There is a bit of heartening news from the Sockeye fire. Erratic weather, expected to bring strong winds to the area late Tuesday, did not actually materialize after a thunderstorm passed overhead, and fire crews have arrived from outside Alaska to begin an offensive against the blaze.
The parking lot at Houston High School is now a staging area for forestry personnel, as fire crews begin a full assault on the Sockeye wildfire.
Vanloads of equipment are piled high, cases of water bottles stacked everywhere, and shovels and backpacks are heaped up, ready for the five 20-person Hot Shot crews that arrived Tuesday. Tom Kurth, the incident commander, hosted a press conference in the school parking lot Tuesday afternoon, saying the fire had gained one thousand acres between Monday and Tuesday, and he was watching the weather, concerned that conditions that could expand the blaze
“We’re starting to get familiar with exactly how to approach it, and you’ll see progress made as we continue through the week here. Again, we do have what our fire weather forecaster is saying no break in the activity here as far as she can see. Today, we have dry thunderstorms predicted for the Talkeetna Mountains, due East of here. That could bring dry lightening, new starts, it could also bring strong downdrafts, winds, behavior that could excite the fire out there. ”
The thunderstorm passed over the North end of the fire, around 7 pm, sprinkling the area a bit, but doing little to douse the rest of the blaze. Celeste Prescott, an Alaska Incident Management Team fire information officer, said the winds did not come up late Tuesday either, and that is good news.
The Sockeye fire is the number one priority in the state, and the nation, she said, although so many fire resources are available now because there is little fire activity in the Lower 48.
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