Denali National Park Closed for Third Day Due to Wildfire

As the wildfire continues to blaze, Denali National Park is closed for a third straight day.

Smoke fills the sky near Pell Road in Osteen on Saturday, June 1, 2024. Officials say a 150-acre wildfire is currently burning in the area. / Nadia Zomorodian/News-Journal / USA

On Wednesday, tourists who were hoping to visit Denali National Park were unable to get into the park. Unfortunately, due to a wildfire, the park has remained closed for the third straight day.

The beautiful national park, located in Alaska, spans six million acres. It also boasts North American's tallest peak, Mount McKinley.

The Park Service issued a statement on Tuesday evening about the wildfire and the park being closed. At this point in time, there is no timetable on when the park will begin operation as usual.

“As of yet, there is no anticipated date when these facilities will open or operations will resume."

While crews have been fighting the wildfire, it grew rapidly on Sunday. Due to the fire growing, employee housing and the campgrounds were evacuated, passenger train services were cancelled, and Glutter Gulch, a commercial strip in the Nenana Canyon, had its power shut off.

This time of year is usually the busiest at Denali National Park. During this time period of the year, up to 5,000 people head to the area on a daily basis.

When tourists arrived to the park on Monday and Tuesday, park rangers were stationed at the entrace turning vehicles away. Due to power outages around the area, it was hard to spread the word about the situation.

As of Tuesday, officials were monitoring and waiting for the southern side of the fire to get contained. When that happens, a judgment call will be made to deem the area safe to allow visitors back in.

Hopefully, the crews fighting this fire will be able to get it under control and get the national park opened back up.

Far too often in recent years, beautiful national parks and land has been terrorized by wildfires. Denali National Park is just the latest in a long line of destruction at the hand of fire.