Alaska wildfire fight helped by rain

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 2 (UPI) -- Wet weather has helped crews battling some Alaska wildfires but there was not enough rain to keep fire from edging into the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

A spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry said that crews have contained the Susitna River Fire near Trapper Lake and nearly tamed the more than 55,000-acre Caribou Hills Fire, The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.

Crews were using bulldozers, chain saws and shovels to cut fire lines along the north edge of the Caribou fire where it was nudging into the wildlife refuge.

Kris Erickson of the state Division of Forestry said they're using gentler, lower-impact tactics so as not to scar the wilderness.

Crews are monitoring that part of the blaze but are not actively fighting it.

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is located 160 miles south of Anchorage.