Arctic wildfires (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai: apartment, price, trees)

[yinduffy]

I have seen a spate of posts regarding wildfires this Summer in the Arctic, including Alaska. Is that true? How common are wildfires in Alaska and does the smoke cause problems with people with asthma or the like?

[AKStafford]

We have wildfires every summer. Some years are worse than others, but it's nothing new. Most are in unpopulated areas and are allow to burn out.
Smoke problems depend on wind direction and how near the fire is to a populated area.

[Parnassia]

Wildfires occur pretty much every year, most often in the Interior...drier and warmer summers. They can smolder for months. Also on the Kenai Peninsula. There is a lot of beetle-killed spruce to fuel fires. Yes, if you happen to be close to a fire and have asthma, you can certainly be affected.

[Music_Man]

If we stay in our igloos there is no problem.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Parnassia

Wildfires occur pretty much every year, most often in the Interior...drier and warmer summers. They can smolder for months. Also on the Kenai Peninsula. There is a lot of beetle-killed spruce to fuel fires. Yes, if you happen to be close to a fire and have asthma, you can certainly be affected.

Do you have peat there that would burn a long time once ignited?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Music_Man

If we stay in our igloos there is no problem.

My niece moved to Anchorage a few months ago after graduating with an engineering degree. She said even an igloo apartment was outrageously priced.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Do you have peat there that would burn a long time once ignited?

Yep. I remember a fire in the Fairbanks region that popped up one summer that was ignited from smoldering ground from the year before.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by yinduffy

I have seen a spate of posts regarding wildfires this Summer in the Arctic, including Alaska. Is that true? How common are wildfires in Alaska and does the smoke cause problems with people with asthma or the like?

Arctic fires? Not so much. Most fires in Alaska occur south of the arctic circle where there are taller trees and more of them.

[Northrick]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

Arctic fires? Not so much. Most fires in Alaska occur south of the arctic circle where there are taller trees and more of them.

While true that most of the fires burning this year in Alaska are south of the arctic circle, I counted at least a dozen of them on this map https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/app...f6b1222a207ef1 that are at or above the arctic circle.

[Arktikos]

It could be worse, as it is in Russia. https://www.sciencealert.com/unprece...re-astonishing