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Summer Tundra Fires Scatter Smoke

Warren Nicolai

The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge reports that numerous tundra fires are currently burning in the region. Smoke from at least one of them may be visible from Bethel. The Akuliktuak River Fire, 22 miles east of Bethel and five miles east of Kwethluk, is reported to be 90 percent contained. 

All the fires are thought to have been caused by lightning. 

Twenty-seven miles northeast of Bethel, the Pikmiktalik River Fire is estimated at 430 acres. Thirty-one miles northeast of Bethel, the Tubungaluk Creek Fire extends over about 280 acres and has been confined by lakes and wet ground on three sides. 

Twenty-eight miles north of Bethel, the Kogruluk River Fire has burned about 200 acres.