The attack on a large wildfire burning near the Minnesota-Canada border was expected to strengthen today when about 200 additional firefighters join crews on the ground in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The added help brings the number of firefighters in northern Minnesota by the end of today to more than 500, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
In a sign of the size and complexity of the fire, the help includes 100 elite "hot shot" firefighters from Arizona and a highly experienced crew of fire managers from the Rocky Mountains has taken over command of the blaze. The firefighters are expected to be deployed to the blaze by this evening, said Doug Anderson, spokesman for the incident command center.
Officials are particularly worried about injuries among the firefighters in the remote, roadless wilderness of lakes, rocks and thick forests. Long hoses and 40-pound pumps will be delivered by helicopter.
The Arizona teams will get to the fire by canoe because "there's really no quicker way to get them there," Anderson said. "It's not an easy place to extract people."
After overnight temperatures dropped below freezing, a light snowfall and calm winds, the wildfire that has spread to nearly 160 square miles of forest land does not appear to have expanded significantly since Wednesday, said Forest Service spokeswoman Lisa Radosevich-Craig.
The fire - one of the largest on record in the state - took off quickly this week as 30 mph wind gusts
ahead of a cold front caused it to spread east. Firefighters will attack the fire in the northwest corner of the Boundary Waters, where it began with a lightning strike Aug. 18, and will also work on the southern edge of the wilderness, Radosevich-Craig said.Anderson said the fire is expected to grow only a quarter mile on the eastern edge on Thursday.
Officials are already looking toward the weekend forecast, which predicts thunderstorms. A soaking rain would help, but there are concerns about wind gusts and lightning.
Just under half of the access points into the wilderness were closed to campers by midday Wednesday. Less than 50 buildings - including cabins - had been evacuated.
By Wednesday, officials were catching their breath.
"Right now it is in a pause mode," Jim Grant, from the U.S. Forest Service, said of the fire. He told roughly 100 residents gathered at the Isabella Community Center that officials did not expect the fire to move much on Wednesday.
Four National Guard helicopters, two water bombers and an air attack plane from Canada were assisting fire crews from New Jersey, Montana, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and California.
Forecasters said some sleet fell briefly in the area Wednesday, and it snowed lightly, but no measurable precipitation was in the forecast until Sunday.
"It's helping," said Becca Manlove at the Forest Service. "It's not anywhere near a wet blanket on the fire by any means. Three days of a nice, solid rain would be nicer than that little shower."
The blaze, called the Pagami Creek fire, is south of the area where millions of trees were toppled in a July 4, 1999, windstorm.
While the fire has grown quickly, it has done less damage than the 2007 Ham Lake fire, which destroyed nearly 150 buildings worth more than $10 million as it raced across 118 square miles in Minnesota and Canada. A fire in Red Lake in 1931 consumed about 1,550 square miles and killed four people.
Source: http://www.twincities.com/outdoors/ci_18900816?source=rss
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