The 2015 Fire Season has seen the second most acres burned since records have been kept. At just over 5.08 million acres, 2015 lags behind only the very smokey year of 2004, when 6.6 million acres burned.
Interestingly, between 1950 and 1989 Alaska had only eight fire seasons with over one million acres burned. Since 1990, we’ve had eleven, including four seasons that saw over three million acres go up in flames. 2009 fell 50,000 acres short of three million.
In June, it looked like this summer would give 2004 a run for its money, but moisture and cooler temperatures since July have slowed the burning down somewhat. Although, there are numerous fires still active, including the 135,000 + acres Hughes fire near the Koyukuk River.
Now that we are well into August and the Brooks Range is expecting over 5″ of snow over the next couple of days, it looks like 2004 will remain safely atop the record book.