143 firefighters from the northeast are making their way to Alaska tonight to help battle wildfires.
Officials in Alaska requested the help from our area on Friday.
These men and women will be gone for about two weeks, working 16 hour days and trying their hardest to contain a wildfire which is burning just outside Fairbanks, Alaska.
Once the crews arrive in Alaska they’ll use their training to figure out how to extinguish the fire in the safest manner possible.
Local forestry officials say the blaze which is being called the Stuard Creek 2 fire has consumed roughly 46 sqaure miles.
Assistant Forest Manager, Rick Deppen says the loss of the 19 firefighters in Arizona weighs heavily on the minds of these crew members.
“I’m sure it’s in the back of everybody’s mind but we have a lot of confidence in these crews and their training, we’re always going to fall back on their training, situational training, mitigate the hazards and the risks,” says Rick Deppen.
Deppen believes the crews will be using different aerial tactics to try and extinguish the flames.
People living in the area have been put on evacuation notice.
Officials are reporting the fire is man-made but have not said how it started.