Fire crews set burns to halt the fire near a cabin and private airstrip on Teklanika Channel Lake. Smoke jumpers on Saturday used torches that drip a slow burning fuel onto the ground, burning up dry brush and timber so that the main wall of fire has no place to go.
The fire came within a half mile of that cabin and was about a mile and a half from other cabins on the Teklanika River, Lehnhausen said.
In addition, water-scooping aircraft are being used to cool down and slow the spread of the main fire.
Cabin owners have bought pumps and hoses to defend their property and firefighters are working with them to help create defensible space.
If the fire does close in, they've got a good escape route on the river, Lehnhausen said.
Flights are still being restricted over the Minto Flats fire because of safety considerations with local air traffic. Aircraft not connected with the fire cannot fly over the area between 8 a.m. and midnight
The Minto Flats fire had burned about 200,000 acres as of Sunday. Two other fires in the Railbelt Complex, the Lunch Lake Fire and the June Creek Fire, are much smaller.
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