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A crew member working to contain the wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has died, according to officials leading the firefighting effort. 

The Eastern Area Complex Incident Management Team, which is overseeing the fires under the command of the Superior National Forest and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,  says an individual assigned to the fires had a “medical emergency” at about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday near Ely. 

Fire personnel and emergency medical services transferred the person to a hospital, where the patient subsequently died. 

Officials did not immediately share the cause of death or how it may have been connected to fighting the fires.

Fire officials say there will be an update when additional information is available and confirmed.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and fellow firefighting community,” the U.S. Forest Service said. 

As of Monday there were 761 personnel assigned to the wildfires burning in northern Minnesota. This is the first fatality reported since the fires began early last month.

Crews have steadily made progress containing the fires burning in and around the wilderness area, which have now scorched more than 65,000 acres of forest in the U.S., and an additional 8,600 acres in Canada. 

The Camp Fire, burning about five miles north of Winton, is now 84 percent contained. Other fires burning northwest of Ely remain under 50 percent contained. 

The Superior National Forest is opening more hiking trails and canoe entry points into the Boundary Water this week. About 1,600 campsites out of the 2,000 in the BWCA have now been reopened. 73 percent of the wilderness is open to visitor travel. 

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Dan Kraker

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A crew member working to contain the wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area has died of a medical emergency. It’s the first fatality in the month-long firefighting effort. 

Crew member battling to contain northern Minnesota wildfires dies

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