A wildfire is burning in protected caribou habitat in the Kanuti refuge

A lightning-sparked wildfire inside Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge is burning through protected caribou habitat, and crews are trying to keep it from spreading any further into the sensitive ground.

The Konedsin Minnkohwin Fire, spotted Friday about 21 miles east of Allakaket and 40 miles west of the Dalton Highway, has burned an estimated 159 to 200 acres of peat, tundra, and black spruce and is 20% contained. Smokejumpers and aircraft are on scene. Fire managers say the plan is to hold it within its current footprint to limit damage to the caribou range, and no community — including Allakaket and villages along the Dalton — is under immediate threat.

It's one of many remote fires touched off by an intense lightning summer. A single day in late June produced more than 7,000 cloud-to-ground strikes across Alaska and started 11 fires.