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Funny River Fire Update
by Brenda Ahlberg
123,649 acres with 20% containment
On Saturday strong southwesterly winds associated with Red Flag Warning weather conditions tested containment lines and pushed the fire’s size to 123,649 acres by 11:30 PM. The lines held and firefighters successfully halted the fire’s northward progress at a fuel break by Brownes Lake, which is south of Sterling and the Funny River Road. Firefighters will continue building and securing fire lines along the fire’s northern edge. Two Air National Guard Black Hawk helicopters arrived and are assisting firefighters with water drops.
On the fire’s western edge near Kasilof, firefighters kept the fire from crossing the Intertie power line that parallels the Sterling Highway. Crews will continue working on extending containment lines on the fire’s west side. Structure protection crews with fire engines are active in areas potentially affected by the fire. No structures have been lost and the fire has not crossed the Kasilof River.
A successful burnout operation took place to protect the remote Bear Creek Subdivision on the shore of Tustumena Lake. Two other burnout operations took place on Saturday and successfully held the fire. Governor Sean Parnell, State Forester Chris Maisch, and Fire Program Manager Tom Kurth will be touring the fire Sunday. The Governor is scheduled to attend the 1:30 PM media briefing at Skyview High School in Soldotna.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough’s Community Emergency Services expanded the Evacuation Watch for the Pollard Loop Subdivision area to include the east side of the Sterling Highway to Funny River Road, and the south side of Funny River Road. This advisory encourages residents to prepare in case they may need to leave their homes. Vegetation remains extremely dry on the Kenai Peninsula. Residents and visitors are urged to use extreme caution with anything that could ignite a fire. Weekend visitors to the area and residents are reminded that fire crews, air and ground equipment are working in close proximity to the Sterling Highway and Funny River Road.
Information about current smoke conditions is available from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation at http://dec.alaska.gov/air/am/smoke.htm
Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Services has set up a call line to help homeowners with fire preparedness. Residents can call (907) 714-2495. Information is available at http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/emergency-mgmt/fire
HEA Taking Precautions as Funny River Fire Grows
by Joe Gallagher
May 24, 2014 – 4:00am – As the Funny River Fire continues to expand, Homer Electric Association (HEA) is taking precautions to protect its transmission lines and continue to provide power to its members.
Friday evening, the fire was very close to two transmission lines that are located between Kasilof and Soldotna, just west of the fire and east of the Sterling Highway.
As a precautionary step, HEA de-energized the transmission line closest to the fire perimeter on Thursday. Prior to the action, HEA reconfigured its electrical system so de-energizing the line had no impact on service to HEA members.
The second transmission line is located closer to the Sterling Highway and further from the fire. However, on Friday evening the fire advanced quickly and it was necessary to de-energize a section of that line between Kasilof and Soldotna. The proactive decision to de-energize the line before the fire potentially burned into it was made in consultation with the Incident Management Team.
The work required a brief ten minute outage at 3:01 am on Saturday that affected the City of Soldotna, Funny River Road, K-Beach Road from Soldotna around to Helmsman Avenue, and the Sterling Highway in Soldotna to just past Skyview High School.
The switching work went smoothly and power was restored to all the affected areas by 3:11 am.
Fire conditions will determine future decisions and HEA will continue to work cooperatively with the Incident Management Team.
HEA will provide updates on its web site, Facebook page, and local media outlets while fire suppression efforts are underway.
For additional information, please call Joe Gallagher at 907-283-2324 jgallagher@homerelectric.com
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