Anchorage is rewriting its nearly 20-year-old community wildfire protection plan to better assess neighborhood risk

By Bella Biondini
Anchorage Daily News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In the face of a changing climate, an updated planning tool will act as Anchorage’s guide to preparing for and living with an increased wildfire risk.

Higher temperatures and longer, drier summers are becoming standard across much of the Lower 48 and in Alaska, said Stephanie Dufek of the Anchorage Fire Department. Over the last two decades, Alaska has experienced several “record-setting” fire seasons, with more than 16 million acres burned since 2004, according to data from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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Dufek is at the head of the municipality’s recent push to rewrite its community wildfire protection plan, which hasn’t been updated in nearly 20 years. The refresh will help residents stay prepared and make it easier for Anchorage to seek federal grants to reduce its fire risk, she said.

Approximately 82% of Anchorage falls within the wildland-urban interface, a factor that inherently increases the municipality’s wildfire risk. This is a zone in a community where homes and buildings are interspersed with adjacent forests and undeveloped land.

“The sooner we can get on board with mitigating the risk to the best of our ability and learning how to be resilient, the better off we’ll be,” said Dufek, a wildland-urban interface project manager for the Anchorage Fire Department.

The plan, a collaborative project, was crafted through partnerships between the municipality and neighboring fire departments, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection and federal public land managers. The city hosted a town hall on Nov. 12 to kick off the public comment period, which will remain open through the end of the month.

“It’s built on the idea that protecting homes and neighborhoods from wildfire requires everyone, including municipal departments, community councils, state and federal partners and residents like you and me,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said during the town hall.

The report acknowledges the “growing complexity” of fire management in Alaska due to the size, frequency and severity of wildfires on the tundra and in its boreal forests.

Firefighting resources in Alaska are also finite. The state Division of Forestry is responsible for protecting more than 130 million acres of land. It can take at least 72 hours for help to arrive from the Lower 48, Dufek said.

As part of the plan, fire managers created a risk chart for Anchorage’s neighborhoods based on factors like the number of dead-end roads, the distance to the nearest fire station and the flammability of existing trees and vegetation. They also considered demographics, such as the percentage of people who may not have a vehicle, Dufek said.

Based on an “extreme” risk rating, some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods are Potter Heights, Glen Alps, Bear Valley, Stuckagain Heights and Eagle River, according to the plan.

The ratings will help the fire department determine the order to perform wildfire mitigation projects, Dufek said. The report recommends a variety of methods fire managers can use to reduce fire hazards around Anchorage.

Some of the methods are similar to those used in a project recently completed along a 3-mile stretch of Campbell Airstrip Road . The wildfire division created a fuel break by thinning the trees along the road and removed debris and vegetation on the forest floor. The access road leads to 200 homes in the Stuckagain Heights neighborhood and acts as an evacuation route.

The plan also encourages clearing near power lines that may become an ignition hazard in the case of a windstorm, the creation of defensible space around homes and permanently funding the Anchorage Fire Department’s new wildfire division.

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