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Forestry, Fire and Farsite:  Using Science to Make Decisions Half of Alaska’s population (260,000) live in the Municipality of Anchorage. In 2001, Anchorage was declared a community at risk for wildfire by the US Forest Service.  Factors contributing to Anchorage’s wildfire risk include: Mixed hardwood and conifer forests that burn readily in high fire danger conditions. White spruce trees have persistent branches that contribute to ladder fuels. Black spruce trees have a very low moisture content that allows them to burn easily when ambient weather conditions provide for low relative humidity, high temperatures, and dry duff layers in the soil.         Residential and rural neighborhoods exists throughout forested stands that have been affected by the  spruce bark beetle. In the MOA, this area extends over 85,000 acres. The dead trees resulting from beetle attacks contribute to forest fuel accumulations that create high risk for wildfire in your backyard.         In a wildfire event,  mutual aid resources to help the Anchorage Fire Department may take an hour or more to arrive on site. Suppression resources from the Division of Forestry must travel to Anchorage from Palmer and other locations outside of the MOA.         On the south Anchorage Hillside, Eagle River Valley, South Fork and other sites around the MOA, there are limited water resources to help fight a wildland fire.         Many neighborhoods in the MOA have  limited ingress and egresss routes for suppression apparatus to enter in and for residents to evacuate.         The hilly topography throughout the wildland-urban interface areas contributes to increased rate of fire spread. Where the Miller’s Reach Fire of 1996 spread across mostly flat terrain and still burned over 400 structures, a wildfire in South Anchorage would spread even faster because fire spread rates increase with slope.         The spring fire season is a dry time in Southcentral Alaska. Dry foliage on the trees and dead bluejoint grass burns readily soon after snow melts. The forests surrounding the communities in the Municipality of Anchorage are in a state of transition. Many of the birch and spruce trees are overmature and are going through a successional stage where the canopy opens as the older trees die and fall down. The spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) epidemic has created additional openings in the forests by killing thousands of spruce trees. These forested areas along the wildland urban interface where acres of dead spruce trees occur pose a serious threat of fire to our community as the hazard fuels continue to accumulate. To allocate proper resources to mitigating the risk through hazard fuel reduction, road access improvements, supplying water for fire suppression, and fire suppression response, a concerted effort is being placed on planning. By using satellite imagery, geographic information systems and a recognized fire behavior model, priorities can be assigned to mitigation and preparedness activities.  Read more about the municipality's mapping project here.  If or when a wildfire occurs, considerable damage would result in terms of life, property, and natural resources. Over the entire Municipality, we are working to educate the public about the risk of fire along the wildland urban interface. By instilling firewise behavior in the landowners, developers and planners, our risk of losing life and property can be reduced. Wildfire danger in Alaska is assessed using the  Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System.

Related Links

• Contact Us • AFD Wildfire Home Page • AFD Home Page • Burn Permit Information • Defensible Space Guide • Firewise Alaska Guide • Wood Lots

632 W. 6th Avenue   Anchorage, Alaska  99501
PO Box 196650 Anchorage, Alaska  99519
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