Fish Fear Me

Not Like This

I saw this news this morning and it both stunned and saddened me:

A 64-year-old Northwest Washington man who was charged with causing the largest wildfire in Minnesota in 90 years apparently shot and killed himself yesterday in his back yard.

Stephen G. Posniak, an outdoorsman, retired federal employee and former advisory neighborhood commissioner, died at his home on Windom Place, according to police sources and his lawyer.

The apparent suicide came the day after a federal magistrate judge in Minneapolis denied motions challenging key aspects of the charges filed in the 2007 Ham Lake fire, which burned for days, destroying more than 75,000 acres.

Perhaps there were other reasons for his suicide, but if it was all or mostly related to the fire than this is just so wrong. The people with homes and businesses that were affected by the Ham Lake fire deserved to have some measure of accountability seen in this case, but I am certain that never in a million years would they want it to result in this. The link to the story is broken from when I posted on Posniak's indictment back in October, but I remember the general reaction from Gunflint Trail residents was reserved at the time and not vindictive. There was a fair amount of "there but for the grace of God, go I" thinking, from myself included. Regardless of what Mr. Posniak did or didn't do, this is a terrible and tragic end to it. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Posniak's family and friends.

Local Notes

Ham Lake Fire: A Washington D.C. man has been indicted in connection with the Ham Lake fire back in May of 2007:

Almost a year and a half after the Ham Lake fire consumed about 75,000 acres along the Gunflint Trail, a federal grand jury indicted a Washington, D.C., man on charges he started the blaze.

Authorities say the blaze began after Stephen G. Posniak, 64, set fire to trash May 5, 2007, at a Ham Lake campsite in northern Minnesota and then left without completely extinguishing the flames.

The resulting two-week-long fire crossed the U.S-Canadian border, destroyed 140 structures in Minnesota valued at $4 million and cost $11 million more to put out.

Posniak, a retired computer programmer, faces three counts: setting timber afire, leaving a fire unattended and unextinguished and giving false information to a U.S. Forest Service officer.

We'll have to see how this plays out, innocent until proven guilty and all that, and accidents do happen. It sounds like Mr. Posniak was an experienced visitor to the area so I would be surprised if he was blatantly negligent in extinguishing his campfire, if in fact he was the one who camped at the fire's point of origin. If it was his camp, it's entirely possible that he thought he had properly extinguished his fire and gone on his way. I know I've drowned enough campfires to be an expert and I'm still paranoid about something like this happening to me. This part of the article makes me wonder though:

Questioned later, Posniak gave "false, fictitious and fraudulent information" to U.S. Forest Service officers by stating he camped overnight May 4 on Cross Bay Lake, not Ham Lake. He told officers he had encountered an out-of-control fire at a Ham Lake campsite while paddling back through Ham Lake to Tuscarora Lodge.

Hmmm. As horrified and crushed as I'd be, I like to think that I would be honest about something like that. If the above is true, that makes me think that the fire got out of control while he was there and he panicked and booked. That's just speculation and to be fair to Mr. Posniak, they may have the wrong person or it may have been something entirely different. If it did happen that way and he didn't make a beeline straight to the nearest phone then he's not going to get much sympathy from me. We'll find out soon enough.

Remember the Outrage? There were all sorts of screams against the pre-emptive raids on some groups just before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Now one of those persons has admitted to plotting to plant bombs:

A 23-year-old Michigan man has admitted to plotting to detonate a homemade bomb in the tunnels near the Xcel Energy Center, hoping it would cause a power failure and prompt cancellation of the Republican National Convention.

Matthew B. DePalma of Flint, pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis Tuesday to illegally possessing Molotov cocktails.

And this:

In an urelated case, two Texas men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly making Molotov cocktails during the convention. The Texans are accused of planning to use the bombs on police cars parked in a lot not far from the Xcel Center. David McKay and Bradley Crowder were part of a group of convention protesters that came north to St. Paul from Austin, Texas. Police found the bombs in a common area of an apartment building taht the men were seen entering and leaving.

St. Paul provided plenty of venues for people who just wanted to make their voices heard. Unfortunately, there was a small group of people who came to keep others, Republicans, from exercising their political right to assemble. Those people aren't protesters, they are anti-democratic thugs, and should be treated accordingly. Shame on anyone who tries to justify their actions.

Wrong again. Yesterday I wrote that the precipitation that was headed our way would be rain and not sleet. We're getting both right now on this rather dreary day.

