A stretch of the Alaska Highway in Canada that was closed due to major wildfires Thursday has been partially reopened Friday, as British Columbia fire crews continue to fight the merged blazes.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported the highway remains under a travel advisory due to a fire near Mile 80, which joined Thursday with a larger fire that has burned more than 23,000 acres over the last two weeks.
Thursday's closure, near the city of Fort St. John, occurred not far from the highway's origin at Dawson Creek. The roughly 1,500-mile highway to Fairbanks continues northwest from the area of the closure for about 1,100 miles, crossing into the Yukon Territory, before it reaches the Alaska border.
Four evacuation alerts have been issued due to the fire, which remains under "expanded attack" by firefighters according to an update late Thursday from the British Columbia Wildfire Service.