‘Unhealthy’ air quality expected in eastern Minnesota through Monday afternoon due to wildfire smoke

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

More than 1,000 firefighters from as far away as Alaska, Florida, California and New Mexico are now on the ground in northeast Minnesota, helping in the fight to contain several large wildfires that have scorched more than 100 square miles of forest in and around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. 

Also among the firefighters are crews from neighboring fire departments in northern Minnesota who have come to aid in the effort to protect hundreds of homes, cabins and resorts that could be in the path of the wildfires. 

Get the latest information on wildfires in Minnesota

These crews first map out where the structures are located, so they know which buildings might be in harm’s way across the sparsely populated landscape. Then they send out crews do do prep work around homes, “which means get the brush around the houses and give them a better chance to survive a fire front,” explained Devin MacDonald, Division Boss Trainee for the Southern Area Incident Management Team, which is in charge of the fighting and containing the fires around Ely. 

This week, members of the Duluth Fire Department worked to protect a group of homes and cabins perched on the edge of Fenske Lake, about 12 miles northwest of Ely along the Echo Trail. 

They installed pumps which suck water out of the lake and distribute it through a spider web of hoses that are connected to sprinklers that are set up around the homes. Some of the sprinklers are perched on the tops of stumps and attached to tree branches. 

“We have multiple different sprinkler heads around this property to essentially wet and raise the relative humidity around the structure,” explained Parker Kleive, a member of the Duluth Fire Department, who has been working to protect structures for four days. He pointed to the sprinklers that are placed between a home and several outbuildings, spraying water “just to create that defensible space.”

Hand crews clear out underbrush and small trees to create a space at least 30 feet wide around the home. “If they [the owners] haven't been so great about creating a defensible space, we're doing our very best to create one for them,” said Kleive. 

Fire crews have been making steady progress over the past several days extending containment lines around the fires. They’ve been aided by cooler, wetter weather. But warmer, drier conditions are expected again Friday and over the weekend. And crews are expecting the wildfires to grow more active again. 

“We're preparing for it to come back alive, basically,” said MacDonald. That’s why crews have spent so much effort preparing homes that could potentially be in the fire’s path. “If it does come this way, they have a better chance to survive.”

Fire officials encourage homeowners to clear burnable materials at least 30 feet away from their homes. But 100 feet is better, they say. People should also clean gutters, remove pine needles from their roofs, and move stacks of firewood away from their homes. 

Along the Echo Trail and throughout downtown Ely, home and shop owners have posted handmade signs thanking firefighters for their efforts to save their community. 

“It’s a good, rewarding job,” said Duluth firefighter Marty Schubitzke, who is also working to protect homes and cabins. “You're helping your community, helping your neighbors. It's a great thing.”

Minnesota News

Greater Minnesota

NewsPartners

Homepage

Disasters

Minnesota Wildfires

Live updates: Wildfires in Minnesota

Dan Kraker

Author

Firefighters are removing underbrush surrounding hundreds of homes and cabins around Ely, and installing temporary pumps, hoses and sprinklers, to protect them from the wildfires still burning around the Boundary Waters. 

Dan Kraker | MPR News

A small brown building with brush cleared out

Firefighters in NE Minnesota focus on protecting homes, cabins in case the wildfires spread

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox