Troopers Order Alaskans 'Evacuate Now!' Black Hawk Helicopters Swooping (VIDEO)

Troopers are going door to door telling thousands of Alaskans to evacuate as the roar of Black Hawk helicopters and tanker planes swoop overhead and the roar of a high-wind-driven massive fire threatens lives and homes. 

The wind-driven northern head of the Funny River fire on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula forced evacuations Sunday of some 900 people along a 15-mile stretch near the city of Soldotna on Sunday, as residents left their homes not knowing if the structures would still be standing when they returned.

Sunday evening, the blaze had crossed to the northern shore of the Kenai River and created smaller “spot” fires in the area of Kenai Keys — southeast of the community of Sterling — where authorities issued a separate evacuation advisory as firefighters tried to keep the flames from spreading.

“They threw everything at it,” Kris Eriksen, a public information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, told a group of 50 evacuees who had gathered at a local sports center on Sunday evening.

The Funny River fire had grown to an estimated 243 square miles by 5 p.m. Sunday — compared to 193 square miles as of late Saturday. It’s been burning six days, primarily in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, where it doesn’t pose an imminent threat to people or buildings.

For the last several days, firefighters have been focused on keeping the fire from spreading into two populated areas: a stretch of Kasilof east of the Sterling Highway, and the neighborhoods surrounding 20-mile-long Funny River Road, which meanders just south of the Kenai River between Soldotna and Sterling.

Authorities ordered a hurried evacuation of about 50 homes in Kasilof late Friday as the fire advanced rapidly there. But the blaze slowed when it hit a marshy area and winds subsided, none of the houses burned and residents were allowed to return home.

Since then, focus has turned toward Funny River Road, where Sunday’s evacuation followed a near-miss Saturday when a wall of flames briefly jumped over a fire break and burned several acres before crews could squash them at a hastily-bulldozed secondary line, thanks to airborne tankers dumping loads of fire retardant.

“It was a heroic save,” said Michelle Weston, a public information officer for the management team that’s coordinating fire response here.

Waiting for evacuation

Before an evacuation was ordered for Funny River’s east end area, Dennis Downs, 64, stood atop a boulder at the end of his mother-in-law’s driveway off Alaska View Lane.

As he watched, the fire sent up flames and huge clouds of smoke visible over a ridge to the south. Downs and his wife, Kelly, had no idea whether the blaze was still under control.

The couple had cleared dead trees and dry grass from the home, and a sprinkler was at work gently watering the front patio.

The huge scale of the fire, however, seemed to dwarf those efforts, according to fire officials.