Crews forced to use smaller equipment on NW MN fire

Crews are using non-traditional tactics to fight a fire burning in the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Minnesota.

The incident commander for the fire Lee Nelson on Inciweb, a website shared by the U.S. Forest Service and several other agencies, said that crews will cover the fire with water. On Sunday, crews used the equivalent of seven heavy air tankers to fight the 200-acre fire.

"Because of the tree litter, or duff component, on this fire we can't use real big equipment. We're using a tracked backhoe to make safe entry into the groves of trees allowing the smaller, specialized tracked firefighting equipment to drown the smoldering peat/duff layer," Nelson said.

The Silo Fire is burning about 14 miles northeast of Thief River Falls. It began as a prescribed burn on August 23, but was reclassified as a wildfire a week ago.

Around 1,300 acres in the southwest corner of the Agassiz refuge will be closed to all hunting from Nov. 4 to Jan. 1, 2012.

The smoke with the Silo Fire has been mild to very severe, at times causing a potential driving hazard.