Charming. Looks like we have some bipartisan nutcases running around the Twin Cities:

Vandals struck the garages and homes of at least six Minnesota members of Congress Tuesday night, spray painting angry graffiti including a Biblical reference to "Psalm 2."

When Laurie Coleman, wife of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, hauled her trash to the alley at 7:30 this morning, a chilling sight greeted her.

Spray-painted in black on the wooden siding of the garage in the couple's Summit Hill neighborhood, in letters nearly a foot high: "U R A CRIMINAL RESIGN OR ELSE! PSALM 2"

On the alley side, each double-bay stall door had the word "SCUM" spray painted in black ink, as a did a wooden partition in between.

Also vandalized in similar fashion: U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison, John Kline, Michelle Bachmann and Jim Ramstad. Klobuchar and Ellison are Democrats; Coleman, Kline, Bachmann and Ramstad, Republicans.

The thought of having someone slinking around defacing your property while you sleep is at least creepy, if not downright scary. It sounds like the cops are taking it seriously because of the "or else" aspect. I can't imagine they have much to work with though.

Ham Lake Fire-Thursday 5/17

Crews are continuing mop-up operations within the perimeter and working to finish containment lines in the US. The Ham Lake Fire as of last night is estimated at 65% contained on the US side and 35% contained overall. There has been little growth on the US side this week as damp weather has allowed the firefighters to attack the fire directly. Some crews have even been released from the US side, particularly crews from urban areas(I thought I had read that someone had seen a St. Louis Park, my home city, crew up there but I can't remember where) that had been providing structure protection. There is an updated map up at Inciweb.org here along with the latest news in detail.

On the Canadian side where it known as Thunder Bay 37, weather has also helped firefighting efforts, but the situation remains serious. There are now three 20-man US hotshot crews in Canada assisting the Ontario MNR and additional Canadian resources continue to arrive.

While we can relax a bit and start to assess what's been lost on the US side, as long as that fire is burning north of the trail and conditions remain dry it's still a threat. I'm not sure of the fuel loads on the Canadian side, because despite all of my trips to the area over the years, I've never actually been on the other side of the border in that area. I imagine it's similar to the US side but I don't know. If it is, keep in mind that this fire raced about 13 miles in one day a week ago. If they can hold it west of Little North Lake and no new fires pop up, things will look pretty good for the Gunflint. But I'm not going to entirely relax until that east side of the fire is contained.

An amusing(to me) side note and a bit of BWCA trivia: When they started kicking out perimeter maps I noticed a lake in the southwest corner area named Japanese.

It's been a while since I've canoed this part of the BWCA, but I've been through the area a couple of times and I knew that lake as Jap Lake. I even double checked my old maps at home. Criminy, I thought, did PC even make it up to the BWCA? When did this happen? I had wondered about the name before and had heard that it was actually an acronym for some early settlers in the area, so the correct name was JAP Lake, for John and Addie Paulson. According to this, the name was changed to Japanese because it was perceived as racist. I don't know if that's actually true, but it's certainly plausible. That BWCA wiki also says that the name was again changed, not sure when, and it's now Paulson Lake. I noticed  today that the new maps of the fire perimeter now show the correct name.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is your BWCA trivia for the day.

Ham Lake Fire-Monday 5/14

Perimeter map 5/13-0900

 

(MNICS map. The full size pdf is available here)

A fairly good weekend on the US side of the border, considering the wind situation at times. Much of the growth in the fire has been reported on the Canadian side. The following are excerpts from Inciweb.org and the perimeter shown on the map above may not be perfectly accurate, but it should be close enough to use for reference if you wish. The fire is now listed as 20% contained and Inciweb shows 949 personnel on scene, though media reports consistently have referred to 600 or so. I don't know if that's because they don't include support personnel or Canadian firefighters or what. Amazingly, no deaths or serious injuries had been reported through yesterday as far as I know. With as volitile as this fire has been, I think that's just outstanding work by everyone involved.

They received a small amount of rain last night and some lightning, so it was a mixed bag. This entry at the Tuscarora News blog says that the north end of the trail reported only .1" but that the center may have gotten more like .5".

On the Canadian side, where it's being referred to as "Thunder Bay 37", it appears that another fire 20 miles north of Thunder Bay was mostly under control and so about 130 firefighters who arrived from British Columbia on Sunday night would be deployed to work on Thunder Bay 37. Earlier reports this weekend suggested that the second fire had diverted some resources from "37". US and Canadian teams are coordinating resources and efforts.

