ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The 2004 fire season will be one for the record books in Alaska, burning more than 7,800 square miles - an area larger than Connecticut.
On Tuesday, the state's spreading wildfires were within 50,000 acres of topping the 1957 Alaska record of 5.05 million acres. Last year, wildfire scorched just over 4.9 million acres total in the United States.
The blazes are so hot, they're melting the ground.
Fire information officer Dave Schmitt said fire thawed permafrost on a bluff overlooking Mile 137 Steese Highway, causing mud to flow over about 100 feet of the road. The mud slide was caused by the Bolgen Creek fire, one of six major fires that make up the 320,000-acre Central Complex.
Permafrost is soil that stays frozen year round. In tundra, it's often found after digging through a top layer of soil thawed by summer sun. Just 15 percent of Alaska is permafrost-free, according to permafrost expert Vladimir Romanovski, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute.
Fire officials sent heavy equipment to blade the mud off, then dropped new gravel on it.
Smoke around Central in the Interior on Tuesday hampered firefighting operations - crews had no air support until early afternoon.
Fire managers are trying to wall off Central, population 115, and Circle Hot Springs Resort from the Bolgen Creek fire on both the west and east sides with fire breaks along Crooked Creek.
East of the mining community, crews hurried to create by hand a fire line to block off a toe of the fire south of the Steese Highway. Dense bunches of grass in boggy areas, twists in the creek and other obstacles blocked heavy equipment.
``It's all by hand because of the amount of black spruce,'' Schmitt said. ``The creek in that area is extremely windy.''
The work has an air of urgency because of a predicted change in winds Thursday and Friday. Erratic northwest winds would blow the fire toward Circle Hot Springs, Schmitt said.
``Tomorrow is a critical day,'' he said. ``We need to have things buttoned up.''
At the Taylor Complex of fires, which includes four main fires covering more than 1.1 million acres, firefighters took steps to continue protecting Alaska Highway communities.
Firefighters continued controlled burns Tuesday between miles 1256-1260 to keep the Gardiner Creek fire from spreading toward Northway. Northway Junction, the turnoff to Northway, is at Mile 1264.
Firefighters generally do not attempt controlled burns when the humidity is at 40 percent or above. However, vegetation is so dry, it ignited easily, said fire information officer Kris Eriksen.
``The ground cover and the grass and the alders were so dry, it just took off with the humidity at 55 percent, which is unusual,'' she said. ``It proves the very unusual fire year we've been having.''
Along the Taylor Highway, the Porcupine fire was active at Mile 27 and the Chicken fire at miles 43-45. The highway remains open and Eriksen said there was no danger if motorists do not stop.
The fire reached the Tanana River 6 to 8 miles east of the community of Tok and burned a small part of an island, she said, before it was snuffed. Observers are watching the fire from boats.
North of Tanacross, firefighters are striving to keep the Porcupine and Billy Creek fires from flashing south of three small lakes: Mansfield, Fish and Wolf. Firefighters are monitoring the fire and may change strategy to protect structures and Native Alaskan land allotments near Mansfield Lake, Eriksen said.
Forecasters say there's little relief in sight.
Warm, dry conditions are predicted at least through the weekend, said Aaron Tyburski, a National Weather Service forecaster in Fairbanks. Strong high pressure remains over the center of the state.
``It's forecast to remain there or move slightly to the north over the next three days,'' he said.
Visibility in Fairbanks was just one-half mile and similar conditions existed around the Interior, he said. Most of the southern and southeast portions of the state are getting smoke, Tyburski said.
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