A late-season fire burning near Sutton remained mostly stagnant overnight, fire officials reported.
A late-season wildfire burning near Sutton in Alaska's Mat-Su region remained stagnant overnight even as strong winds and below-freezing temperatures made things tricky for firefighters and their equipment, fire officials reported.
A post Sunday morning on the Alaska Wildland Fire Information blog said that the fire was at 216 acres, the same figure reported Saturday night.
About 50 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was burning north of Palmer and about 5 miles south of Sutton, and prompted a precautionary evacuation of the Palmer Correctional Center on Saturday.
"The main focus today will be securing the north and east flanks of the fire," officials with the Alaska Division of Forestry said on Sunday. "Two helicopters equipped with water buckets will be used to support firefighters' efforts on the ground to keep the fire from spreading in either of those directions."