Palmer Municipal Airport with based Air firefighters

Palmer Municipal Airport (IATA: PAQ, ICAO: PAAQ) is a public airport located 1.6 km southeast of the central business district of Palmer, a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. This airport is owned by the City of Palmer. Palmer Municipal Airport has three runways:

• Runway 9/27: 3,617 x 75 ft. (1,102 x 23 m), Surface: Asphalt

• Runway 16/34: 6,009 x 100 ft. (1,832 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt

• Runway 16S/34S: 1,560 x 60 ft. (475 x 18 m), Surface: Gravel

There are 227 aircraft based at this airport: 88% single engine, 7% multi-engine, 3% helicopters and 2% gliders.

Bushfires south of Anchorage

During our visited increasing bushfires were destroying areas north and south of Anchorage. The most serious blaze is the Swan Lake Fire on the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, which had grown to over 160,000 acres (64,750 hectares) and the 3,300-acre (1,335- hectare) McKinley Fire north of Anchorage.

Billowing smoke from the Swan Lake Fire has sent particulate pollution levels in the Kenai Peninsula to some of the worst measured anywhere in the world. Ignited by an early June lightning strike, the fire has snarled traffic and nearly shut down tourism in an area famous for its outdoor recreation. The McKinley Fire has destroyed more than 130 structures, 51 of them primary homes, and displaced hundreds of people in the woodsy area, about 80 miles (130 km) north of Anchorage. The firefighters from the air were based at this time at Palmer Municipal Airport.

All photos Copyright by Rogosz Photography