- FAIRBANKS, Alaska  - After a slow start, it looks like Alaska's wildfire season may be heating up. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that 17 new fires were reported Sunday with 13 of them caused by lightning strikes. One of the fires was burning only a few miles west of the Parks Highway between Nenana and Healy.

Officials with the state Division of Forestry say more than 100 firefighters were battling the blaze, which started as three different fires on Saturday but merged into one on Sunday. A late-afternoon thunderstorm produced more than 2,000 lightning strikes on Saturday, most of which were south of Fairbanks near the Alaska Range.

 

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