Gannett Glacier Fire Crew

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United States
Palmer, AK
Gannett Glacier Fire Crew

Type 2 Initial Attack Fire Crew based out of the Matanuska-Susitna Area. State of Alaska Division of Forestry -invictus maneo-

08/19/2025

Summer fun under the high desert sun

08/06/2025

Our summers are lit
what does yours look like?

06/19/2025

Gannett Glacier has touched down at the Oskawalik fire and is putting down hard work for the first Alaskan wilderness fire of the season!

05/08/2025

Wednesday's are for the burns 🔥🔥🔥

04/26/2025

Today we just wrapped up the critical 80. The crew has been trained to deal with the unique challenges of fighting fire in Alaska and ready to take on the 2025 season!

04/08/2025

Who is Henry Gannett, the very man that our crew is named after?

Henry Gannett was an explorer, geographer, cartographer, and the pioneer of the USGS topographical map. Henry had quite the life as he partook in expeditions to Puerto Rico, the Philippines, the American West, and to where the namesake of the crew is, Alaska. Henry wrote of forest conservation and would hang around the likes of John Muir. Henry's spirit of adventure, stewardship of the land, and embrace of exploring the world would elevate Henry Gannett into legend for every American explorer and mountaineer.

Gannett Glacier is in the Chugach mountains in South Central Alaska. Legend has it, the original founders of Gannett Glacier Fire Crew were prominent ski bums (a proud tradition continued by crew members to this day) and loved to ski down the glacier from Mount Gannett. So when the time came to name this new crew that emerged from the Mat-Su fire module, Gannett Glacier was chosen.

Some say that Henry Gannett is still the best skier on the mountain....

03/19/2025

As the off-season is ending, we're excited for those returning to the crew as well as welcoming our new crew members into the fold. Saw Boss Sam Dix (pictured) is especially excited to be mentoring new sawyers in the way of the saw!

09/02/2024

Gannett Glacier is on our 3rd roll on the Sandstone and Blister Fires, near Ripplebrook, Oregon. The crew put in some solid hot line construction on the Blister Fire in our first days here. We continued past the Blister to connect indirect line to the Sandstone Fire, which was a separate start from the same lightning storm that started the Blister, located nearby.

The crew got to do what an AK crew does best: spike out between two fires. Saw teams cut out a helispot at our camp and multiple sling sites along the line. Slinging our gear out via helicopter: our Helicopter Crewmember (HECM) trainees got some more good experience manifesting and packaging sling loads, managing helispots, and communicating with pilots.

With some cooler weather and higher relative humidity: the Sandstone calmed down enough to where the crew could safely switch gears from indirect attack to direct. In very steep terrain: the crew engaged in securing the northwest edge of the fire 5’ in. Once complete: the crew split off a squad to tackle the near-vertical northeast side of the Sandstone Fire, securing edge and opening up heavy downed logs and stumps burning deep into the ground to allow incoming rain showers to assist in mitigating the fire.

The crew took days off, reset, and returned to the Sandstone and Blister Creek Fires.

Invictus Maneo

07/22/2024

Gannett Glacier continued gridding, mop-up, and backhauling equipment from the Montana Creek Fire #312. With the fire reduced in complexity from a Type 3 incident to a Type 4: our Superintendent took over as the ICT4 of the fire from the Wyoming Type III Incident Management Team. This has also provided an excellent training opportunity for our Saw Boss acting as an IC trainee.
Morale remained high, as our new firefighters continued to learn and build on their skills with mopping up fire in Alaska. Even with wetting rains that occurred: fire burns deep in the Alaska fuel type of tundra and boreal forest, and requires a special attention to detail to ensure hotspots are 100% out.
We’ve grown tremendously as a crew over the past few months, and we’re proud to have left the Gannett Glacier stamp on the Montana Creek Fire.

The crew refurbed, had days off, geared up for the lower 48, and traveled to Oregon over the weekend. We’re now headed to the Knot Fire near Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Invictus Maneo.

07/05/2024

Gannett Glacier finished out our first full roll of the season. The majority was spent on Preposition at Harding Lake Recreation Area doing fuels mitigation work in the campground. Near the end of the roll: the crew was ordered to the Deep Fire #213 just south of Lake Minchumina, joining smokejumpers and Grangeville Helitack as the first hand-crew on scene. Gannett put in over a mile of line and laid over 7000' of progressive hose lay to secure 5' in on the left flank. There was a large airshow over the fire, with VLAT's and SEAT's dropping water and retardant to slow the fires growth while the crew operated.
The crew also put in 3 sling sites along our line to sling load in hose, appliances, and water.

After demobing: the crew had a couple days off on RnR, then were ordered to the Montana Creek Fire #312 near Talkeetna.
Assisting in the Initial Attack efforts cutting saw line and securing the fires edge: the crew has been putting in some hard work to keep our home unit safe.
Now moving into mop-up: Gannett Glacier is working alongside other Alaska and lower 48 resources to ensure the fire is 100% out.

Invictus Maneo.

06/24/2024

Gannett Glacier has been ordered to the Deep Fire #213 near Lake Minchumina.

Invictus Maneo.

06/15/2024

Two weeks ago: Gannett Glacier crewmembers joined other agency resources in attending Mat-Su Division of Forestry's S-271 Helicopter Crewmember training. Skills in rotor-wing aviation are critical for Alaska firefighting, as typically the only way in or out of remote fires is via helicopter.

The crew started this last week attending an S-219 class with our brothers and sisters next door in Pioneer Peak. Mid-class: we were ordered for pre-position up near Salcha for the warming and drying that's been occurring in the Northern Interior.

The crew has been putting in some good project saw-work at campgrounds around Salcha falling hazard trees, cleaning up dead-and-downed Spruce, and limbing trees around campsites, which removes ladder fuels and provides the public with a safer environment to camp and recreate in.

Invictus Maneo

Address

101 Airport Road
Palmer, AK
99645

Telephone

+19078632023

Website

https://dofgannettglacier.com/

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