Remaining Alaskan Stranded Travelers Escorted Out Of Small Community Ablaze
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Remaining travelers stranded by wildfires safely left the tiny community of Chicken early Saturday and fire managers planned to reopen the Taylor Highway on a limited basis beginning at midnight if conditions allowed.
Several dozen vehicles were escorted on the highway overnight, most arriving at Tok, about 70 miles to the southwest, by 8 a.m. Saturday. An earlier convoy of 70 vehicles left Chicken early Friday.
Three fires prompted the closure Thursday of a 90-mile stretch of the highway on both sides of the old mining community of 21 people. The closure stranded about 200 residents, travelers and seasonal miners.
Saturday started a bit quieter with cooler temperatures, but conditions heated up as the day wore on and winds picked up in the 10-mph range.
``The wind is probably considered light, but it bumps up our level of concerns,'' said Kevin Koechlein, a fire information officer for the state Division of Forestry. ``Our safety concerns go way up because the fire grows more and becomes more aggressive.''
Koechlein said more crews and equipment were arriving throughout the day to help fight several fires in the region that were burning tundra, scrub willow and black and white spruce. Fire crews also were battling other fires kicking up across Alaska.
Fueled by hot dry conditions all week, the Chicken fire - with its north flank about a mile south of the community - had grown to an estimated 37,000 acres and merged with the 8,800-acre Wall Street fire, about eight miles east of Chicken.
Closer to Tok, the Porcupine fire was estimated at 45,000 acres. The Billy Creek fire, about 60 miles northwest of Tok, was estimated at more than 50,000 acres.
Fires continued to burn across the Taylor Highway at several places, but officials said they would go ahead with plans to reopen it, leading convoys in both directions beginning late Saturday if possible.
Anyone wanting to travel the northbound road was asked to arrive at the Tetlin junction no later than midnight each night. Southbound travelers should be at mile 90.5 at the same time.
The closed strip is lined with burned trees and very smoky in areas, said Dorothy Thayer of Bremerton, Wash., among the first of the stranded travelers to leave Chicken. Thayer - touring Alaska in an RV with her husband, Derrille, and relatives from Tucson, Ariz. - said she was surprised by the intensity of the fires, which gave the smoky sky a yellow cast.
``Sometimes it was so smoky we had to slow down to five miles an hour because we could barely see the car we were following,'' Thayer said. ``It's been an interesting adventure.''
In northeast Alaska, the 75,000-acre Pingo fire was actively burning, fanned by light winds. The fire's edge had moved within eight miles north of Venetie, but the village was free of smoke because the fire was burning so hot it shot plumes straight up, said fire information officer Gary Lehnhausen.
Only about half of the 200 village residents remained. Some were out on the fire lines while others were in Beaver attending a Native gathering, Lehnhausen said. Village leaders were making lists of everyone still left, in case the fire comes closer.
``It's slightly cooler today, but it's still hot,'' Lehnhausen said. ``Our concern is that northwest winds are forecast for Saturday evening, which could cause the fire to spread toward Venetie a lot faster than before.''
The Pingo fire had moved within 20 miles of the 47,700-acre Winter Trail fire and also was growing, he said.
Elsewhere around Alaska, the Boundary fire north of the Steese highway had grown to 38,000 acres. The fire jumped the roadway at mile 57, but the highway remained open Saturday, although fire officials said motorists could expect temporary closures.
Altogether, 54 fires were active across the state Saturday. Crews were fighting nine of the fires, while the rest were being monitored.
So far this year, 312 fires statewide have burned at least 430,013 acres, fire officials said.
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