Winds shifted Monday in Southwest Alaska, pushing a historic wildfire away from St. Mary's for now, officials said
This Friday, June 10, 2022, aerial photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service shows a tundra fire burning near the community of St. Mary's, Alaska.
. The fire was started by lightning on May 31 and has continued to burn through tundra, dry grasses, brush and black spruce.. A change in wind direction paired with favorable weather early this week is expected to move the blaze farther from St. Mary’s and nearby villages, officials said. “Basically we’re creating a line of defense for these communities if this fire decides to get up and move again,” he said.
People voluntarily left the villages over the weekend and about 145 people were relocated to Bethel by Sunday, where two shelters had been set up, according to the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. Residents flew out on commercial airlines or left by boat. “That drying trend, the lack of numerous days of storms that have that real low pressure, that kind of Alaska wet where you layer up -- we need those,” he said. “We need many of them and we need them soon.”
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