Most of what the Tok fire burned was outbuildings. Aid may not cover them.

Most of what the Mukluk Fire destroyed near Tok was not houses, and the aid program for the people who lost those buildings mostly does not cover them.

The state's damage count, finished Aug. 30, found 50 homes destroyed and 108 outbuildings — sheds, garages, workshops and other secondary structures. More than two-thirds of the buildings lost were outbuildings.

The only help available to those households is a state program, because FEMA's declaration for the fire covers public infrastructure but not individual families. And the program's own rules say it "generally will not include cosmetic features, landscaping, outbuildings, sidewalks and driveways." The housing grant, up to $22,400, applies to the essential living areas of a primary home: bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchen, the foundation and structure.

A second grant of the same size may reach more of the loss. It covers personal property, including tools, appliances, and subsistence equipment or structures. But the state does not say whether property lost from inside an outbuilding qualifies, and its advice is to apply and let the program decide.

That uncertainty is the state's central message. "I really would encourage everyone to go and apply for that individual assistance, even if you're not sure that you have damages that are eligible," said Jeremy Zedek of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Registration runs through Oct. 19, by phone at 844-445-7131 or at Ready.Alaska.Gov. The state has not said how many households have applied, how many have been approved, or how much has been paid.

For residents shaken by the fire, behavioral health staff at the Upper Tanana Health Center are taking appointments and walk-ins, reachable through Tanana Chiefs Conference at 907-883-5855.

Out on the burn, the work has shifted from fighting the fire to undoing the damage the fight caused. Two excavators traveled about three miles up the eastern flank last week to push soil back into the berms dozers scraped up during the fire, restoring the natural contours and cutting the risk of erosion where the ground is permafrost. Crews repaired more than a mile of dozer line and graded the unpaved roads south of Red Fox Drive. Roads will be left "in the same or better condition than before suppression activities began," the forestry division said.

Debris cleared off ATV trails has been piled near the Midnight Sun Road and Red Fox Drive intersection, to be burned this winter.

The fire started Aug. 17, burned 7,335 acres and stands at 29 percent contained. It has stayed inside its footprint since Aug. 27, and evacuation orders lifted Aug. 29. Thirty-seven personnel remain assigned.