The 2024 Riley Fire at Denali: How Planning and Partners Contained It

On June 30, 2024, the Riley Fire was reported on Denali National Park and Preserve land about a mile north of the park entrance, in the Nenana River canyon. In extremely dry conditions it spread fast through spruce, alder and birch on steep ground near the Alaska Railroad. The same day, the Denali Borough and the park issued evacuation notices and set up an evacuation center at the Tri-Valley Community Center in Healy. The park closed temporarily, and park and partner employees living in some housing areas near the entrance were evacuated.

Smoke from the Riley Fire in the Nenana River canyon, just outside Denali National Park and Preserve. Sarah Stehn, NPS.

Fighting the fire

Because the fire threatened park facilities, multi-million-dollar visitor infrastructure in the canyon and power supplies, and had forced evacuations, a Complex Incident Management Team took charge. At its peak, up to 240 people worked the fire, which burned 436 acres. Local and aerial crews held it in the first attack while more crews and smokejumpers mobilized. Help came from:

• the Bureau of Land Management's Tanana Fire Management Zone and 22 BLM Alaska Fire Service smokejumpers;
• the Tanana Chief Fire Crew;
• the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection;
• the Tri-Valley and McKinley Village volunteer fire departments;
• four interagency hotshot crews from the Lower 48 — Alta, Mill Creek, Smith River and Golden Eagles;
• four helicopters and many local crews, including the National Park Service's Western Area Fire Management team.

A local crew digs fireline on the Riley Fire. Bradley Hagstrom, NPS.

A morning briefing at the Riley Fire. Keith Mitchell, NPS.

A century apart

Fire had come to the park's front country before. The Riley Fire began almost exactly 100 years after a major fire in the summer of 1924, when Superintendent Harry Karstens and his small staff saved the park headquarters; late-July rain finally put out that fire after it had burned an estimated 35 square miles.

Planning paid off

In May 2024, the park, the Denali Borough and other partners had run a fire simulation exercise, and the incident management team put that planning to use. The working relationships already in place made a complex fire easier to manage.

An NPS Alaska wildland fire truck at Denali during the Riley Fire. Lexie Regetz, NPS.

With help from local and out-of-state partners and fire agencies, and that advance planning, the park returned to regular operations only 11 days after the fire started, with minimal harm to park resources. On Wednesday, July 10, the Park Service and the Denali National Park Tours Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture welcomed visitors back.

After the fire

When suppression and repair work ended, a small Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team assessed the fire's possible effects on cultural resources, the spread of invasive plants, burn severity and slope stability. Monitoring of the fire's effects on the land and its resources will continue over the next four to five years.

A BAER team assesses the aftermath of the Riley Fire. Katie Asselin, USFS.

Sources

• National Park Service, Denali National Park and Preserve: "Partnerships and Planning contribute to successful suppression of the 2024 Riley Fire in Denali National Park and Preserve."