"ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska residents have been enjoying an unusually warm, sunny summer, but the pleasant weather has come at a cost: choking smoke from an extended wildfire season, flooding rivers due to fast-melting snow and glacial ice, and fish covered in algae."

"Wildfires have burned 1.25 million acres across Alaska this summer, according to the state's fire-management center, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. Seventy fires were active on Friday, including a 57,870-acre (23,400-hectare) blaze near Delta Junction, about 95 miles southeast of Fairbanks.

The fire season usually winds down in late June or early July, but not this year, said Jim Schwarber, a spokesman for the center."

Yereth Rosen reports for Reuters August 17, 2013. [2]