Blaze on Mat-Su Assembly member’s property marks first wildfire of the year

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.

“The fire started as a controlled burn, but first responders described it as running toward the tree line and a shed,” Division of Forestry spokesperson Lily Coyle said in an email Friday. “Meadow Lakes firefighters suppressed the fire before it reached trees or structures.”

The fire was not out of his control, never posed a serious threat and was already out when firefighters arrived, Bernier said in an interview Friday. A neighbor called 911 and reported the fire, he said. He had planned it as the last in a series of controlled cow pasture grass burns conducted on his 74-acre property in recent weeks, he said.

Bernier represents District 7 on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, an area stretching from Meadow Lakes north to Cantwell.

Bernier's property has been the site of two previous large fires, he said. In 2000, a house fire destroyed his cabin and all of his family's belongings. In 2017, a kennel fire on the property killed more than 40 Labrador retriever puppies.

Thursday's blaze was the second of three wildfires recorded by state fire officials this year and one of two on Thursday, Coyle said. Firefighters also responded to a small fire in the right-of-way off the Sterling Highway north of Anchor Point Thursday afternoon, according to the state fire dashboard.

State fire officials issued Bernier a written warning for violating an Alaska state law that prohibits the "uncontrolled spread of fire," following Thursday’s fire, Coyle said. The warning does not carry a fine or require a court appearance, she said.

Bernier said the warning noted he did not have additional people helping him monitor the fire. His family was inside the house conducting homeschool activities while he was overseeing the burn, he said.

“When (fire officials) came out, they had a checklist. Is water on site? Check. Did I have tools? Check. Plus, I had an excavator and skid steer on site as well,” he said. “Since I was the only one outside at that time, that was the only thing they dinged me on.”

Thursday's fire response came just days before the official start of the region's wildfire season, which is set for Monday and marks the date residents must start obtaining permits for fires larger than 3 feet in diameter.

Officials bumped the date up more than two weeks out of concern that unseasonably dry conditions across Southcentral Alaska could set the stage for a record-breaking wildfire year. Fire season typically starts April 1, a date set by state code.

Coyle said state forestry officials posted photos of both the fire on Bernier's property and the one near Anchor Point to highlight the risk such blazes pose this year.

“The two responses yesterday represent early-season fires that are very easy to start in this dead, exposed fuel,” she said. “During this low-snow year, fires will start earlier and more easily than usual. We want the public to be informed of the increased risks any negligence or even just accidents can cause right now, especially in the Division of Forestry’s Coastal Region.”

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com