What you need to know:
- Mat-Su Assembly member Ron Bernier’s controlled grass burn near his Meadow Lakes home became the region’s first documented wildfire of the year Thursday when it spread toward a shed and tree line, state and local fire officials said.
- Firefighters arrived around 2 p.m. and fully contained the 1.2-acre Sasbo Bluff Fire by 3:10 p.m., preventing it from reaching trees or structures. Bernier received a written warning for violating an Alaska law against the “uncontrolled spread of fire.”
- Wildfire season officially starts Monday, March 17. Some fire officials warn that unseasonably dry conditions across Southcentral Alaska could set the stage for a record-breaking wildfire year.
PALMER — A controlled grass burn by Mat-Su Assembly member Ron Bernier near his Meadow Lakes home Thursday became the Mat-Su region’s first documented wildland fire of the year when state and local firefighters responded to a call and extinguished the flames, fire officials said.
Firefighters with the West Lakes Fire Department and the state Division of Forestry responded to a call reporting the fire around 2 p.m. Thursday, according to an online state wildland fire dashboard.
State firefighters declared the 1.2-acre Sasbo Bluff Fire fully contained just over an hour later, at 3:10 p.m., Mat-Su Division of Forestry officials said. Photos of the fire were shared in a state Division of Forestry social media post on Thursday evening …