Alaska’s wildfire season is reportedly setting records.
According to FOX Weather, June marked the second-worst on record for acres burned.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Anchorage said this year saw the driest May to June on record.
“This, coupled with the more than 67,000 lightning strikes across Alaska this month, are big factors in why we’ve had 507 wildfires burn 2.7 million acres across the state so far this year,” the BLM Alaska Fire Service wrote on Facebook. “Of that number, 239 are lightning-caused fires that have burned a total of 2.7 million acres.”
Two of the larger wildfires – the East Fork and the Lime Complex – were responsible for burning more than a million acres.
On Monday, rain aided firefighters battling the lightning-sparked Clear Fire, which has been burning near the community of Anderson.
Evacuation orders were in place for all properties accessed by roads, trails or driveways on the west side of the Parks Highway from mileposts 269 to 275.
“It’s not really like a season-ending type of rain, it’s more like a slowing,” said a spokesperson for the wildfire, Mark Enty.
He said that at least one home was lost.
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) has predicted a reduction of fire potential in the late summer and fall across the state.
The agency says nearly 6,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents.
On Tuesday, the National Multi-agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) increased the national preparedness level to PL3 due to “significant fire activity increasing in multiple geographic areas and more competition for national resources.”