Interior Alaska Wildfires

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
INTERIOR ALASKA WILDFIRES

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, 10 years ago, on July 6, 1994, fourteen wildland firefighters lost their lives fighting the deadly South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, CO. Nine of the 13 who perished were members of a single crew-a hotshot crew based in the small high desert town of Prineville in central Oregon. The "Prineville Nine," as they have come to be called, were all in their 20s.

The events of July 6, 1994 were as significant to the wildland fire community as the events of September 11, 2001 were to the New York City Fire Department, and the brave young men and women who perished in the South Canyon Fire were every bit as heroic as those who perished at the World Trade Center.

The anniversary of the South Canyon Fire brings home to all who live in the West how dearly we hold the brave young men and women, clad in their fire resistant yellow shirts, green pants and helmets, who fight the fires that sweep through our backyards.

On Monday, July 5, I had the privilege to visit a fire camp near Fairbanks, AK. The young men and women based at the camp were fighting the Boundary Fire, which is burning to the North of Fairbanks, under the experienced leadership of Steve Hart and his Type I Incident Management Team, drawn from the Rocky Mountain region of our Nation.

In the course of my visit, I had the opportunity to meet with each of the leaders on the Incident Command Team and received detailed briefings on how the fire was being managed.

One of those briefings was delivered by the Incident Safety Officer, who emphasized the acronym L-C-E-S, which stands for lookouts, communications, escape routes, and safety zones. Wildland firefighters are taught to keep safety in their forefront of their minds, constantly focusing on L-C-E-S. On the Boundary Fire, the singular focus on safety is evident throughout the camp. It is clear that the lessons of the South Canyon Fire have not been lost to history.

Today there are 73 wildland fires burning in the State of Alaska and some 1,544 wildland firefighters from 26 states and one province of Canada are on the ground tirelessly addressing these fires. Since the beginning of this year's fire season, approximately 2 million acres have burned in Alaska. Most of these acres have burned in seven large fires and "fire complexes" which occurred in the last few weeks.

As of the last report that I received, the Boundary Fire is 27 percent contained. Two other incidents are five percent contained and the remaining four are zero percent contained. New fires can start on a moment's notice from a strike of lightening and, depending on the fuel; wind shifts can move existing fires at rates of over 2 miles per hour.

In fact, a new fire was just reported yesterday, near the villages of Bettles and Evansville. At 5:00 PM, when the fire was reported, it had burned one acre, one hour later it was reported at 500 acres and at 10:00 PM it was reported at 1500 acres.

Last week was an exceptionally difficult one for the people of Interior Alaska. In Fairbanks, a dark, smoky haze hung over the community. The Boundary Fire was burning about 30 miles to the north of Fairbanks between the Steese and Elliott Highways, while the Wolf Creek Fire was burning to the east, near Chena Hot Springs Road.

These fires caused the evacuation of more than 280 households and countless animals, including household pets, sled dogs, cows, pigs and llamas. While volunteers from the Tanana Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross were offering shelter, food and respite from the smoke to the people of Fairbanks, officers from the Fairbanks North Star Borough's Division of Animal Control and numerous volunteers were making sure that the displaced animals were being well cared for.

Miraculously, only seven structures, to date, have been lost in the spate of these wildfires with no loss of life. Thanks to the hard work of firefighters through the Independence Day weekend, the people uprooted by the Boundary Fire are returning home today.

Although the Boundary and Wolf Creek fires were the subject of attention in the national media because of their proximity to urban areas, we must not forget that the fires are also threatening bush villages in rural Alaska. The Pingo Fire has burned to within one and one half miles of the town of Venetie and wildfires continue to threaten habitat that is important to the subsistence lifestyle practiced in the village.

The people of Eagle on the Canadian border have been challenged by two fires, one burning west from Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. The safety of these communities, as well as Bettles, Chicken, Evansville, Fort Yukon, Stevens Village and Tok are on our minds today.

The proximity of wildfires to the outskirts of our urban areas reminds us all to be firewise. Building defensible space around structures not only increases the likelihood that a building will survive a fire; it also increases resident and firefighter safety. Alaskans are also being encouraged this week to store their firewood away from structures and to use metal or fire resistant roofing materials in construction. I support these important safety initiatives.

I also continue to support the important fuels reduction provisions of the President's Healthy Forest Initiative, and will continue to work to ensure that adequate resources are made available by Congress to our Nation's fire fighting crews.

Fairbanks is known as the "Golden Heart City," so let me say that our golden hearts go out to the thirty seven Alaska Native firefighting crews that are protecting Fairbanks as well as our villages, the Alaska firefighters on mutual aid assignments to fight the wildfires, and members of the national wildland fire community who have been dispatched to Alaska to help us get through this difficult fire season. I am deeply grateful to all in the wildland firefighter community for their tremendous sacrifices and commitment to making all of our communities safe.