1. News ReleaseBLM Alaska Fire Service, Public Affairs Office
1541 Gaffney Road, Fairbanks, AK 99703-0005
Tel: 907-356-5600 Fax: 907-356-5517
www.fire.ak.blm.gov/afs/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE News Release No. 13-07
Contact: Mel Slater, 907-356-5511, mslater@blm.gov Date: 06/13/13
Smoke visible within the Yukon Training Area
FAIRBANKS -- The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service and the U.S.
Army Garrison-Alaska reports that decomposing wood chips and organic debris that has
accumulated over several years is burning within the Yukon Training Area.
Removal of these chips and organic mat will help increase the establishment of annual
grasses that sustain short term prescribed fire implementation and monitoring.
Smoke may be visible from Eielson AFB, Two Rivers, North Pole, Salcha area and
Alaska Hwy 2. The smoke generated from this process may last throughout the summer.
For more information contact the Public Affairs Office at 356-5511.
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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland
fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in
Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy;
oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced
communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National
Incident Support Cache with a $10 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression
services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural
Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and
the U.S. Military in Alaska.