The following is from Inciweb.org and you can get the full details here. Most of the lakes mentioned are visible in the perimeter map if you want a visual reference.

Current status: American aerial and ground resources are being utilized in a unified effort with Canadian counterparts. The American operation is being managed by Paul Broyles' Type 1 National Incident Management Team (IMT). The Canadian Type 1 IMT will be in place mid-day at Sandstone Lake in Ontario.

Good progress was made on the Ham Lake Fire yesterday. Significant direct-line progress was completed on the south flank of the fire finger from the Iron Lake area to Gunflint Lake. A burnout of the same area was completed late yesterday evening. This flank did move some to the west toward Bedew Lake. The east flank of the finger held. A burnout was completed on the northern part of the east flank of the finger yesterday. An additional burnout maybe completed today if winds are favorable. Yesterday's winds pushed the fire north to Saganaga, Spoon, and South Arm, Northern Light lakes. The south, the southwest, and the west flanks of the fire continue to hold. There is one spot-over on the southwest flank that will need to be addressed today.

Canada will continue to focus on three geographic areas: 1) east flank, where a burnout is tentatively planned for today from south of Beulah Lake toward Little Gunflint Lake; 2) structural protection in the Saganaga Lake area; and 3) securing the north end of the fire between Saganaga Lake and Spoon Lake. The Canadian IMT evacuated seven Americans from the Canadian side of the border on Saganaga Lake (Red Pine Island) yesterday. Nine structures were lost Thursday on the north side of Gunflint Lake in Canada when the fire made its wind-driven run.

Incident plans for today: Today, suppression resources will be further securing and holding containment lines, and providing continued structural protection in the Gunflint and Loon lakes areas. Last evening's precipitation will allow crews to utilize direct attack tactics. Crews will complete and hold the burnout from Gunflint Trail or use direct tactics to secure the perimeter from Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lake. Crews will also continue line construction from Gunflint Trail north past the east end of Mayhew Lake to Topper Lake to South Lake on the east side of the fire in coordination with the Canadian IMT. In addition, crews will construct direct line south from the Gunflint trail to contain the finger that has burned to the south of Rush Lake. Fire suppression actions will be initiated on the north end of the fire near Saganaga Lake.

Ham Lake Fire-Sunday 5/13

After Thursday's dramatic and scary runs, calmer winds led to only limited expansion of the Ham Lake Fire perimeter in the US the last two days. It remains a very dangerous and mostly uncontained fire and crews continue to try to secure containment lines. While the forecast has an increased chance of rain today and tomorrow, higher winds in the 15-25 mph range from the south or southeast today could test firefighters(Update: Red Flag warning issued at 9:48 this morning until 7:00 PM). There's a 30% chance of rain this afternoon and a 50% chance tonight. On the southeast side of the fire, the winds will be pushing back into the fire perimeter area, but towards more structures in the Loon Lake and Gunflint Lake area. I'm not sensing the same level of anxiety that there was on Thursday, but it's still there. Around 200 homes and businesses remain at risk along the trail.

On the Canadian side, more evacuations went into effect near Northern Light Lake according to The Chronicle Journal in Thunder Bay and the fire is pretty much having it's way:

MNR crews intermittently bombed the inferno with water bombers during the last few days, but have been unable to do much more due to the enormous size of the fire and the need to divert resources to other fires.

Friday night's Inciweb update also noted that some US tanker aircraft were trying to assist.

Good stories in the StarTribune today here and here and in the Duluth News Tribune here. That second Strib link raises the subject of possibly closing the BWCA at some point this year because of the dry conditions. There are enough problems for the people up on the Gunflint right now. At this stage that kind of talk is just borrowing trouble and I'd hate to see people cancel or make other vacation plans based on that kind of speculation. As the article notes:

"Recreation is our heart and soul in this country," Sanders said. "But safety cannot be compromised. We'll have to collectively be on our toes all summer long."

As the owner of Golden Eagle Lodge on the trail, Dan Baumann hates to see fire danger hurting business. As the chief of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department, he hates it even more.

"This is the earliest start to a fire season I can remember, and we came out of winter with one of the worst snowfall seasons I can remember," said Baumann, head of a department whose 25 firefighters got accolades last week for heroic efforts to save dozens of structures, even, in some cases, while members' own buildings burned.

