Firefighters make significant progress on Alaska wildfire
Posted Aug 26, 2019 01:32:21 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Firefighters are making progress on an Alaska wildfire that has claimed 51 homes.
Nearly 450 firefighters working the fire about 70 miles (112 kilometres) north of Alaska’s largest city brought it to 46 per cent containment Monday, up from 10 per cent on Friday.
Residents along a roughly 10-mile (16 kilometre) stretch of the Parks Highway, the main thoroughfare between Anchorage and Denali National Park, are under mandatory evacuation orders. Another 103 residences have been told to be ready to evacuate.
Fire managers planned to meet Monday to review those evacuation orders.
The fire has burned 5.2 sq. miles (13 sq. kilometres) since starting Aug. 17. The cause is under investigation, but the Alaska Division of Forestry said it was human caused.
Besides homes, three businesses and 84 outbuildings have been destroyed.
The Associated Press
