CARIBOU HILLS FIRE FACT SHEET

Fire Name:	Caribou Hills	Start Date:	6/19/07
Fire Number:	703278	Start Time:	5:34 pm
Federal #:	DJZ3	Contain/Control Date:	7/19/07
Location:	Deep Creek, 5000 Road, Caribou Hills Rec Area, Ninilchik 40, Caribou Lk, & Moose Horn Subdivisions	Fire Out: Final Size:	56,254 acres

 

Fire Suppression Agency:	Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF)
Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT):	Jandt
Type 3 IMT:	Lambright
Fuels involved:	Mixed Hardwoods, Grass, Live and Beetle-Killed Spruce
Fire Cause:	Human-caused: spark from grinder

Maximum number of personnel on Caribou Hills Incident: 626 on 6/27/07
Structures lost (estimated): 110: 44 on Private, 35 on State permitted, 31 on State trespass.
Weather Data at Initial Attack: Temp 76F, RH 32%, Wind SW, 2-9mph, FWI High.

Fire Spread:
50 Acres	6/19, 5:54pm		12,000 Acres	6/21	Type 2 IMT
200 Acres	6/19, 7:50pm		50,000 Acres	6/22
1,000 Acres	6/19, 11 pm		55,638 Acres	7/06/07	demobed
4,000 Acres	6/20		56,254 Acres	7/19/07	contained/controlled

 

Land Ownership:	Acres:	Protection Level:		Land Ownership:	Acres:	Protection Level:
STATE	31,589 Acres	FULL		KNWR	6,400 Acres	FULL
NCA, CIRI	12,838 Acres	FULL		KPB	772 Acres	FULL
PRIVATE	4,360 Acres	FULL		BIA	295 Acres	FULL

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS: Fire reported June 19, 2007 at 5:34 pm by a resident as an escaped grass fire. Helitack launched and immediately reported a 600-800 foot smoke column. DOF Engines responded. Forestry’s I.C. Terry Anderson ordered VFD resources and dozers. At 5:54 pm helitack reported 60 acres spreading with structures threatened. DOF dispatch ordered ASM, Air Tankers, SMJs, handcrews, and additional air resources. At 6:30 helitack evacuated two people. By 7:50 pm, 2 loads of aerial retardant had been dropped on the fire and Air Attack reported 200 acres. By 9:00 pm, two SMJ loads, 2 helicopters doing bucket work, two heavy Air Tankers, and 3 Dozers were on site and the fire was on both sides of Deep Creek drainage. By 11:00 pm, five retardant loads were on the fire, which was estimated to be 1,000 acres. Five structures were protected and one was burned.

The fire continued to spread in a southerly direction on June 20th on the south side of Deep Creek. At 10:00am on June 21st, Dave Jandt’s Type 2 IMT assumed command of the fire. The same day in the late afternoon, the wind shifted to the southwest and the 4,000 acre fire blew north, back across Deep Creek, where it made a tremendous run thru the Ninilchik Forties Subdivision and the Caribou Hills Recreation Area. Many structures were burned. In the following days, evacuations and structure protection continued in the Caribou Hills and structure protection at the Caribou Lakes and Moosehorn Subdivisions to the south. The fire continued to burn on the northeast corner in a wilderness area of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The IMT transitioned to Type 3 on July 3rd, and the suppression resources were demobilized on July 6th. The fire was declared contained and controlled on July 19th after a fly-over by the FWS. Local residents continued to report isolated flare-ups and smoldering in berms along the 5,000 Road through September. Total estimated cost to suppress Caribou Hills Fire exceeds $ 8 million.