Kennedy prepares for a burn out operation to save several cabins on the Manueluk River at the foothills of the Brooks Range in July. Photo provided by Kennedy.

Squeezed into the back-bending cargo area on a fixed-wing plane in July, Haines resident Russell Kennedy palmed an iPad passed off from a colleague. He was among seven men in various stages of repose, speeding towards a column of smoke erupting from the foothills of the Brooks…