UPDATE 7:30 P.M.
An aggressive aerial attack has helped tamp down an emerging wildfire off Brock Road in North Pole. Retardant-dropping air tankers and water bombing aircraft have pacified the upstart Brock Road Fire after it ballooned in size from one-half acre to an estimated 50 acres in two hours.
There are now more than 70 firefighters on the ground laboring to secure a control line around the fire, which erupted just before 2:30 p.m. and put up a large smoke column visible from North Pole and Fairbanks. A person flying a drone in the area was the first to report the fire.