East Fork Fire

Unit Information

Alaska Fire Service - Galena Zone
Bureau of Land Management
Alaska
AK

Incident Contacts

Pubic Information
Email: 2022.eastfork@firenet.gov
Phone: 907-290-2852
Hours: 8 am - 8 pm

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Highlighted Activity

06/21/2022 East Fork Fire Daily Update, June 21, 2022, 9:30 AM

Alaska IMT transfers command of the East Fork FireJune 21, 2022, Daily Update, 9:30 AM East Fork Fire STATS: 166,587 acresLocation: 3.7 miles northwest of St. Mary’sPersonnel: 205Start Date: May.

News - 06/21/2022

The East fork Fire started on May 31st in a limited protection area North East of the Village of St. Mary's. Lightning moved through the area on May 30th and is the likely cause of the East Fork Fire.

BLM AFS Galena Management Zone officials are working with Tribal, Native corporation and community to ensure the safety of the community residents. The priorities on the incident are still public and firefighter safety, and protecting sites of value, including Native allotments and cabins along the Andreafsky River and the East Fork as well as St. Mary’s and neighboring villages of Pilot Station, Pitkas Point, and Mountain Village.

The Alaska Type 2 Incident Management Green Team took over management Saturday morning, June 11, due to its proximity to numerous Native allotments, historical sites, and communities. An incident management team is mobilized during complex emergency incidents to provide a command and control infrastructure in order to manage the operational, logistical, informational, planning, fiscal, community, political, and safety issues associated with complex incidents. On Sunday morning, June 12, the incident management team also took responsibility for the Apoon Pass Fire, located approximately 20 miles northwest of the East Fork Fire, that has grown to 15,000 acres.

There is a Temporary Flight Restriction over the fire area to create a safe airspace for fire aircraft to work.

Basic Information

Current as of
Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Tuesday May 31st, 2022 approx. 12:00 AM
Location	3.7 miles northwest of St. Mary's
Incident Commander	Peter Butteri
Coordinates	62.366 latitude, -162.799 longitude

Current Situation

Total Personnel	205
Size	250,725 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained	100%
Fuels Involved	Fuels are a mix of tundra, brush, and pockets of black spruce.
Significant Events	Minimal, smoldering, creeping, backing.

Outlook

Planned Actions	Gridding continues on the southeast side of the fire. General clean-up and inventory of water handling equipment in and around St. Mary's. Retrieve tactical gear from allotments along the river between St Mary's and Pitkas Point. There is no longer an operational presence in Pilot Station. Apoon Pass: planned actions include aerial reconnaissance. Allotment damage assessments, known sites database inventory, and equipment inventory list in progress.
Projected Incident Activity	Today: Fire will continue to have limited movement across the landscape. Duff and heavy fuels are still very dry. Fine fuels will be a little more available due to a reduced shower threat and lower relative humidity. Movement of surface fire may start to be noticed. Tomorrow (Wednesday): Fire will likely be slightly more active during this period as days since rain increase. Heavy fuels and build up index will remain dry. Winds will be from the southwest. Temperatures will remain moderate with moderate humidity. Fire activity will likely be confined to slow movement at the head or very slow backing in limited available fuels. Duff moisture code is forecasted to be in the very high category for this period due to the lack of significant precipitation. There is a slight chance of scattered showers. Thursday: Winds will be out of the southwest and carry moisture toward the fire. Rain chances will be 15 percent. But there will be gustier winds to 17 mph. There will be a drying trend this period and fire activity is likely to increase.

Current Weather

Weather Concerns	Fair weather today with quiet weather through the week. Winds out of the southwest off the Bering Sea starting tomorrow will bring in cool temperatures and cloud cover, which will keep relative humidity values elevated. These winds will also bring a slight chance of rain showers Wednesday. Wind speeds will be elevated later in the week with gusts up to 20 mph Friday and Saturday. Conditions will dry Friday into Saturday with high pressure building over the state. No significant weather systems are on the horizon.