Alaska Firefighters Drop Retardant on Munson Creek Fire as Dry Weather Is Forecast

Firefighters continued to battle the 36,600-acre Munson Creek forest fire burning 52 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, on Monday, July 12, as warmer and drier weather was expected to exacerbate the blaze.

The evacuation order near Chena Hot Springs remained in effect as the fire burned about one mile away from the community, according to the Division of Forestry.

This aerial footage filmed by Ira Hardy of the Alaska DNR-Division of Forestry on Sunday shows a water drop and a tanker plane releasing fire retardant near a burn scar, the division wrote in a YouTube caption.

“Two helicopters working on the Munson Creek Fire made more than 110 bucket drops totaling almost 33,000 gallons of water on two parts of the fire, one in the northeast corner east of Chena Hot Springs and one in the northwest corner west of Bearpaw Butte,” the Bureau of Land Management Alaska wrote in a tweet on Sunday. Credit: Ira Hardy/Alaska DNR-Division of Forestry via Storyful