Northeastern Minnesota wildfires level off as hundreds tackle the blazes

Hundreds of fire personnel worked Friday to defeat the largest of numerous wildfires in northeastern Minnesota, where smoke from tens of thousands of burning acres prompted a warning to residents to remain indoors.

An air quality alert issued by state regulators was extended until 9 a.m. Sunday.

The extension came as an unhealthy band of smoky air stretched from International Falls through the Iron Range to south of Brainerd.

The alert from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) covers St. Louis, Carlton, Itasca, Koochiching and Lake counties. The communities affected include Ely, Virginia, Hibbing, International Falls, Hoyt Lakes, Babbitt, Isabella, and the tribal lands of Leech Lake and Red Lake.

"While significant fire growth is not expected on Friday and Saturday, the fire will continue producing smoke within the existing fire perimeter," the MPCA said.

In addition to the Greenwood fire — the largest in the region — and other fires to the east, there are blazes just across the border in the Canadian Quetico Provincial Park that continue to burn with no containment, the agency said.

Friday's weather turned cooler and included a chance of rain.

Forecasters see much the same through the weekend, which bodes well for pushing down the fire threat.

With the favorable weather, "we can get firefighters directly on the line and do it safely," said Clark McCreedy, spokesman for the East Area Incident Management Team and veteran wildfire fighter.

"That affords us the opportunity to get a lot of things done today [Friday] and tomorrow."

The Greenwood fire is burning on roughly 40 square miles — about 26,000 acres — in the Superior National Forest and appears to have leveled off in size, according to incident command officials.

"Today's [Friday] priority again is to hold and improve firelines with the support of air resources, engines, bulldozers and other equipment and to reduce the burnable natural fuels near homes or near the edge of the fire," read the latest assessment from command personnel.

There are 481 personnel tasked with fighting the Greenwood fire, and officials envision that number to grow to roughly 600.

Hwys. 1 and 2, vital arteries in the region, remain closed. Also, flight restrictions over the area are still in force.

The fire has destroyed 12 residences and 57 outbuildings and damaged three more properties in the McDougal Lake area this week, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Started by lightning, the Greenwood fire was detected midafternoon on Aug. 15 in the Laurentian Ranger District.

Generally, the fire is between Greenwood Lake and the intersections of Hwys. 1 and 2.

The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness hosted a virtual town hall Friday that gave the public a chance to hear from officials monitoring the fires and coordinating response.

Ann Schwaller, program manager for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, said, "It's just been the length of our fire season, which is unusual. ... Usually, fire season does not start at the end of May."

Also, drought and a reduction of funding compared with previous years have made it more difficult to get on top of the fires, she said.

"We've had a whole smattering of fires," she said. "Some have been beneficial to the wilderness and others we've had to suppress."

Joanna Gilkeson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said, "The lightning is coming, but the rain is not, and that is causing a lot of fires to start."

She added that "a couple of fires have been caused by illegal campfires," but lightning has been the primary ignition source.

Two much smaller lightning-ignited blazes to the east, the John Ek (1,563 acres) and Whelp (50 acres) fires, continue to burn in the BWCA north of Tofte but have shown no signs of expanding.

On Friday, the Superior National Forest announced it was banning any camping outside developed campgrounds and restricted some land development activities that could spark fires.

Outfitters and guides near the BWCA and elsewhere have been hard-hit by the fires, since this is their peak season for business.

"It's basically shut us down," said Clare Shirley, who owns Sawbill Canoe Outfitters and lives about 4 miles from the Whelp fire.

"This morning, we got word from the Forest Service to stop issuing permits," Shirley said.

"I was looking out the window at dozens of people lined up to pick up their permits."

Shirley compared the impact on her business to that of "a valve being turned off. ... In a space of about 36 hours, all my canoes were back on the rack.

"Normally, we'd have hundreds of people with us, and now it's really, really quiet."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482