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Smoke from the 56,200-acre (22,700-hectare) Swan Lake Fire on
the nearby Kenai Peninsula has slowed traffic to a crawl on some
streets and obscured views of the mountains from the city, which
is home to some 300,000 people.
The blaze, which was sparked by a June 5 lightning strike in the
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, was one of several that have
burned close to cities in Alaska this year.
In Anchorage and in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a populated
area just north of the city, air quality could fall to "very
unhealthy" levels over the weekend, state environmental
officials cautioned on Friday.
Early on Saturday, measurements of so-called PM 2.5, tiny
particles that include dust, dirt, soot and smoke, were at
moderate levels in Anchorage, according to the website for the
state's Division of Air Quality.
The smoke has forced officials to limit traffic on one major
highway to a single lane led by a pilot car, causing major jams
in one of Alaska's most popular recreation and tourism areas.
"In the Kenai Peninsula, there's one road in and one road out,"
said Tim Mowry, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry.
"If the fire impacts that road, it's a big impact."
Local visibility was expected to fall to a quarter of a mile or
less over the weekend, the National Weather Service said.
Communities further north are also facing fire threats.
Residents of one subdivision in the Fairbanks area, about 300
miles (480 km) north of Anchorage, were put on evacuation alert
late on Friday and told to be ready to flee the Shovel Creek
fire, which is estimated to cover 2,300 acres (930 hectares).
(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Paul Simao)
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