Wildfire update balances progress with caution

ELY- Another downpour and the continued reopening of the Boundary Waters offered encouraging signs early this week, but fire officials cautioned Tuesday that the July Lightning Incident remains far from over.
About 378 miles of fire perimeter remained uncontained, Superior National Forest Supervisor Drew Stroberg said during a Tuesday afternoon briefing at Minnesota North College’s Vermilion campus.
“To go from the Duluth Airport to the Minneapolis Airport is about 165 miles one way, so that’s from Duluth to Minneapolis and back,” Stroberg said. “That’s how many miles of line there are still that are uncontained out there.”
“These fires are not out by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.
Incident Meteorologist Mike Kistner said most of the fire area received between three-quarters of an inch and an inch of rain Monday. Localized totals topped an inch over the Wolf Pack and Thumb fires, which had been among the most active portions of the incident during the preceding days.
The rainfall could provide firefighters with a five- to 10-day break in fire activity, Kistner said, but it was not enough to extinguish fires burning deep in duff and other organic material.
“It’s still sleeping, but it’s not dead,” Kistner said. “It’ll waken back up as soon as we start to get a few dry days.”
Additional showers were possible late in the week and over the weekend, although Kistner said the forecast did not indicate rainfall comparable to Monday’s storm.
Officials reported that the fires had burned a combined 73,325 acres in the United States and Canada. Average containment across the fires stood at approximately 50 percent, with 875 personnel assigned to the incident.
No structures had been lost. Public Information Officer Catherine Koele said 1,043 structures remained in READY status, 713 were in SET, and 10 remained in GO evacuation status.
Scooper aircraft had delivered 3.8 million gallons of water to the fires, while more than 400 firefighters had undergone canoe-safety training to work in the remote Boundary Waters terrain.
Operations Section Chief Cory Henry said crews continued to use a full-suppression strategy intended to protect Ely, Winton, the Fernberg corridor, mechanical portages along the international border, and outfitters operating in that area.
Firefighters were working directly along the fire edge where terrain and access permitted. Elsewhere, crews were using lakes and other natural barriers to limit the spread of the fires. Canoes and floatplanes remained essential for moving firefighters into remote portions of the approximately 570 miles of fire line associated with the incident.
Crews also continued work on a shaded fuel break along the Echo Trail and were assisting Canadian officials with protecting structures near Loon Portage.
New fires remain possible despite Monday’s rainfall. Minnesota DNR Wildfire Operations Supervisor William Glesener said 11 new wildfires had been reported during the previous week across central, northeastern, and northwestern Minnesota.
Among the recent starts was the Finstad Fire near Buyck, which was detected Aug. 1 following lightning. The fire was held to one-tenth of an acre, but its appearance demonstrated that conditions remain capable of producing new fires.
Nearly 35 percent of Minnesota was experiencing severe drought, Glesener said, including northeastern Minnesota. Some portions of the state had received 60 percent or less of their normal precipitation.
“Just three to five days of dry weather in the areas that are dry and droughty is enough for fire activity to pick up,” Glesener said.
Fire restrictions remained in effect on both state and federal lands.
Class 3 restrictions continued in Lake and Cook counties and northern St. Louis County. On state lands, campfires were prohibited for dispersed, remote, backpacking, and backcountry camping. Gas and propane stoves and grills equipped with an on-off switch remained permitted. Campfires were allowed near homes and resorts and in staffed state campgrounds.
Within the reopened portions of the BWCAW, campfires, charcoal grills, and wood-burning stoves remained prohibited. Gas and propane stoves were permitted. Outside the wilderness, campfires were allowed in designated fire rings at developed Forest Service campgrounds.
The fifth phase of the BWCAW reopening began Wednesday, bringing approximately 69 percent of the wilderness back into use.
Stroberg said the reopened areas were expected to provide a safe, high-quality wilderness experience, with no imminent threat from the existing fires anticipated in those areas over at least the next several weeks.
He encouraged visitors to return to Ely and use reopened portions of the wilderness and other recreational areas. He also asked permit holders who had cancelled their plans but still held permits to release them so other visitors could use them.
“We had the Boundary Waters closed for almost two weeks, about 13 days, you know, that’s had a huge hit on the economy up here,” Stroberg said.
He said Ely had remained open throughout the incident and noted that developed campgrounds and other recreational opportunities remained available outside the BWCAW.
Firefighters continued to face hazards from trees whose roots had burned beneath the surface. Stroberg said shallow soils and deep duff over bedrock can allow roots to burn away, leaving entire trees vulnerable to toppling.
The conditions differ from those encountered on many western fires, where firefighters more commonly watch for burned trunks or limbs that could snap. Many firefighters assigned to the July Lightning Incident had little previous experience working in a boreal forest.
Competition for firefighting resources also remained intense. The nation was at wildfire preparedness Level 5, the highest level, with 99 uncontained large fires burning nationwide. Twenty-eight incident-management teams and approximately 29,000 personnel were assigned to those fires.
Officials said Minnesota and Forest Service resources would remain committed to the northeastern Minnesota fires even as crews rotated out at the end of their assignments. The current incident-management team was developing a transition plan for continued suppression work.
Stroberg said the fires could remain on the landscape until snowfall. The reopened portions of the wilderness were considered safe for visitors, he emphasized, but the rain and additional access should not be mistaken for the end of the incident.