Despite the season's awful beginning, Baumann said it doesn't necessarily portend doom. "Lots of rain can happen," he said. "There's no use talking months ahead."

When it comes time to cross that bridge to August, Baumann said, he's confident that his members will still drop everything to fight fires -- and that that help would come, as it always has lately, from fire departments across the state.

Let's see what the next few weeks brings. At this point, if you are planning a trip up to the area, the best thing to do is just stay in contact with anyone you are planning to use to outfit you or put you up.

Update 11:00 from hamlakefire.com:

Cooler temperatures, higher humidity, and lighter winds aided in yesterday's fire suppression efforts. Crews were successful in completing a planned burnout operation late yesterday in the Crab Lake area. The burnout reduced the threat to residences and businesses on both sides of Highway 12 west toward Gunflint Lodge. The west-northwest flank of the fire is a concern; today's winds are expected to push the fire toward Saganaga Lake. Fire lines on the southwestern flank of the fire continue to look good.

Canadian fire suppression forces are focusing on three geographic areas today: 1) east flank, where a burnout is tentatively planned from south of Beulah Lake toward Little Gunflint Lake; 2) structural protection in the Saganaga Lake area; and 3) securing the north end of the fire between Saganaga Lake and Spoon Lake.

Today, suppression resources will be further securing and holding containment lines, and providing continued structural protection in the Gunflint and Loon lakes areas. Firefighters will use direct tactics to further secure the perimeter from Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lake on the west side of the fire finger on the southeast flank of the fire. Direct line will be constructed south from Gunflint Trail to the south of Rush Lake. Also, line construction will be initiated from Gunflint Trail north past the east end of Mayhew Lake to Topper Lake on to South Lake on the east side of the fire finger. The latter will be coordinated with Canadian forces.

The fire should be active today. Surface runs associated with higher winds and occasional torching is expected...

Ham Lake Fire-Friday evening update

Today was a considerably calmer day than Thursday was on the Gunflint Trail. I listened to the 7:00 P.M. community briefing via WTIP's live webcast and the exact quote from the forest service spokesman was "very good day from a weather standpoint". It was a surprisingly short briefing and since I'm not up there, I often couldn't be sure what he was talking about since I couldn't see the map he was pointing to. A couple things that were clear:

• No deaths or injuries so far.
• No known structure losses during Thursday or by 7:00 PM on Friday.
• 134 structures have been lost so far by latest count. 62 of those are cabins/residences.
• Mop-up progressed well up in the Seagull/Saganaga area.
• The finger of fire that shot south from the SE side of Gunflint Lake had reached into the wilderness area south of Rush Lake, but there were no known structures losses in the area south of where it hopped the Gunflint.

As far as Friday went, it was all good news this evening. They cautioned however that everyone up there was still at the mercy of the weather and the fire remained very dangerous.

Finding up-to-date info on this fire is a bit like finding which shell has the pea under it. Sometimes it's MNICS, sometimes the newspapers, sometimes the local and Grand Marais sites, and tonight it looks like Inciweb has it. That's just a statement of fact and not a criticism. The briefers acknowledged that this evening and they are trying to improve the communication of info to the public. They are working in tough and sometimes rapidly changing conditions though. I'm sure the communication priorities are first the crews, then the locals and media, and then people who have their butts planted far away but want to know, like me. No problem with that from here.

I found the best text description of the current status earlier with a time stamp of 2000 hours at Inciweb.

Current Status: Power has been restored to the Incident Command Post and fire camp at Seagull Guard Station. The fire is bumping up to the Rush Lake on the south. Heavy smoke at the east end of Loon Lake and limited access is hampering structural protection efforts. Today, fire suppression forces focused on structural protection for homes and businesses on Gunflint, Loon, and Poplar lakes, and along the Gunflint Trail.

Cook County has completed their initial assessment of structures lost. In the first few days, 134 structures were lost with an estimated value of $3.7 million.

The Canadian Incident Management Team is taking action on the portion of the fire in Canada; American aerial resources are being utilized in the unified effort.

For public safety reasons, a mandatory evacuation order was issued by Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk for the Gunflint Lake and Loon Lake areas early yesterday afternoon. Highway 12 is closed from Poplar Lake Fire Hall (Gunflint #1) to the end of Gunflint Trail.

There was little growth on the north, west, or southwest flanks of the fire. No structures have been reported lost for yesterday; however, an assessment continues by emergency personnel. An estimated 200 residences and over 20 commercial operations remain threatened. 

