The 56-acre fire at the Berners Bay area is no longer a threat, according to the U.S. Forest Service
The fire, which started at Antler Flats area May 31, never grew larger than the 56 acres and was officially controlled Sunday afternoon, according to USFS spokesperson Paul Robbins. The fire was fueled by grass and trees around the beach and did not impact people or structures, Robbins said.
Eight firefighters from two Forest Service firefighting crews, Juneau and Hoonah, worked to contain the blaze through Sunday, Robbins said. The area where the fire was located could only be accessed via boat and plane. There are no active firefighters at the scene, but a team will go back to the site of the fire later this week and do an assessment hoping to find out a cause for the fire.
This marks the sixth, and largest fire, in the Juneau area this year. While fires are not necessarily an unusually occurrence in the area, one of this size is, Robbins said.
“The numbers of fires is not too odd,” Robbins said. “But to have a fire this size is definitely different. A 56-acre fire is pretty significant.”
Prior to the fire at Antler Bay, the largest fire in the area occurred at Lucky Me, south of Juneau, and was 1.5 acres by comparison, Robbins said. The rest of the fires were all approximately one-tenth of an acre.Those particular fires were campfires that were founding burning beyond their ring, Robbins said.
Antler Flats is in the northeast section of Berners Bay at the end of the Antler River.
• Contact reporter Gregory Philson at gphilson@juneauempire.com or call at 523-2265. Follow him on Twitter at @GTPhilson.
