27 May 2014

Good News & Bad News

The good news? It's raining lightly this morning, and the humidity is up. That will help, at least a bit, with the forest fire burning south of Anchorage.

The bad news:

SOLDOTNA - Firefighters anxiously awaited the arrival of rain on the Kenai Peninsula as they worked Monday to contain the edge of a huge wildfire that for the first time crossed to the north side of the Kenai River -- a 300-foot-wide natural fire buffer that failed to keep flames in check.

Winds gusting to 25 miles per hour were pushing the massive Funny River Fire, estimated on Monday evening to be just over 176,000 acres, or about 275 square miles, through an uninhabited area north of the Kenai River outside of the community of Sterling, while firefighters patrolled the western boundary of that blaze and tried to create a barrier for an estimated 100 homes and cabins in a nearby waterfront community in case the wind shifts.

The rest of story can be found at the link, along with a photo gallery.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's always SOMETHING...

Hang-in-there.

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

Thank you, Roseanne Rosannadanna. :)

Max said...

I'm out of the loop a little, is the fire close to you/yours?

Rev. Paul said...

Max, it's about 30 miles south of Anchorage, as the raven flies. But the smoke and ash have blanketed much of southcentral & eastern Alaska.

PioneerPreppy said...

It's amazing how that smoke and ash can spread isn't it?

Hope they get some rain right on the fire to keep it down for ya.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

Great news about the rain, terrible news about the fire buffer.

Be careful there!!!

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy, the winds aloft do a wonderful job of spreading the smoke and ash. We saw the same effects after the eruption of Mt. Redoubt a few years ago, and the subsequent dropping of volcanic ash across the Peninsula and the Anchorage area.

Thank you, Sandy. We continue to pray for more rain.

JMD said...

Well, that is disappointing to say the least. I was hoping for a better update. If we weren't so old and knew how to fight fires ....well, never mind. You understand?

Rev. Paul said...

JMD, I understand; I'm a former firefighter myself, and have done the work - but that was 30 years ago. Meanwhile, just keep praying for rain, on behalf of the hundreds of firefighters that are here now.