Every day they update the numbers. And every day, the number of acres burned in Alaska seems to leap higher yet again.
As of Monday, it is at 4,447,182.2 acres, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center — a total that puts the 2015 wildfire season in sixth place overall among worst seasons on record. It’s very likely to move into fifth place by Tuesday — and it’s still just mid-July. There is a long way to go.
According to center, 2015 is now well ahead of the rate of burn seen in the worst year ever, 2004, when 6,590,140 acres burned in 701 fires. “Fire acreage totals are more than 14 days ahead of 2004,” the agency notes. In other words, and although the situation could still change, we may be watching the unfolding of the worst year ever recorded.
According to the Alaska Division of Forestry, the state has now deployed 480 miles worth of fire hoses to fight fires. That’s a length, notes the agency, that would stretch farther than the distance from Anchorage to Fairbanks — which is about 360 miles.
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