Military Report: The risks of fighting fires in military lands [Video]

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – While working to suppress wildfires always comes with risk, the danger only increases on military training lands where falling trees and flames meet potential explosive outcomes.

As the McDonald and Clear fires spread, some may have found themselves wondering why response to the flames was seemingly limited. That’s because it was in fact limited but for safety reasons.

Military training lands can contain unexploded ordinances such as mines and munitions. These explosives pose additional risks to firefighters and often result in limited responses. In 2019, a fire on military lands began in what is referred to as an impact area. These areas include bombing ranges and they can be quite large. Due to the location and unknown dangers of the location, firefighters “had to wait until that fire got outside that impact area because it was do dangerous to put people on the ground,” explained Beth …