Tok suspends burn permits ahead of Chickenstock festival

The Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection suspended burn permits in the Tok Fire Prevention Area on June 11, citing continued hot weather, lack of rain, and the influx of visitors traveling to Chickenstock in Chicken, Alaska. The suspension prohibits debris pile burning, lawn burning, and burn barrels; cooking and warming fires are still allowed with extreme caution.

The Fortymile Country sits in the heart of one of the most fire-prone landscapes in North America. Interior Alaska's boreal forest — black spruce, dwarf birch, lichen-thick muskeg — burns hot, burns fast, and historically burns big. The Fortymile drainage has carried multiple large fires over recent decades, and Interior fire-season acreage has trended upward as warmer, drier conditions extend the burning window from late spring into early September.

Chickenstock, the annual music festival held in the historic mining community of Chicken (year-round population: a dozen or so), draws thousands of visitors to a single weekend in mid-June. That visitor flood concentrates campfires, vehicle exhaust, and human ignition sources into a remote landscape where firefighting resources are limited and road access is difficult. The Division's suspension is essentially a preemptive measure — keep state firefighting capacity available for a worst-case ignition during the festival window rather than letting it get tied up chasing escaped debris piles.

The suspension follows a June 4 suspension in both the Tok and Delta Fire Prevention Areas. It will remain in effect until conditions change. Permit holders can check status at the Tok permit hotline at 907-883-1413.

Under state law, anyone conducting open burning on state, private, or municipal lands between April 1 and August 31 must hold a burn permit from the Division of Forestry.