Minnesota wildfire efforts looking 'real good' after overnight rain

Crews fighting wildfires in northeastern Minnesota made inroads Monday, operational section chief Peter Myers said on Tuesday.

“We are looking real good,” Myers said in an update Tuesday morning. “We got rain last night. That’s really going to help us out today.”

Up to one-quarter inch of rain fell overnight on affected areas which aided progress. But officials are still monitoring windy, dry conditions that have made the area susceptible to spreading fires.

The U.S. Forest Service said late Tuesday morning that an estimated 63,000 acres have burned in northeastern Minnesota and 780 firefighters are battling blazes — roughly the same numbers as Monday.

Priorities for fire crews on Tuesday include stopping a “slop” fire south of Echo Trail. Officials on Monday said they were working to keep major fires north of the road.

Firefighters continue to work to protect lodges and other structures around Big Lake, which sits about 15 miles down the Echo Trail, northwest of Ely.

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On the Sioux Fire, “a lot of great work got completed” on the fire’s southern end, said Myers, a section chief for the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team, part of the national firefighting effort that includes several federal agencies and departments.

But high winds Monday led to trees falling and crews were pulled out of the area for their safety, said Myers.

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