Defending Yukon Fish Camps From Fire

Smokejumpers and a hotshot crew are dug in along the Yukon River this week, working to keep a wildfire from reaching the fish camps and Native allotments that families depend on during the heart of subsistence fishing season.

The Canyon Fire, burning about 20 miles west of Rampart, is backing south through hardwoods on the north side of the river, throwing up enough smoke to be seen by boaters and aviators along the Yukon. Crews are building control lines and laying hose specifically to defend two Native allotments, several cabins, and a fish camp in its path.

For now, the threat is close but not immediate. "These areas of point protection are still not immediately threatened by the fire, but conditions are still favorable for fire growth," the U.S. Wildland Fire Service said. Rampart, the nearest community, sits across the river to the east.

The stand at the Canyon Fire is part of a hard stretch across Interior Alaska, where lightning has sparked a wave of new fires and crews are stretched across several at once. Red Flag Warnings — the signal for conditions that drive fast fire growth — remain in effect across much of the Interior.