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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Alaska)
Area fire officials responded to four small wildland fires in the Fairbanks area Thursday, and the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning in anticipation of windy and dry conditions forecast for today.
According to Rick DuPueis, coordinator of the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, one of the four fires Thursday ignited when a tree fell on a power line near Chena Ridge Road.
Another fire was the result of an unpermitted burn that escaped a landowner on Yellowsnow Road. DuPueis said the owner was issued a citation.
The cause of the two other fires, one near Chena Pump Road and the other near Totem Drive, are under investigation.
All four fires were contained to one-tenth acre and extinguished, he said.
Today’s red flag warning is in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in anticipation of high winds across portions of the Interior including Yukon Flats, Tanana Valley, Deltana and Tanana Flats, Upper Tanana Valley and the Fortymile country, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service is forecasting a cold front to sweep in from the northwest in the afternoon.
Gusty southwest winds were expected to develop this morning and continue through evening.
Relative humidity is expected to fall below 40 percent and the combination of winds and low humidity will increase the chances for wildland fires.
A red flag warning is issued when conditions are ripe for the development of large wildland fires. DuPueis said this is the second or third red flag warning this season.
While temperatures may remain cool, people shouldn’t be fooled; wildland fire season has arrived in the Interior, he said.
“I know the weather has cooled off a bit,” he said. “But we don’t need warm weather if we have the winds.”