however, since control was near there was no 

 appreciable spread. One topographic feature 

 hampering control of the fire was a bald moun- 

 tain that caused the fire to split and form two 

 heads. A note at the July 8/2200 reading indi- 

 cates an interesting general wind situation: "The 

 smoke is still being carried away by the fast 

 surface winds, but as it reaches the flat country 

 at the base of the mountain the smoke rises and 

 forms huge cloud formations." 



The fire was declared under control on 

 August 1 . 



MURPHY DOME FIRE 



No single factor can be pinpointed as the 

 major cause of this fire that scorched 13,300 

 acres. Broken topography to the lee of a broad 

 valley, cumulus clouds and even thunderstorms 

 in the vicinity, and high burning indexes all 

 contributed at various times. This lightning fire 

 started on July 2, 1958, and covered 3 acres at 

 discovery time the next morning. When initial 

 attack forces arrived 5 hours later, it was at 500 

 acres, and by evening was 1,500 acres. The 

 primary fuel at first attack was heavy black 

 spruce, with a light understory of grass, brush, 

 and deadwood. The fire burned through some 

 birch and aspen stands, and near the top of 

 Murphy Dome raced through a gradually thin- 

 ning tundra cover. 



Weather records show that either towering 

 cumulus or mature thunderhead clouds were in 

 the vicinity whenever the fire made a big run — 

 a rather good indication of unstable air and 

 downdraft conditions. The highest burning in- 

 dexes (66 and 58) fell on the 2 days during 

 which the greatest spread occurred — July 5 and 

 13. 



Several features of topography apparently 

 affected the erratic behavior of this- fire. The 

 wind directions recorded at the fire differ from 

 those recorded at Fairbanks. Winds coming 

 across the broad Tanana valley on both the west- 

 ern and southern sides of the fire area were 

 broken by the mountains in which the fire 

 burned. The northeast-southwest flowing Gold- 

 stream Creek and its steep tributaries further 

 complicated the consistency of airflow. The 

 whole topographic complex made it nearly im- 

 possible to predict the path of the fire. 



The fire was declared controlled on July 2.1. 



KENAI LAKE FIRE 



Extremely steep and long, narrow canyons 

 converging at the head of the lake cause strong 

 winds that exhibit daily reversals in direction; 

 3,278 acres was burned on this fire, primarily as 

 a result of these winds. Local night drafts could 

 have been quite gusty and strong and from al- 

 most any direction during the time of the fire's 

 rapid advance. The burning index, recorded at 

 the lower end of Kenai Lake, climbed to 57 on 

 the day of origin.: this is critical for coastal 

 Alaska. 



Clearing fires from homestead preparation 

 and right-of-way construction have caused hun- 

 dreds of acres of forest land to go up in smoke 

 over the past 5 decades. A right-of-way clear- 

 ing fire in National Forest land along Kenai Lake 

 was very small when discovered and first at- 

 tacked on June 10, 1959. The point of origin 

 was in a stand of white spruce where consider- 

 able moss was present; both the rate of spread 

 and resistance to control were rated as high. By 

 evening of June 13, the fire covered about 2,000 

 acres, extending along Kenai Lake for 7 miles 

 and up a 75-percent slope for a mile or more. 

 The major part of the fire burned in good quality 

 black spruce timber. The fire had pretty well run 

 out of fuel on the upper reaches of this steep 

 mountainside, but it was burning at both the 

 left and right ends. The condition of the fire 

 at this time can best be described by quoting 

 from the fire-behavior team's report: 



. . . the fire was burning at about 

 120 chains per hour. The fire was 

 crowning in mostly black spruce timber 

 with a northeast wind blowing at 10 

 miles per hour behind it. There were 

 small spruce needles falling all over 

 the ground as far as 2 miles ahead of 

 the fire . . . 



At 0800 on June 14, the 39 percent relative 

 humidity and the 9 percent fuel moisture indi- 

 cated afternoon burning conditions would be 

 unusually bad. However, the fire made no par- 

 ticular big gains. Fair weather cumulus clouds 

 were overhead from before 1600 until after 

 1800. At 1730 the wind shifted from a prevail- 

 ing northeast direction to southwest, with a 

 considerable increase in velocity. Line was lost 

 at both ends of the fire and along the lakeshore 



70 



