Tag Archives: fire

11 December 2016

Walk-In Freezer

By icefogger

Fifteen Below

The hardest part about leaving Alaska’s Interior in the winter, is returning to the Interior in the winter. Especially, when you rely on a wood stove for your heat source.

It was in the vicinity of -22F outside when I unlocked the cabin door. My ride from the airport was in a car with a thermometer that stops at -22, and my outdoor thermometer finally gave up the ghost around September.
The thermometer inside the cabin clearly read -15F.

Stoke that fire

The plan:
Get a fire going in the wood stove.
Start the truck, and let that warm up.
Add firewood and plug in the stack robber.
Drive to the store to pick up enough groceries to get me through a day or two.
Return to a slightly warmer cabin, add firewood, turn on the heated mattress pad, then walk over to the neighbor’s for dinner.

Stack robber

What actually happened:
I left Alaska in such a hurry that I forgot to have kindling ready.
First step was to put on a hat and warmer gloves. It was 6pm.
Second step was to split some spruce for kindling.
Once the fire was going, I went out to start the truck, but my neighbor did not plug it in like I requested. For the first time, my Chevy did not start.
Plugged in truck.
Returned to cabin to add firewood and plug in stack robber.
Walked over to the neighbor, and casually mentioned my truck did not start.
Borrowed neighbor’s warm car to drive to town.
Returned with groceries to a cabin that had warmed to -5F. Progress at 8pm.
Added firewood.
Walked over to neighbor’s for a strong cocktail, and dinner.
Returned to my cabin at 10pm to add firewood and crank up heated mattress pad to a level I’ve never experienced before. The cabin was now at +20F.
Went back to neighbor’s for another cocktail.
Returned to my cabin at midnight. The air temperature was +55F inside the cabin. Tolerable. I filled the wood stove, and went to bed exhausted. I had been up for 23 hours. Love travel days.
Was awake by 7am. The cabin was now 65 degrees. The water jug on the counter was starting to thaw; those on the floor were still solid blocks of ice.
It total, in took 36 hours for the cabin to truly heat up, reaching all nooks and crannies, and for walls, furniture and a fully stocked wood pile to stop radiating cold.
Chevy starts up immediately after being plugged in overnight.

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30 October 2016

Campfire vs Bonfire

By icefogger

Mn Campfire
Minnesota campfire

Maybe Alaskans over do it, but campfires up there seem so much larger than in the Lower 48. (Knoxville excluded) Don’t you have pallets down here?
Since I’m on the subject: What’s up with not owning an axe? When showing two near-teens how to properly build/light a fire, I was splitting kindling in a garage with a brick chisel and a drilling hammer! The travesty! Life lessons lose some credibility when one does not have the proper tools, and you are forced to repeat the phrase, “Now, don’t you do it this way.”
In other news, I know what my cousin is getting for X-mas.

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17 October 2016

Wildfires below freezing

By icefogger

Moose Creek Fire
Photo credit: Bob Hallinen/ADN

A wildfire is growing between the towns of Palmer and Sutton here in Alaska. At first report, it was at 10 acres, but the dry autumn and currently high winds have seen it expend to over 200 acres in less than 24 hours. Several fire hoses and water tankers, on site to fight the fire, froze over night.

Another wildfire, estimated at 350 acres in size, is burning in the Northwest part of the state near the community of Noorvik.

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22 April 2016

Campfire

By icefogger

When I first dropped down into Florida, I camped out in the National Forest west of Tallahassee. I rewired a circuit breaker for the camp host before I had even paid for my site. The host came walking up to my tent that evening with some fat wood for my troubles. I’ve been carrying that resin-soaked kindling around ever since.

In Key Largo, I had a gentleman give me some firewood. The stuff was beautiful! I believe he said it was “live oak”, but I could be mistaken. “You use this stuff in campfires?” I asked. It should be savored in wood stoves in minus forty degree weather, not wasted in fire rings in Florida in the summer. Still, I’ve carried six pieces of that around in my small car too.

