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...
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