Campfire ban widened to entire Superior National Forest after wildfire detected near Bogus Lake in Cook County

A third wildfire discovered this week in the Superior National Forest and continued dry conditions pushed authorities Thursday to expand a campfire ban to encompass the entire forest.

The fire near Bogus Lake in Cook County, which was found Tuesday, has grown to 53 acres in size, according to the U.S. Forest Service. As of Thursday, fire staff were still on scene to try to contain the fire. The cause is unknown.

Bogus Lake is less than 20 miles northeast of Grand Marais.

A drought has put much of the Upper Midwest, from northern Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, under “above normal” conditions for potential wildland fire, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

On Thursday afternoon, a new emergency forest order was issued restricting the use of campfires as well as charcoal grills and woodburning stoves within the Superior National Forest boundary which includes northern portions of Cook, Koochiching, Lake and St. Louis counties. The order is effective Friday. The new order is an expansion of restrictions issued last week.

The Bogus Lake Fire is the second wildfire to be discovered in the Superior National Forest this week and the third one actively burning since early September.

On Monday, a fire was detected on the eastern side of Shell Lake, about 4 miles north of Road 116 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in St. Louis County. That fire is less than 1 acre, with the potential to spread east near Agawato Lake and the Sioux-Hustler Hiking Trail, the Forest Service said.

The first fire was detected Sept. 10 on an island in Wood Lake, also within the BWCAW, northeast of Ely.

That fire grew to 45 acres and half of it was contained as of Oct. 1, according to the Forest Service. It is suspected of being caused by humans. Firefighters remain assigned to the fire.