Hundreds of firefighters battled an Alaska wildfire Thursday threatening cabins and a religious commune in the Carla Lake area southeast of Fairbanks.
Officials said warm, sunny weather helped the fire spread but firefighting crews had made progress in setting up protective lines around cabins and other buildings around Carla Lake.The area torched near the town of Delta Junction, about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, had grown to 43,350 acres, said the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, a combination of federal and state bodies.
It said that 680 people, including 23 fire crews, had been deployed in an attempt to contain the blaze.
Firefighters had used bulldozers to remove fuel and try to prevent flames spreading to more than 50 cabins and other buildings in the area, said Andy Williams, spokesman for the center.