Wildfires spark evacuations in Alaska, road closures in California

by Joseph Saraceno

The setting sun is partially obscured by smoke from an out of control wildfire on the Parks Highway near Willow, AlaskaSeveral 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. MORE