Alaska heat wave chokes cities with smoke, bloats rivers with meltwater

Alaska's heat wave is driving wildfires and melting glaciers, choking the state's biggest cities with smoke and bloating rivers with meltwater.

In Anchorage, home to about 40 percent of Alaskans, the National Weather Service issued a dense smoke advisory on Sunday warning against prolonged outdoor activity, along with advisories for the elderly and the sick to stay indoors.

The culprit is the Swan Lake wildfire to the south in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which has burned since a June 5 lightning strike and consumed more than 68,000 acres, fire managers said.

To the north, in Fairbanks, fire officials ordered evacuations in two