Resources: Crews: 16 Helicopters: 8 Engines: 41 Water tenders: 3 Dozers: 7 Available upon Demand: Medium Air Tankers 3 Heavy Air tankers - 2 Personnel: 657. Additional resources continue to arrive.

Plan for Saturday: Fire spread to the west and east toward residences and resorts is a major concern for fire suppression forces. Winds will switch to the southeast pushing the finger of fire south of Gunflint Lake toward the urban interface along Loon Lake and the south side of Gunflint Lake. The priority for suppression resources will be further securing and holding containment lines, and continued structure protection in the Gunflint, Loon, and Poplar lakes areas, and along the west end of Gunflint Trail. Aviation resources will continue to be utilized.

(more details at the link)

Nearly half the fire is on the Canadian side of the border now. I didn't find much info except that it is being referred to as "Thunder Bay 37". One recent media link is here:

Ministry officials say in just half a day, Thunder Bay 37 has grown from 200 hectares to more than 10,000. The fire is still being classified as out of control and officials say it could turn in any direction. Erratic wind conditions have forced MNR waterbombers out of the sky temporarily and it will be some time before they can figure out the best point of attack. It's anticipated that Thunder Bay 37 will continue to burn for quite some time and evacuations in the area are being considered. Ministry spokesperson Dave Jackson says some area residents have already been put on notice.

''We're now dealing with Northern Light Lake. We're talking to a resort owner there. We're talking to individuals that are in the area. We're putting them on what's called an evacuation alert and that's giving them a 12 to 24 hour notice that they may be asked to leave'' Jackson said.

We'll have to see how much more info we get on Canadian efforts. The wrong wind could bring that part of the fire right back across the border again.

For pics, quite a few have been posted now at boreal.org.

Ham Lake Fire expands

Update: A new map is up at MNICS, dated as 0900 5/11.

Update: Perimeter map as of 2200 5/10:

(click to enlarge)

Closeup of SE corner:

(click to enlarge)

MNICS text update as of 9:00 AM 5/11:

Driven by strong west winds yesterday, the fire made an estimated 13 miles run to the east in the area north of Gunflint Lake on the Canadian side of the International Border. Late yesterday afternoon, winds shifted to the north-northwest, pushing the fire south toward Gunflint Narrows. Strong winds caused the fire to burn actively, with torching and crown fire runs. The fire crossed the Narrows areas, making an estimated 12 mile run to the southeast, burning across the Gunflint Trail (Cook County Road 12) and through the Iron Lake Campground. At last report late yesterday evening, the head of the fire was an estimated 2 miles wide, moving southeast toward the Poplar Lake area. There was no growth on the north, west, or southwest flanks of the fire. No structures have been reported lost; however, an assessment is currently underway by emergency personnel. An estimated 200 residences and over 20 commercial operations remain threatened.
In preparation of the expected wind shift, a burnout operation was conducted by firefighters late Wednesday afternoon west of Gunflint Lake. This burnout was critical in fire suppression operations, preventing the fire from moving into the Gunflint Lake Lodge area. Fire suppression forces are now focusing on structural protection for homes and businesses on Gunflint, Loon, and Poplar lakes, and along the Gunflint Trail.
The State of Minnesota is currently at Planning Level 4. Multiple fires are being reported around the state. Equipment and crews continue to arrive on the Ham Lake Fire. Unseasonably warm weather and drought conditions have created extreme fire conditions in northern Minnesota.

...

Fire spread to the west and east toward residences and resorts is a major concern for fire suppression forces. The priority for suppression resources is now further securing and holding containment lines, and continued structure protection in the Gunflint, Loon, and Poplar lakes areas, and along the Gunflint Trail west of Poplar Lake. Aviation resources will continue to be utilized.

_________________________________

Wow. It's being reported this morning that the Ham Lake fire has grown to over 55,000 acres, 30,000+ on the US side and at least 25,000 acres on the Canadian side. Reports as late as Wednesday had the burned acreage in Canada at around 200-250. West winds whipped the fire around the north side of Gunflint Lake and that prompted an additional evacuation order for the Gunflint Trail west of the Poplar Lake Fire Hall. About half of the trail is now under a mandatory evacuation order and a cautionary evacuation notice has been issued for an additional 10 miles towards Grand Marais. Roughly 3/4 of the trail is now closed to the public. Most if not all access to the BWCA from the Gunflint has been closed.

