Hot dry windy weather has caused growth of three big Interior wildfires. The Crater Lake fire, near the Yukon Flats village of Venetie, swelled by more than 850 acres. The human caused fire has burned more than 1,500 acres since it started on Sunday. Water scooping planes are working the blaze, with 104 firefighters deployed on the ground. An Alaska interagency Coordination center update says the fire suppression strategy has switched from extinguishing the fire to halting it`s progress to the east, saying the fire is burning in a bowl with squirrely winds and negligible features for anchoring and safely inserting crews.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
