Crews monitoring wildfire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Updated: 3:45 p.m.
The U.S. Forest Service is monitoring a wildfire detected late Tuesday afternoon in northern Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The fire — located between Spice Lake and Ogishkemuncie Lake, about 10 miles southwest of the end of the Gunflint Trail — was estimated at about 30 acres in size late Tuesday. Forest Service officials said an aerial survey on Wednesday morning showed little change in size.
During an earlier aerial survey on Tuesday, “active and moderate fire activity was witnessed in a mixed boreal forest with aspen, pine, and balsam fir tree species. There is also evidence of spruce budworm-affected trees which means dead down and standing trees which can cause active fire behavior,” the Superior National Forest reported in an update late Tuesday night.
“Fire personnel also looked for public canoe groups on the area lakes and made contact with several groups on Ogishkemuncie Lake and to ensure public safety directed them off the lake to the east.”
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The cause of the fire — known as the Spice Lake Fire — has not yet been determined.
Fire personnel “are developing a fire suppression plan while ensuring firefighter safety,” forest officials reported late Tuesday. “Additionally, staff will begin working on a public safety plan for the area to ensure public visitors remain safe.”
That potentially could include a closure order for parts of the BWCAW, though no such order had been issued as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
The extremely dry conditions may make it very difficult to battle the Spice Lake Fire or any others that start in the BWCAW.
A report issued earlier this week said it could take as much as five times more effort than usual to put out fires in the conditions currently seen in northern Minnesota and elsewhere around the Upper Midwest.
Campfire ban in effect
The fire was detected on the same day that the Forest Service issued an emergency order banning campfires for all of the BWCAW until further notice, amid ongoing dry conditions and elevated wildfire danger.
The emergency order went into effect Wednesday morning. It also applies to charcoal grills and wood-burning stoves. Authorities said gas and propane cook stoves would still be allowed in the wilderness.
Outside of the BWCAW boundaries, the Superior National Forest will allow campfires only within Forest Service-installed fire rings at fee campgrounds; authorities posted a list of those campgrounds with the emergency order online.
Jason Zabokrtsky, who owns Ely Outfitting Company, said outfitters are going full bore at this point in the season; he said his company will be sending out as many as 4,000 paddlers this year. Zabokrtsky said the campfire ban means that visitors have to bring in more stove fuel and change the food they carry, since they have a more limited cooking capacity.
But he said it’s better than the alternative — like when the BWCAW was evacuated two years ago.
“2021 is still really vivid in our memories,” he said Wednesday. “All the fires north of here in Canada, but really quite nearby, and the complete Boundary Waters closure. It’s just good seeing the Forest Service get ahead of this. And I think we just all realize that it’s really dry out there.”
Outfitters also were working on packing up gear and food for wildland firefighting crews on Wednesday afternoon. Forest Service officials said part or all of a 20-member hotshot crew that’s been stationed in Minnesota were set to head toward this Spice Lake fire. A helicopter was dumping water on the fire, and planes were set to join if weather permits, amid the smoky conditions from Canadian wildfires.
Beyond the BWCAW
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources also has imposed its own fire restrictions across four northeast Minnesota counties — Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis.
As long as they’re in place, the DNR won’t be issuing burning permits for those four counties; fireworks aren’t allowed outside city limits; and campfires are allowed “only in an established fire ring associated with a home, campground, or resort. No campfires are allowed for dispersed, remote, backpacking, or backcountry camping.”
The DNR noted that fire danger is likely to remain high through the rest of the month.