Fire contained one mile from Trans-Alaska Pipeline near Livengood

A wildfire ignited Saturday within one mile of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline near Livengood before smokejumpers and aircraft fully contained it the same day.

The Ready Bullion Fire burned east of the Elliott Highway near milepost 74, close to the Livengood airport, smoldering and creeping through spruce, hardwoods, and brush before crews stopped it at an estimated half acre. Eight smokejumpers, three single-engine water-scooping planes, and an air attack plane responded, according to the U.S. Wildland Fire Service.

The pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to the Valdez Marine Terminal, crossing the Elliott Highway corridor multiple times. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates the system, states on its emergency response page that "Protecting TAPS is one of Alyeska's highest priorities. Alyeska's emergency response program is designed to quickly and effectively respond to incidents to minimize impacts to people, the environment, and the pipeline."

Smokejumpers are scheduled to conduct a final hotspot search Sunday before declaring the fire out. The U.S. Wildland Fire Service called Saturday's update the final one, barring unforeseen changes.

The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service, headquartered at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, operates smokejumper and aerial resources that respond to Interior Alaska fires, including those near the pipeline corridor. Smokejumpers carry enough food, water, and equipment to sustain themselves for 48 hours, according to the U.S. Forest Service, and focus on initial attack of small fires before they grow.

The boreal forest around Livengood is wildfire-prone, and the Elliott Highway corridor sits inside a landscape where fires that escape initial attack can threaten above-ground pipeline segments and the access roads Alyeska depends on for maintenance and emergency response. Sunday's hotspot search will determine whether Saturday's containment holds.