Tagish Lake Fires (Carcross -> Skagway stops) - Air quality warning

Greetings,

Just left Whitehorse (where I work) to head home to Juneau, and was quite aware of the massive fires in BC near the Alaska border, but was shocked to see the smoke/smog once I got close to Carcross and into BC/Alaska. It seems the entire mountains are on fire (or were). The fires are not being fought, seems the government is just letting them burn, and the winds aren't helping.

Those of you going to Carcross or near Tagish Lake (where these photos were taken) might want to be aware the air quality isn't very good right now. The WPYRR only gets near Tagish Lake at Carcross (there is a river linking them). The winds could easily blow the smoke into Carcross and the Lake Bennett area.

Fraser and Skagway were fine - no direct smoke or fires nearby.

That is so sad [emoji20] to see those beautiful mountains on fire. And the wildlife it is affecting. [emoji22]

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We drove through Tagish last Wednesday (August 14) and saw the fire. At that time the smoke was not bad and the main fire seemed concentrated in one spot. Looks like it was worse by the time you went through.

We were in Jasper, Canada and were smoked-in a week before from fires in British Columbia. Visibility in Jasper was so bad you could not see the mountains surrounding the town.

Wesley

Week before last the fire was just smoldering and looked to be dying out but I returned a few days ago and it has spread significantly some heavy smoke areas depending on winds. At least 5 times bigger than the prior week.

The fire is now out of control and there are fears that it will jump the lake when it reaches the narrows in the next few days. If that happens, the community of Tagish is in great danger. :(

This might be helpful. Zoom in towards the bottom.

https://yukon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=86dfe14788024d8e87608c5017cb4d16

Things are getting bad... the Alaska Highway (Alcan) is now closed at the Yukon border....

I think I combined two fires when commenting. There is a large fire at Watson Lake that has closed the Alcan Highway.

The fire I saw last week was the Windy Arm fire, south of Carcross on the Klondike Highway between Skagway and Carcross. Here is a report from local news:

Yukon Wildland Fire Management says the Windy Arm Fire south of Carcross is sending smoke into the Southern Lakes area and Whitehorse.

That fire is 1,200 hectares in size, but is not a threat to any structures or communities as it burns in the wilderness.

Some preventative burning was done late last week near the mouth of Lime Creek, which stopped fire growth to the north.

Wesley

Have any excursions from skagway cancel going into the yukon?

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Have any excursions from skagway cancel going into the yukon?

No, nothing has been cancelled or will be cancelled - the fire is now moving away from the South Klondike Highway, though it could still threaten a small community far off the excursion routes.

The smoke has reached Vancouver. These pictures are from the north shore across from Canada place. I usually count the number of cruise ships in port while driving across the Lions Gate bridge on my way to work but couldn’t see through the haze.

R

Hi lamchop, didn't see any pictures. Some friends of mine are on the Ruby P. next week an since I've been up to Alaska several times, she was worried about the fires, an I told her not to worry.

Some friends of mine are on the Ruby P. next week an since I've been up to Alaska several times, she was worried about the fires, an I told her not to worry.

The Windy Arm fire, the only one that could have affected cruisers at Skagway, is pretty much out as of yesterday afternoon.