Mukluk Fire evacuation order shrinks to properties inside the burn near Tok

Residents of Tok's Midnight Sun Zone outside the Mukluk Fire's own footprint may now return home, while properties that burned remain under the Level 3 GO! evacuation order, the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection said in its Aug. 25 update.

The fire has burned 7,333 acres and is 29% contained, the division said in its Aug. 27 update. That is up from 7,260 acres two days earlier, with containment unchanged. Personnel assigned to the fire rose to 361.

The Mukluk Fire started Aug. 17 near the Alaska Highway west of Tok and moved through the Midnight Sun neighborhood. The division has said 44 homes were destroyed. Governor Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration on Aug. 19 for the Alaska Gateway Regional Education Attendance Area, including Tok, and the state activated individual assistance and two evacuation shelters, the Tok Dog Mushers Association hall and Tok School.

The division is leading a formal investigation into the cause, assisted by two Cal Fire investigators and by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Initial reports indicated a human-caused start involving powerlines, but the fire officially remains under investigation until all potential causes are analyzed, the division said. It says human-caused means only that the ignition was not lightning.

Seven crews of about 20 firefighters each are stabilizing the burned neighborhoods, extinguishing lingering heat around homes, driveways and roads, cutting unstable trees and gathering woody debris, the division said. An Aug. 25 update said firefighters are gridding the area to systematically locate and extinguish remaining heat within 50 feet of structures, roads and driveways. Drones with infrared cameras are flying sections of the perimeter to pinpoint remaining heat, and a mulcher is grinding brush. One group of firefighters is working alongside Alaska Power & Telephone crews clearing rights-of-way and repairing the power grid. About half an inch of rain fell on the fire area in recent days.

At a community meeting in Tok on Aug. 23, incident official Adam Kohler said "those hazard trees out there are posing enough of a threat," and estimated "generously give us a week" of work.

The fire information line, (907) 505-0362, is staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.