Five wildfires under investigation overnight in southcentral Alaska

Five new wildfires broke out overnight across southcentral Alaska, all under investigation, as a Red Flag Warning is set to cover much of Interior Alaska starting Saturday morning.

The fires have names: Bear, Talachulitna, Trapper, Birch, and Kahitna. They were discovered between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, scattered across a wide swath of the Susitna River basin and surrounding drainages. None has a confirmed size yet. None has a confirmed cause. What is known is that five new fires appeared in a matter of hours, in terrain that is remote and dry, with dangerous fire weather on the way.

The Red Flag Warning runs from 10 a.m. Saturday through 10 p.m. Sunday for Fairbanks, Nenana, Delta, the northern Denali Borough, and McGrath. High temperatures, low humidity, and wind are the concern. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection has already suspended burn permits in the Delta, Mat-Su, and Tok fire prevention areas.

A separate fire near Sterling, on the Kenai Peninsula, was estimated at 5 to 10 acres as of Wednesday. Forestry crews responded near Swanson River Road and Jacobsen Avenue East and called in additional resources.

More than 150 fires have burned roughly 5,330 acres statewide so far this season. The National Preparedness Level has been raised to 3, meaning significant fire activity is straining resources across multiple regions of the country. Alaska is one of them.