NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : Lightning Ignites Additional Fires

Thunderstorms rumbled across the fire-ravaged interior of Alaska, but lightning sparked more fires than the rain put out and blazes expanded to cover nearly 1.4 million acres, the Alaska Fire Service said. Smoke continued to hamper firefighting efforts and has made it difficult to judge the size of a blaze 1 1/2 miles from the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, said Rick Robertson. But that fire on the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, estimated at 150,000 acres, posed no threat to the pipeline, he said. Another fire that burned right up to the Dalton Highway, the supply road for the Prudhoe Bay oil field, was closer to the pipeline but was under control, Robertson said.