Last weekend, a small fire was reported near the Watson Lake campground outside Sterling in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The fire was the first lightning-caused blaze of the season on the Kenai Peninsula.
The region sees some fires from lightning strikes each year, but most are caused by humans and often stem from campfires. Jeff Bouschor is the refuge’s fire management officer.
“One of our biggest issues that we have is not necessarily people having the campfires, it's leaving them unattended, or when they leave the refuge, they don’t put them out," he said. "We have to respond to that, and that’s one of our primary sources of some of our wildfires, the human-caused fires.”
When starting a fire in a campsite, Bouschor says to only use existing campfire rings and to keep the fire in those rings. If camping in a non-designated camping area, he suggests building your own firepit. Firepits should be no more than three feet around and the bottom layer should be soil or rock. You should only burn wood or tree limbs.
Bouschor says to never leave a campfire unattended. If you must leave a campfire, avoid doing so until the flame is completely extinguished. Bouschor suggests drowning the fire in water, stirring it with a shovel or tool and feeling the ashes or burned wood to confirm it’s out.
“If it’s too hot for you to touch, it’s too hot for you to leave," he said. "Take that extra time, ensure you’re putting your campfires out when you’re done, that way we can all have a safe and enjoyable experience while recreating on the refuge and don’t have to worry about abandoned and unattended campfires.”
Many campsites in the refuge have introduced “Bucket Trees.” Those are simple wood structures that hold buckets that can be filled with water to douse flames. A Soldotna Girl Scout troop developed the bucket tree concept earlier this year as part of the Caring for the Kenai competition.
“Really, what we’re encouraging everybody is just to ensure that they use those where they’re available, and it really just helps us educate the public," Bouschor said. "We just ask when people are out and about recreating, that they’re safe with fire, safe with their campfires and they recreate responsibly.”
If you spot smoke or an unattended fire, report it by dialing 911 or contacting the Alaska Department of Forestry. If you don’t have cell phone service, get to an area with cell coverage as quickly as possible and call.
