USFS 



Figure 63. — Kenai Lake fire 1 year after if burned. 



road, and many summer homes in the Snug 

 Harbor vicinity were endangered. The fire be- 

 came extremely active for a short while but 

 slowed down as soon as the wind slackened. 

 The wind shift on the fire may have been caused 

 by a major shift in pressure patterns aloft; evi- 

 dence for this might be the disappearance of 

 small cumulus clouds from the area. A special 

 fire-weather forecast could possibly have warned 

 the fireboss that such a situation might occur. 



This was the last significant advance of the 

 fire; it was declared under control 2 days later. 



COLORADO CREEK FIRE 



Brisk winds, highly flammable fuels, steep 

 topography, and unprecedented critical fire 

 weather all contributed to the difficulties of pre- 

 dicting fire behavior and of taking adequate 

 control measures on this 6,000-acre fire. 



This fire is thought to have been set by an 

 incendiarist on June 17, 1959. By early morning 

 on June 18, 100 acres of muskeg had burned and 

 burning was intense on each of the 3 days fol- 

 lowing ignition. Such critical fire-weather factors 

 as those listed below were never before re- 

 corded in Interior Alaska: 



Fuel Moisture Relative 

 Date St'ck Slat Temperature humidity 



Percent Degrees F. Percent 



June 18 



7.7 



2.4 



86 



24 



19 



6.9 



1.7 





19 



20 



7.1 



1.6 



83 



21 



On June 18, a brisk gusty wind began by 

 0700 and persisted throughout the day. Before 

 1300, surface winds carried the smoke away 

 near the surface; but after that time the column 

 rose rapidly to extreme heights. Fair weather 

 cumulus were present from 1300 on. By 1400 

 the fire was racing through muskeg at the rate 

 of 60-chains-per-hour forward travel. Fast 

 spread continued for about 2 hours. 



On the morning of June 19 the sky was 

 clear and wind speeded up to a maximum of 8 

 miles per hour. The fire jumped the control line 

 and headed out at a rate of approximately 400 

 chains per hour. Black spruce became part of 

 the fuel at the fire's head. The smoke column 

 rose for several hundred feet, then flowed with 

 the upper wind; however, as the day went on, 

 the fire slowed down and the smoke column 

 tended to toadstool; at this time the cirrus and 



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