As of this morning there are no updated maps of the perimeter at MNICS or Inciweb.org, nor is there any updated text info since yesterday afternoon. On the bright side, if there is one, from what I can tell mop up operations and firefighting efforts around Seagull and Round Lake are going OK. It also sounds like they held the perimeter on the west side of Gunflint Lake with a lot of effort. It's the northeast/east perimeter of the fire that is most dangerous as of this morning.

The NWS forecast for the area today:

MNZ012-120015-
NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ISABELLA
404 AM CDT FRI MAY 11 2007

.TODAY...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS 58 TO 63. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH BECOMING EAST 10 TO 20 MPH...THEN BECOMING NORTH 5 TO
10 MPH LATE IN THE AFTERNOON.
.TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 30 TO 35. NORTHEAST WINDS AROUND
5 MPH.

That east wind might not be a bad thing if it blows the fire back into itself. We'll have to see what officials say this morning and what develops during the day. If I get updates today I'll post them here.

This was posted earlier at the Tuscarora news blog:

The word this morning from Poplar Lake (mid trail—Hungry Jack Outfitters). The sky is blue, the smoke has lifted—a beautiful day. It appears to be a beautiful day to get some of the campers out of the woods near there. Jim Holz and Jim Colbert from the Iowa State group are camped near Poplar Lake---I’m sure they’ll come out reluctantly on this beautiful blue day—with the east wind blowing the fires/smoke away from them.

They are posting regularly there.

On and on it goes

Update, 2:15 P.M.: Another 5 or 6 miles looks like at least 10 or maybe 15 miles of the trail east of the current roadblock are being evacuated this afternoon. The new roadblock is at the east intersection of CR 92 and the trail. The Ham Lake fire continues to burn strongly:

The worst scenario happened this afternoon when flames from the Ham Lake fire jumped a safety line and moved toward the Gunflint Lake area, forcing the evacuation of dozens of homes, cabins and lodges.

This may just be a precaution because a line was breached and it doesn't necessarily mean they won't be able to contain it again and hold the area discussed below. WCCO has this from 3:00 P.M.:

Bill Paxton, a spokesman for the fire fighting effort, said the fire was "challenging" the containment lines. "They're holding right now," he said. "We're having some difficulty holding them, but they're holding now."

I'm sure they are giving it one hell of an effort. It's certainly not a good development though. The weather predictions also seem to be holding true, so the wind is going to get even worse. Send your thoughts and prayers to them.

_____________

It's going to be a very tense day at the top of the Gunflint Trail and across large parts of northeast Minnesota. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag fire warning and predicts that the calmer winds from the south will shift to out of the northwest and increase to 20-30 mph, with gusts up to 40. Little or no rain is also forecast for at least the next few days. A large and bold prescribed burn was done late yesterday to deny the fire fuel in anticipation of the wind shifting today. It's being described unofficially as "successful". The Strib and the Duluth News Tribune both have good recaps(subscription may be required) and photos today. From the latter:

It was Sanders who signed the final order to start the fire, hoping fire behavior experts and weather forecasters were right. A 180-degree shift in the wind could have spelled disaster on Sanders’ watch. It was one of the largest intentional fires ever set in the region.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking. … But the choice is do it now or the fire will do it when it’s coming at us,” Sanders said. “We wouldn’t be standing here if this was the northwest wind that we’re supposed to get pushing right at us.”

More details in the extended entry if you're interested.

Update on Ham Lake Fire

(Photo from MNICS. More here)

Ham Lake Fire: Things got a bit hairy on the Gunflint yesterday as the wind picked up and shifted from the west. They had started to allow some people in to grab belongings or check the status of their homes but sudden flare-ups and the wind shift quickly put an end to that. Areas where the fire had burned through or around and that were thought to be safe, suddenly weren't. Sue Prom calls it Whack a Mole and recounts how the fire started this past weekend at the Boundary Waters Blog. The Duluth News Tribune reports:

“We had a lot of fire activity today in the residential area, and we lost at least one additional structure, apparently an outbuilding,” Mike Martin, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, told reporters at an 8:30 p.m. briefing near Gunflint Lake. “The local fire departments had a lot of saves today. … The fact we had that much fire up there and didn’t lose many more buildings is amazing.’’

