UPDATE 7:30 P.M.
An aggressive aerial attack has helped tamp down an emerging wildfire off Brock Road in North Pole. Retardant-dropping air tankers and water bombing aircraft have pacified the upstart Brock Road Fire after it ballooned in size from one-half acre to an estimated 50 acres in two hours.
There are now more than 70 firefighters on the ground laboring to secure a control line around the fire, which erupted just before 2:30 p.m. and put up a large smoke column visible from North Pole and Fairbanks. A person flying a drone in the area was the first to report the fire.
U.S. Forest Service: $45,000 worth of vital wildfire-fighting equipment stolen from guard station
By Q13 News Staff
Photo of Baker River Hotshot firefighters courtesy US Forest Service
CONCRETE, Wash. - The U.S. Forest Service is asking the public for help in identifying the suspects who stole an estimated $45,000 worth of wildfire-fighting equipment from a guard station in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
The Forest Service said the theft happened the weekend of Dec. 18-21, 2020, at the Koma Kulshan Guard Station near Concrete that houses the Baker River Hotshot Crew wildland firefighters.
The Baker River Hotshots, officially known as an Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC), is comprised of 20-22 wildland firefighters who respond to large, high-priority fires across the country, according to the Forest Service.
$45,000 of equipment stolen from Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest hotshot firefighters
The Bellingham Herald 1/30/2021 David Rasbach, The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.)
Jan. 30 Thieves stole an estimated $45,000 in wild land firefighting equipment from the U.S. Forest Service Hotshot Compound near Concrete in December, according to a Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest news release.
The Forest Service is now asking for the public s help in getting the vital equipment back and bringing the thieves to justice.
The equipment was stolen the weekend of Dec. 18-21 from the Koma Kulshan Guard Station, which is the home base of the Baker River Hotshot Crew, a highly-trained fire suppression crew founded in 1976. The 20- to 22-person crew spends summers battling large, high-priority forest fires across the U.S., and when needed responds to other emergencies, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.