New video draws lessons from McKinley Fire

October 7, 2020

Homeowners affected by 2019’s McKinley Fire have shared their experiences in a new video aimed at helping people protect their property from wildfire.

“The McKinley Fire: Rebuilding and Lessons Learned” features interviews with multiple residents of the fire area. The fire destroyed 52 primary residences, three commercial structures, and 84 outbuildings along a 10-mile stretch of the Parks Highway north of Willow. The video also includes accounts by fire personnel and recommendations for protecting homes from wildfire risk.

The video was coproduced by the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Alaska Center for Energy and Power and the Alaska National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

The work was part of EPSCoR’s Fire & Ice project, a statewide five-year study of climate-driven changes to Alaska’s coastal margins and boreal wildfires. The video came about through the efforts of Jen Schmidt, a Fire and Ice researcher who has been studying the social impacts of Alaska wildfires. Schmidt, who conducted the interviews in the video, said she wanted to create an educational product for homeowners in the wildland-urban interface.

“Based on my discussions with Anchorage residents and municipality employees, I knew that wildfire is a concern, and efforts to promote increased resilience towards wildfire were welcomed,” said Schmidt, an assistant professor with the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research. “The world is a busy place, and people are stretched thin, but together we can make a difference.”

The interviews were filmed and edited by ACEP’s Amanda Byrd and EPSCoR’s Naomi Hutchquist. Additional footage was provided by the Alaska Division of Forestry, and both Hutchquist and EPSCoR’s Cassidy Phillips created animations for the video. The video contains content derived from the Anchorage Fire Department’s Firewise wildfire safety program, and the department plans to use the video in its 2021 wildfire education efforts.

“Helping to tell the very personal and often devastating stories of wildfire effects on a community was a unique and humbling experience,” said Byrd, ACEP’s chief storyteller. “Having the video be used to educate homeowners on how to protect their homes and property from future wildfire risk is wonderfully rewarding.”

For more information, contact Byrd at agbyrd@alaska.edu or 907-978-0305.