Northern Michigan wildfire burns through 3,600 acres, forcing evacuations and the closure of a nearby highway

Updated: 11:07 PM EDT Jun 3, 2023

Andy Rose and Nouran Salahieh, CNN

(CNN) — A wildfire in Northern Michigan burned through 3,600 acres, forcing evacuations and prompting the closure of a nearby highway Saturday, officials said.The blaze, centered in Grayling Township about 50 miles from Traverse City, is spreading west and southwest and threatening multiple buildings, the state's Department of Natural Resources said in a statement."Evacuations are being conducted by emergency personnel," the department said. A five-mile stretch of Interstate 75 was shut down in both directions as crews battle the fire, and a temporary flight restriction was issued for a five-mile perimeter around the fire below 5,000 feet.Firefighters are attacking the flames from the ground and the air, with aircraft scooping water from Neff Lake, Shellenbarger Lake and Lake Margrethe, according to the statement. Crawford County Sheriff Ryan Swope said in a statement that power in the area has been shut off for the safety of firefighters working under power lines. It's still unknown what sparked the fire, the Department of Natural Resources said in its statement earlier. The fire is burning as Michigan sees "unprecedented" hot and dry conditions for this time of year, setting the stage for extreme fire danger, the statement added. The wildfire produced thick smoke in the area Saturday, and the department warned nearby residents to limit exposure to wildfire smoke by staying indoors with windows shut. The Department of Natural Resources also said visibility may be reduced on roadways.Warm temperatures, low humidity, gusty winds and dry fuels will all combine to fuel the risk of fires in the days ahead, the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said in a tweet.

Evacuation flights from Kabul are back on — just a day after a suicide bombing killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghans. 

But for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Afghans, the window for getting airlifted to safety is quickly closing. 

"It is not possible for our family to make it to the airport, and now the situation is really scary," said former interpreter Hadi Zalmay.

As days are becoming just hours away from the deadline for the United States withdrawal, Afghan interpreters told Newsy they are feeling increasingly hopeless.  

Another former interpreter, Abdul, said, "Today I tried all of the airport gates and all of the gates were closed and the main road was blocked."

Even those brave enough to try another trip to the airport face a grim reality. 

"The Taliban are beating us," Abdul said. "They are not letting us inside the airport."

The threat level remains high. President Biden's national security team warned him on Friday that another terror attack in Kabul is likely. 

"The threat is ongoing and it is active," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "Our troops are in danger and that continues to be the case every day that they are there."

The White House said Friday that over 12,000 people had been airlifted over the previous 24 hours — despite the attacks.  

Sources confirmed to Newsy that some evacuees are now being escorted in by bus or helicopter because of continued terrorism threats.    

But for Afghan allies left behind, it all feels unfair. 

"Who are these people in the buses? Who are they, where are they going? We don't have any information," Abdul said. "Please. Help us, please."

The U.S. says coalition forces have evacuated more than 100,000 people since Aug. 14 in one of the largest airlift operations ever.   

But rights groups estimate that twice as many Afghans who may be eligible for expedited American visas remain in Afghanistan.   

"I don't know what happens to our case or what will happen to us, to our future, our life, to our kids," Zalmay said. 

Outside of Kabul, thousands of Afghans have been fleeing by land to Pakistan and Iran these past couple of weeks. 

The United Nations says up to half a million people could flee in a "worst-case scenario" in the coming months. 

This story was originally reported by Ben Schamisso on Newsy.com.

The U.S. military is considering "creative ways" to get Americans and others into the Kabul airport for evacuation from Afghanistan amid "acute" security threats, Biden administration officials said, and the Pentagon on Sunday ordered six U.S. commercial airlines to help move evacuees from temporary sites outside of Afghanistan.

At the one-week mark since the Taliban completed its takeover of the country, the U.S.-directed airlift from Kabul continued Sunday even as U.S. officials expressed growing concern about the threat from the Islamic State group. That worry comes on top of obstacles to that mission from the Taliban, as well as U.S. government bureaucratic problems.

President Joe Biden planned to provide a public update on Afghanistan later Sunday. He also was meeting with his national security team. Afghanistan will be the chief topic of discussion when Biden and leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations meet virtually on Tuesday.

"The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and something we’re focused with every tool in our arsenal," said Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan said on CNN that 3,900 people had been airlifted out of Kabul on U.S. military flights over the past 24 hours. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, said those people were flown on a total of 23 flights — 14 by C-17 transports and nine aboard C-130 cargo planes.

That represents an increase from 1,600 flown out aboard U.S. military planes in the previous 24 hours, but remains far below the 5,000 to 9,000 that the military says it has the capacity to airlift daily. Sullivan also said about 3,900 people were airlifted on non-U.S. military flights over the past 24 hours.

The Biden administration has given no firm estimate of the number of Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Some have put the total between 10,000 and 15.000. Sullivan on Sunday put it at "several thousand."

The British military said Sunday another seven people had been killed in the unceasing crush of crowds outside the airport. The U.S. military took control of the airport for evacuations a week ago as the capital fell to the Taliban. But Taliban forces controlling the streets around the airport, and the throngs of people gathering outside in hope of escape, have made it difficult and dangerous for foreigners and their Afghan allies to get through.

Republicans in Congress stepped up their criticism of Biden's response. "If the Taliban is saying that Americans can travel safely to the airport, then there is no better way to make sure they get safely to the airport than to use our military to escort them," GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, an Army veteran, said on ABC.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that as Biden's Aug. 31 deadline for ending the evacuation operation approaches, he will recommend whether to give it more time. Tens of thousands of Americans and others have yet to be flown out of the country.

Austin's interview with ABC aired Sunday but was taped Saturday. In a notice Sunday, the State Department urged people seeking to leave Afghanistan as part of an organized private evacuation effort not come to the Kabul airport "until you have received specific instructions" to do so from the U.S. Embassy’s flight organizer. The notice said that others, including American citizens, who have received specific instructions from the embassy to make their way to the airport should do so.

Austin said the airlift would continue for as long as possible.

"We’re gonna try our very best to get everybody, every American citizen who wants to get out, out," Austin said in the interview. "And we’ve got — we continue to look at different ways to — in creative ways — to reach out and contact American citizens and help them get into the airfield." He later said this included non-Americans who qualify for evacuation, including Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas.

Austin noted that the U.S. military on Thursday had used helicopters to move 169 Americans into the airport from the grounds of a nearby hotel in the capital. That is the only announced instance of U.S. forces going beyond the airport to get evacuees.

Ryan Crocker, who served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan under Presidents George W, Bush and Barack Obama, told CBS that Biden’s management of the withdrawal was "catastrophic" and had unleashed a "global crisis."

A central problem in the evacuation operation is processing evacuees once they reach other countries in the region and in Europe. Those temporary waystations, including in Qatar, Bahrain and Germany, are sometimes reaching capacity, although new sites are being made available, including in Spain.

In an attempt to alleviate that, and to free up military aircraft for missions from Kabul, the Pentagon on Sunday activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. The Defense Department said 18 aircraft from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, Omni Air, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines will be directed to ferry evacuees from interim waystations. The airlines will not fly into Afghanistan. The six participating airlines have agreed to assist for a little less than two weeks, which roughly coincides with the currently planned duration of the airlift, which is to end Aug. 31.

The civil airline reserve system was last activated in 2003 for the Iraq War. The commercial airliners will retain their civilian status but the military's Air Mobility Command will control the flights.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Ellen Knickmeyer, Hope Yen and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.