As the trip winds down, I’ve grown tired of the wood chips, although the wood scent is nice. In “Highlands” I finally broke down and had two consecutive nights with a campfire. That wood: twisted like northern elm, but grained and heavy like oak, seemed to burn forever. The fat wood I think could have damn near started itself. Wonderful stuff all around.

In the end, I left two pieces of the live oak with some campers who were staying a bit longer. It was beautiful stuff, but I wasn’t going to haul it back to Fairbanks just to feel those BTU’s at -40. Not to say, I did not give it some thought.

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14 April 2016

The Everglades

By icefogger

Flamingo, FL
The view from the southern tip of Florida’s mainland

It was an adventure in itself just getting to Everglades National Park. First there was road construction: 50 feet of shoulder smoothing caused a 25 mile long parking lot on I-75. I did not want to drive the I-75 “Alligator Alley” section, which is a toll road, and decided on two lane U.S. Hwy 41. That ended up being shut down due to an accident, and I had to back track to Hwy 29 and take that north to the toll road anyway. Nasty traffic on Florida 997 sealed the deal, and I was over three hours delayed, and arrived when the park offices were shut down.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I gambled on getting into Everglades anyway, even though I knew one camp ground was closed and the main park road engulfed in smoke due to a wildfire.
Long Pine Key campground was closed, with the fire still smoldering all around it, and the park road was blockaded by a ranger saying the park was closed. I was not happy by the news, and argued, sweet talked, pleaded my way into the park. After all, I had called ahead to make sure the road was open. The ranger, very kindly, agreed to let me go to Flamingo, if I followed the escort car and agreed not to come back to the blockade for two days.
The fire was contained, but there was smoke and some smoldering going on, which considering what Interior Alaska’s summer was like last year, this was like driving past a large campfire. The escort left me within three miles, and I drove the remaining 35 miles without company or incident.

Flamingo Marina
Flamingo Marina near the visitor center

I bought a bag of ice at the marina and went to find a camp site, as darkness was near. I had heard about the voracious mosquitos at Flamingo, and I was not disappointed. The horde rivaled anything I’ve experienced in Alaska, with one exception. I set up the tent, grabbed a quick sandwich and jumped inside the tent. Then I spent the next hour hunting down and killing the mosquitos that made it into the tent.

Flamingo campground
Flamingo campground

Flamingo has a couple of camping areas. Since I came in late, and the mosquito horde was already on its evening raiding party, I did little exploring and simply grabbed a site as far away from others as I could. There were very few other campers, and elbow room was ample. Solar powered showers were a nice treat after a day of hiking & bathing in DEET. They were also very hot! yes! at the end of the day.

Flamingo Beach
The beach along the tent only area

There was another loop that was for tents only, and that had a better view of the water, and hopefully a stronger breeze, but I am not so sure. One is not allowed to drive on the grass in the tent only section, so gear must be carried. Although, I didn’t see anyone following that rule. I assume that in prime season, and without a wildfire, the park rangers may have put a stop to those driving across the yard to get to a site.

Everglades is a beautiful and unique park, but come prepared. Mosquitos were minimal during the day, as long as one stayed in the open areas with some sun and a nice breeze.

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26 October 2015

The Force Awakens

By icefogger

It’s Halloween Week

Darth Vader's helmet

The best thing in the recent trailer for the new “Star Wars” flick. Long live Lord Vader.

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11 August 2015

2015 Moves into 2nd Place

By icefogger

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.

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25 June 2015

In the Red

By icefogger

June 2015 Fire Map
Wildfires across Alaska

After a winter with very low snowfall, and the month of May being the warmest on record for Alaska, it should come as no surprise that we have wildfires kicking up all over the state. As of Wednesday, there were 278 fires burning across Alaska.

