Alaska extends fire season to Sept. 14 in Delta, Tok and Copper River areas

Burn permits will remain mandatory for two extra weeks in the Delta, Tok and Copper River protection areas, past the Aug. 31 date when Alaska's fire season normally ends.

Burning is already suspended in two of the three areas. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection listed the Tok and Valdez/Copper River areas as suspended Thursday and is not issuing permits there while that holds. Delta's two zones are open, with permits required and burning allowed. The division sets the status daily.

The extension runs from Sept. 1 through 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. Anyone burning debris piles, brush, burn barrels or agricultural waste on state, private or municipal land in those three areas needs a permit for the full period. Violations of the order may be prosecuted. Campfires less than 3 feet in diameter are exempt and do not require a permit.

Department of Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther signed the public order Aug. 26 under AS 41.15.050. No other part of the state is covered.

The division said the region has not received prolonged, substantial rainfall, leaving organic soils, duff and other forest fuels dried at depth. Periods of rain may come, the division said, but several consecutive days of wetting rain are needed for moisture to reach those deeper layers. Sunshine and high winds can dry surface fuels back to burning conditions within hours.

The three areas have carried restrictions much of the summer. The division suspended burn permits in the Fairbanks, Tok and Delta areas on Aug. 12, citing critical weather. At a Tok community meeting on the Mukluk Fire on Aug. 19, state fire official Rob Allen said the Copper Center area had also drawn attention. "It's been hot and dry here in Tok for, well, all summer," Allen said at that meeting.

A permit does not by itself authorize burning. The division can suspend permits when conditions make burning unsafe, so permit holders must confirm current status before lighting anything.

Permits are free online. Current status and safe burning information are posted at dnr.alaska.gov/burn.