Updated information on the current status of the fire is frustratingly difficult to find this morning. The feds are testing a website at www.inciweb.org that's supposed to be an automated portal for local and state agencies to feed information to, but it is not accessible most of the time and when it is, it often doesn't display any information. The best bets for info are MNICS or www.boreal.org. I"d like to be able to say the StarTribune, which should own this story, but sadly that's not the case. Maybe they can send Lileks up there.

The most current map of the fire is dated yesterday at 1800 hours and lists the fire area at a little over 17,000 acres. However reports from yesterday also had said that it had grown "substantially" from the 16,000 acres reported earlier, so I'm not sure what to think about that (Update: It was 22,000 acres as of this morning and there's an updated map now). If you look at that map, the big concern is the structures within the perimeter that did not burn and the populated area immediately to the east. A prescribed burn has been ordered along FS road 1347 this afternoon(if conditions are right for it) and the roadblock on the Gunflint was moved further east from there.

This morning winds in the area are light and from the SSE. No rain is forecasted. If the winds stay calm and generally from the south they will hopefully make some headway on containment today and any spread will be mainly to unpopulated areas to the north. Also, the Type I Incident team should be in place today and from what I've read there will be close to 500 firefighters on hand. We'll see how it goes. This remains a very dangerous situation for that part of the Gunflint.

BTW-As tough as it is right now at the trail end, the vast majority of the resorts on the Gunflint are open and not at risk currently. If you were planning to visit one of those resorts, check in with them, but don't let the fire change your mind. The community along the trail needs your support more than ever.

(updates on the main page)

Ham Lake Fire-Here we go again

Another fire has started up along the Gunflint Trail in northern Minnesota. It started on Saturday and is believed to have originated at a campsite on Ham Lake. This fire is in the same general area as the Cavity Lake fire was last year, though much closer to the trail and inhabited areas. A mandatory evacuation, affecting about 100 people, of the last seven miles of the trail was ordered yesterday. As of last night the burned area was about 8000 acres and the fire had slowed a little, but was basically uncontained. So far only 4 structures have been lost and there have been no injuries.

Part of that AP story I linked to above says:

The area around the Tuscarora Lodge on Round Lake just west of Ham Lake was evacuated Saturday afternoon, but firefighters were able to save all the buildings in the area except for one small shed.

Sounds like no big deal, but for those in the area there was considerably more drama:

Mike and Don, both members of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department, were alerted to the smell of smoke.  They went to the fire hall, got the fire truck and proceeded to Round Lake Road to investigate.  They saw smoke, urged the Ahrendts to hurry up and then they all headed back out to the Gunflint Trail as flames jumped from tree top to tree top over Round Lake Road.  A few minutes later they would have been cut off from the Gunflint Trail by a huge wall of flames.

Resources were called in and the fighting of the Ham Lake Fire began.  Only overhead teams were able to work on the fire initially because ground crews were not able to get to Tuscarora Lodge and all of their buildings.  Several aircraft were on scene making drop after drop of fire retardant, foam, and water on the many buildings on the property.  Once the main part of the fire passed Round Lake Road ground crews were sent in.

Quick reaction and a lot of hard work saved Tuscarora Lodge on Round Lake. I've gone into the BWCA a couple times off of Round Lake and I think my sister Patty worked at Tuscarora for a while before she went to Golden Eagle Lodge. You can read more from someone who lives right there at Boundary Waters Blog. Good Luck and stay safe Mike and Sue, and everyone else up there. I'm praying for some rain for you all.

BTW-I can't stress enough the amount of effort that the community along the Gunflint Trail has put into dealing with the enormous risk that came with the 1999 blowdown. They deserve great credit for the preparation and training they've done to be able to react to wildfires along the trail. Good old-fashioned hard work and innovative solutions like wildfire sprinkler systems have made the situation manageable for the last 8 years, and hopefully well into the future.

Update: They are saying over 16,500 acres now and that 30 structures ranging from sheds to cabins have burned down. It looks like they will bring in a Type I Incident Team in the next day or so and my guess is that we'll be hearing about a lot more equipment and firefighters heading that way. The focus will probably remain on protecting structures for now, but if it keeps moving the way it has so far then I'm guessing a full-scale suppression effort will be on by the end of the week. With the fuel load from the blowdown that's in some of those areas still and the very dry conditions, there's potential for an enormous fire up there. That blowdown also makes it difficult and dangerous in some areas for firefighters to operate on the ground. There's no need to panic, but this fire is looking far more serious than the Cavity Lake fire last year, both for the residents along the trail and the forest itself if it stays out of control.

(updates on the main page)