Renewing a Wildfire Fuel Break at Wrangell-St. Elias

The University Subdivision Hazard Fuels Break before treatment in 2011, one year after in 2012, and 11 years after in 2022. National Park Service.

In July 2023, National Park Service fire staff and two all-women crews from the Student Conservation Association (SCA) finished maintaining the University Subdivision Hazard Fuels Break in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The 23-acre project keeps a defensible space that wildland firefighters can use if a fire threatens homes or property near the University Subdivision.

The original break

The fuel break sits along the southern edge of the community of McCarthy, Alaska, where it meets the park. It was first cut in summer 2011. Crews used chainsaws to thin and clear flammable spruce, brush and dead vegetation from the private property line to 50 feet into park land. They piled the debris by hand and burned it in 2012, once it had dried and the weather allowed.

Growing back

A fuel break works only while it stays clear. A decade later, park fire staff saw that new growth was weakening it and planned its first full maintenance treatment. They also saw the job as an excellent training opportunity for the two all-women SCA crews that the Park Service was hosting in Alaska in 2023.

The ten women on the crews had just qualified as wildland firefighters and chainsaw operators and were keen to use their training. Led by an experienced Park Service wildland firefighter, they set up a base camp near the site and spent ten days sharpening their chainsaw and backcountry camping skills. They finished a large share of the work, which let park fire staff complete the whole project by mid-July. The new round of thinning left many more debris piles, to be burned when conditions are right.

Why it matters

Keeping existing fuel breaks effective takes periodic work, and this project shows how park fire staff and partner crews can share it: the community keeps its protection from wildfire, and a new group of firefighters gets real experience.

Sources

• National Park Service, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, "Fuels treatment provides wildfire protection and training opportunity for new recruits." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/fuels-treatment-provides-wildfire-protection-and-training-opportunity-for-new-recruits.htm