Alaska Wildfire, Smoke, and Air Quality Map
Lightning over the Interior's black spruce and tundra can ignite dozens of fires in a week, and a bad Alaska season can burn more acreage than the rest of the country combined. This page tracks the live layers most relevant to conditions across the state.
Current conditions snapshot
- Wildfires
- 18 active mapped fires attributed to Alaska, about 45,434 acres total. Largest: Tatlanika (28,396 acres, 15% contained)
- Red flag warnings
- No Red Flag Warnings in or near the Alaska map area.
- Smoke
- Medium smoke over parts of the Alaska map area in the latest NOAA analysis (2026-08-09).
- Fire weather
- No elevated SPC fire weather outlook over the Alaska map area today.
- Drought
- Parts of the Alaska map area are moderate drought (D1) on this week's U.S. Drought Monitor.
- Air quality
- No AirNow forecast published for Alaska reporting areas right now.
- River gauges
- 2 gauges at or above flood stage in the Alaska map area (worst: moderate flooding).
Data as of Aug 10, 3:20 PM MDT. Sources: NIFC, NWS, NOAA, EPA AirNow, U.S. Drought Monitor. Map areas are rectangular and overlap neighboring states; open the live map for exact locations.
Fire season and landscape
Activity typically builds in late May, peaks with lightning in June and July, and fades when season-ending rains arrive in late July or August. Many fires in remote limited-protection zones are monitored rather than fought, so they can burn for weeks and hold smoke over Interior communities like Fairbanks for long stretches.
Fire country in Alaska is mostly Interior boreal forest and tundra on state, BLM, and Native lands; the coastal Tongass and Chugach National Forests are rainforest and rarely burn. The hazard profile pairs summer lightning fire with persistent valley smoke, plus spring breakup flooding on the big river systems.
- Remote Alaska fires are often mapped infrequently, so the 24-hour and 7-day satellite hotspot layers are the primary growth signal in limited-protection zones.
- Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley trap smoke under inversions, and the air quality and forecast layers show how long an episode is likely to hold.
- During spring breakup the river gauge layer carries the active hazard, tracking the Yukon, Tanana, and Kuskokwim as ice moves out.
Official Alaska sources
Layer guides for Alaska conditions
Informational only. Not an emergency alert service. Data comes from government sources that can lag, drop, or be wrong at any time. In an emergency call 911 and follow your local authorities. Field Risk Systems is not affiliated with any government agency. See the terms of use and privacy notice.
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The Field Conditions map is published by Field Risk Systems LLC, the developer of Field Risk OS™, the operating system for outdoor programs. See Field Risk OS →