Tok evacuation order still stands after phone alert expired Tuesday

The order telling parts of Tok to leave is still in force. The phone alert that carried it is not.

The wireless Evacuation Immediate message sent to phones at 1:16 p.m. Monday carried a 24 hour life. The national public alert feed shows it expired at 1:16 p.m. Tuesday. It has not been reissued, and as of Wednesday morning no alert of any kind was active anywhere in Alaska. No state or federal record reviewed for this account says whether a wireless alert is meant to be reissued during a multi-day evacuation, or how residents are expected to learn of a change now.

The evacuation itself has not been lifted. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, in an update posted at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Level 3 GO evacuations remain in place north of the Alaska Highway from Mackenzie Trail to East 5th Street, including Red Fox Drive. The Alaska Highway remains open as of that update. The division has kept using other channels: more than 100 people attended a community meeting in Tok on Tuesday evening, a recording was posted to the division's Facebook page and YouTube channel, and the division said it would update again Wednesday morning.

The Mukluk Fire has since moved through one of the streets named in that order. "The fire has crossed Red Fox Drive and continued northeast toward the Tanana River," the division said in the same update. Embers carried by the wind have started spot fires up to half a mile ahead of the main fire. Crews are assessing whether the fire has reached or crossed the river. The division put containment at 16 percent, the first such figure of the incident, with the secured portion inside the community of Tok. Satellite mapping put the fire at 5,077 acres, down from the 5,533 acres the state had given Tuesday afternoon; the state said heavy smoke and clouds obscured the fire's north and northeastern edge, so the acreage figure is expected to keep changing as mapping improves. No additional houses were reported lost Tuesday, against the roughly 20 already damaged, though crews are still assessing.

Nearly 200 firefighters are assigned to the fire. The southeast edge is the most active, and crews are building fireline through thick spruce on the western and northeastern sides to keep the fire from turning back west toward more homes.

Residents have been going back in. "Residents must not enter the evacuation area. People returning to evacuated neighborhoods are putting themselves at risk, blocking access and delaying firefighters," the division said. It listed active fire, burning hazardous materials, downed powerlines, hidden ash pits and falling fire weakened trees.

The National Weather Service had no active watches, warnings or advisories anywhere in Alaska when the alert feed was checked Wednesday morning. Forecasters are not saying the danger has passed. In a spot forecast written for the fire agency at 5:46 a.m. Wednesday, NWS Fairbanks forecaster Schlezinger wrote that "another day of near-critical fire weather conditions is expected as high pressure builds into the Eastern Interior," with minimum humidity approaching 25 percent if highs near Tok reach 73 or 74 degrees. It is the third such forecast in a row for this fire.

The chance of wetting rain in the valleys is near zero Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast puts the next possibility as early as Saturday, with very low confidence. The fire started in a backyard off the Alaska Highway near Sundog Trail shortly before noon Monday. Governor Mike Dunleavy has declared a state disaster emergency for the Alaska Gateway REAA, including Tok. Residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed can apply for Individual Assistance through the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management through Oct. 19, covering housing repairs, temporary housing, essential personal property, and transportation costs not covered by insurance. Shelters remain open at the Tok Dog Mushers Association Hall at 1311 Alaska Highway and at the Tok School on Jon Summar Drive.