Every morning, my truck has a layer of ash on it, and outdoor events all over the state are being cancelled due to the nasty air out there. With fires all around Fairbanks, it no longer matters which direction the wind is coming from. The only relief will come from some much needed rainfall, which seems remote at best. Currently, the Tanana Valley is in a Dense Smoke Advisory, but just north of us, a huge swath on either side of the Yukon River is in a Dense Smoke Warning.

With Alaska Airlines now flying to Costa Rica, I’m tempted to just buy a ticket and fly out in search of some air to breathe that doesn’t make my lungs and head ache.

Graphic courtesy of Alaska Division of Forestry

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24 June 2015

Visions of 2004

By icefogger

6-28-04_smoke
South Fairbanks on June 28, 2004. Air quality particulate level at 900 micrograms per cubic meter.

I’m not quite ready to jump on the 2004 Bandwagon, but people in town are cranky with all the smoke, and comparisons with the summer of 2004, when over 6.5 million acres burned, are rampant.

2004 Fire Season Facts:
*There were 701 total fires, with 426 being human caused and 275 lightning caused.
*6,590,140 acres burned (more than 8 times the 10 year acreage average).
*There were 5 days in the summer of 2004 that saw over 200,000 acres burn.
*The Boundary Fire, near Fairbanks consumed 537,627 acres.
*There were 2711 fire fighting personnel assigned throughout Alaska at the highest. 1212 Alaskans & 1499 from the Lower 48. 46 states sent fire fighting resources to Alaska. There were no fatalities or serious injury to any firefighter during the summer of 2004.

I hiked the Chilkoot Trail at the end of June 2004 and stayed in Skagway through July 4th. During the time I was away from Fairbanks, the coals had really hit the fan. On the trail, hikers would occasionally catch a scent of smoke, but we had no idea how much was burning in Alaska and the Yukon. We did notice that there were no mosquitos due to the extremely dry conditions, which is almost unheard of.
My Dad was scheduled to visit soon after the ‘Koot hike, and I tried to get him to come at another time, but he came up anyway. We sat on my deck one evening, and watched a dry-thunderstorm come over the hills. The lightning was fierce, and we saw smoke rising on the horizon within hours, and within a few more, the planes were flying overhead dumping loads of retardant. We decided to drive up to the top of Murphy Dome to get a lay of the land, and from that vantage point, it looked like Fairbanks was surrounded by wildfire. The entire horizon was burning.

There was one night after my Dad left, when the entire ridge was socked in by smoke. It was so thick, that visibility was down to mere feet. I awoke to the crashing of thunder rolling over the hills. There wasn’t a drop of rain. Just thick smoke that would suddenly glow in an eerie, greenish-brown light, followed immediately by a crash of thunder. The most surreal night I’ve ever spent in Alaska. If a fire had started on the ridge that night, I would have heard the crackling of the flames before I would have been able to see any flames.

That was some thick shit.

Stats & photos courtesy of Alaska DEC – Division of Air Quality

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23 June 2015

Smoked

By icefogger

red-flag 3x2

We all knew it was heading this direction with the low snowfall this past winter and the lack of rain this spring.

Over the weekend, more than 100 new wildfires popped up within Alaska. Between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, over 8000 lightning strikes were recorded in the Interior. Of the new fires, most were due to lightning, but 17 are confirmed to be from human activity.

Alaska has basically been in a burn ban, statewide, for a couple of weeks. That means: No campfires, No charcoal grilling and No wood cutting. It’s tinder-dry out there people… Think!

Fairbanks had been spared up until Sunday, when some fires came to life around Nenana. The Tanana Valley is now a smokey bowl, and it was nasty out there today.

Extreme!

It does not sound like we are due for any relief anytime soon. The National Weather Service anticipates that Alaska will see higher than normal temperatures from July through the end of September. Warm surface temperature of the North Pacific and Bering Sea along with a lack of Arctic sea ice are contributing to keep the 49th State warmer than usual.

Graph & photo courtesy of Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry

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