Wildfires spark evacuations in Alaska, road closures in California
By Steve Quinn JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - Several hundred residents in Alaska were told to leave their homes on Tuesday as swiftly growing wildfires up and down the drought-stricken U.S. West Coast closed highways and destroyed buildings, officials said. Blazes near the tiny northeast Alaska communities of Nulato and Tanana along the Yukon River prompted authorities to call for evacuations of several hundred people, a forestry official said. Farther upstream, another blaze of over 18,000 acres (7,300 hectares) threatened a major roadway linking Anchorage and Fairbanks. Separately, a firefighter working a blaze in Chugach National Forest suffered minor injuries in an encounter with a bear. The new Alaska fires come as firefighters were gaining an edge over two blazes that erupted earlier this month in the greater Anchorage area, destroying dozens of homes and triggering evacuations, though some residents have been allowed to return. Hot, dry conditions were fueling fires along the U.S. West Coast. More than 1,900 firefighters toiling overnight in the mountains east of Los Angeles drew containment lines around about a third of a blaze that has blackened some 17,405 acres (7,050 hectares), the San Bernardino County Fire Department said. The fire's growth was slower overall but firefighters warned that the weather will remain warm and dry with gusty winds over the next few days. Campsites and a highway remained closed and an unspecified number of residents had been ordered from their homes. One firefighter working overnight was injured when he was hit by water dumped by a helicopter. His injuries were not life-threatening. In Los Angeles County, firefighters contained a five-acre (two-hectare) morning brush fire that briefly forced the closure of southbound Interstate 5. Another California fire near San Luis Obispo destroyed six homes, two recreational vehicles and 10 outbuildings, according to a Tuesday morning tally. Another blaze, outside Fresno, has destroyed three outbuildings. Both fires were about 90 percent contained. In Washington state, a wildfire that has burned nearly 800 acres (320 hectares) in the Olympic Peninsula, seeing its driest year since records started being kept in 1895, was being propelled through steep terrain by dry lichens in the old-growth rainforest canopy, a fire official said. In southern Oregon, forestry officials expanded burn restrictions on flammables to 16 counties while firefighters had contained almost half of a 5,000-acre (2,000-hectare) fire in Cave Junction. Forestry officials said forecasted temperatures of over 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) will test firefighters into the weekend. (Reporting by Steve Quinn in Juneau, Alaska and Shelby Sebens in Oregon; Additional reporting and writing by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)
