Minnesota Wildfire Grows to 100,000 Acres

The Pagami Creek fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Northern Minnesota has grown to more than 100,000 acres, becoming a plume-driven event.

Superior National Forest officials said the fire made an unprecedented 16 mile run to the east, reaching the edge of Polly Lake.  The fire is now under Unified Command with Lake County Sheriff's Office as full partners of management of the fire.

Governor Mark Dayton issued an Executive Order directing the Minnesota National Guard to lend some big air power to help fight the fire.

Red Cross volunteers are moving cots, blankets, shelter materials, and refreshments to the Community Center in Finland. The community center has been established as an evacuation and reception area.

A new concern now is that the fire may be moving toward the blowdown area from the storm of 1999. If it gets into that region the timber on the ground is dry and stacked like cord-wood. Fire officials say it will go up like a box of matches.

It’s by far the largest forest fire in Minnesota since 1918, surpassing 2007’s Ham Lake fire, which burned about 38,000 acres in Minnesota and another 38,000 in Ontario while also burning 163 buildings.

So far, the Pagami Creek fire has not destroyed any homes, and only one small structure has burned, a relief cabin for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officers on Insula Lake.