Air quality alerts spread across Minnesota as fires rage, sending smoke south

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Summer camps near Ely and other points in Northern Minnesota are closing, and wilderness trips are ending early, as large wildfires burn in and around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. 

The YMCA’s Camp Widjiwagan and Camp du Nord are evacuating campers, according to a 

 from the camps Wednesday afternoon. Neither site has reached “Go” status in the Ready, Set, Go wildfire evacuation protocols. However, YMCA officials say the camps start evacuating once they’re designated “Set” status, as a precaution.

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“The most important update is that everyone is safe” the Facebook post reads. “Campers, guests and team members at both camps are following our evacuation plans, and our teams are working carefully to ensure a smooth and orderly process. We are grateful for the preparation, teamwork and care of our camp teams, emergency partners and local agencies who help us navigate situations like this.”

Camp Widjiwagan Executive Director Ben Hoffman confirmed the camp’s early closing and  that all campers are all safe. He told MPR News that about 70 to 80 families and campers were affected.

“We’ve made the decision, just out of the abundance of caution, to send our current campers that came off the trail due to the closure of Quetico Provincial Park and the Boundary Waters home early to support them to be with their families,” Hoffman told MPR News late Wednesday, “and to be out of the [poor] air quality that we’re experiencing from the fires right now, which was two days earlier than originally planned.”

It’s unknown how long the camp will be closed. Hoffman said the camp is in contact with the Forest Service to make decisions day by day as fire conditions are rapidly changing. 

“We understand how disappointing this can be to our families,” Hoffman said. “And so, we’d much rather [be] sending our campers into the wilderness as scheduled. [But] we’re just really grateful for all of our staff that are here at Widji in the field and the trust that families have for us as we continue working to provide these experiences for them.”

Hoffman said there are group trips that are beyond the wildfire zones still taking place, as well as other trips across North America that are also continuing to operate.

Parents were anxious to see updates on the fires and whether their kids were coming home safely. Laura Schacker, 37, of River Falls, Wis., said her 13-year-old daughter, who was backpacking, will be headed home on a bus once she arrives back at base camp.

Schacker said she’s relieved and thankful for the camp’s response and planning.

“I trusted Widji enough for them to take my kid and send her out into the wilderness of the mountains,” Schacker said. “I’m going to trust them to get her back home to me on a bus.”

Schacker is a Camp Widjiwagan alumna herself, so she told MPR News she is also bummed her daughter had to cut short what is usually an amazing experience. But she understands why the camp needed to make the call to close and hopes “Widji,” as staff and campers affectionately call it, comes out unscathed.

“What Widji is able to provide for kids is so incredibly life changing,” Schacker said. “I just want it to exist forever for everybody.”

Other groups have also been affected by the wildfire conditions. Northern Tier High Adventure has confirmed with a Facebook post that “Scouting America has safely evacuated all Scouts, adult leaders, volunteers and staff following wildfire-related evacuation orders.”

Canada has also helped with YMCA camper extractions. Gov. Tim Walz said during Wednesday’s press conference that he has been in contact with Ontario Premier Doug Ford about two groups of YMCA campers who were north of the Minnesota and Canada border, and that the Canadian Air Force helped with the extraction of two groups.

“It took one call, and over the night, all their forces were activated to go and rescue Minnesota campers from the Y, and that speaks volumes to our neighbors from Canada,” Walz said. “I am just incredibly grateful that, in conjunction with the incredible folks, with a thank you to our firefighters, to our teams that are out there, to all of the folks who are putting themselves at risk, that at this point in time we don’t have any injuries. And the fires, while they continue to burn, are being monitored and attacked in a proper way.”

Hoffman confirmed that neither groups were related to Camp Widjiwagan.

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Two YMCA camps near Ely, as well as scout and wilderness camps also near the BWCA, are closing and sending kids and families home as wildfires in that area of norther Minnesota grow.

Summer camps close, wilderness trips end and kids head home due to BWCA wildfires

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