or the wildlands.