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Nov 12, 2023

Red Flag Warnings and Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection burn permit suspensions for June 5, 2023

By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection on June 5, 2023 The DOF

By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection on June 5, 2023

The DOF Valdez/Copper River Area office is issuing a burn permit suspension for Monday, June 5 due to predicted Red Flag conditions bringing hot, dry and windy weather. Burning of debris piles or utilizing a burn barrel is prohibited. Please note that cooking and warming types fires are still allowed but extreme caution must be used due to high wildfire potential should an ember escape or a fire be left unattended or not completely put out.

Please check https://dnr.alaska.gov/burn/fireareas/valdez-copper-river for the most current updates and contact the burn permit hotline with questions at 907-822-8665.

A Red Flag Warning is in effect from noon to 9:00 p.m. Monday night in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Copper River Basin areas due to hot, dry, and windy conditions. Warmer and drier conditions will continue through at least the first half of Tuesday. Southeasterly winds will develop along Turnagain Arm, the Knik River Valley, and Copper River Basin this afternoon and continue late Monday evening or early Tuesday morning before diminishing. Th combination of dry air and gusty winds will allow for minimum relative humidity (RH) values to drop to between 15% and 25% in the Copper River Basin and between 20% and 30% across the Mat-Su Valley this afternoon and evening. Minimum RH values are expected to trend slightly higher for Tuesday with cooler temperatures.

State law requires those wanting to conduct any open burning on state, private and municipal lands from April 1 through Aug. 31 to get burn permits from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection either online or at your local Forestry office. This includes burning brush piles, using burn barrels, agricultural burning and burning of maintained lawns. Burn permits are NOT required for camping, cooking or warming fires less than three feet in diameter with flame lengths less than two feet high. However, it's not suggested during windy days or when and where there are red flag warnings.

You can also find more information about the Forestry burn permit program and suspensions at https://dnr.alaska.gov/burn

For current information on DOF Burn Permits, call the hotline at DOF Area Offices:

Categories: Alaska DNR - Division of Forestry (DOF), burn permit suspension, Red Flag Warning

Tags: 2023 Alaska Fire Season, Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection, burn permit suspension, Red Flag Warning