At a well-attended special council meeting Thursday evening, Chris Barth of the National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) told the council that there has been no conversation about evacuating Ely, despite chatter amidst community members.
Barth also addressed public alarm at the large swaths of the St. Louis County Wildfire Evacuation Map that have swapped to “GO” status, but said the change was only to reflect the Boundary Waters’ closure.
“We’re in a position where we have time and space with the weather and the fire behavior to not act rashly and reactively,” Barth said. “We are going to continue to refine that and develop what we call trigger points that say if the fire gets here, that allows us this many hours that are required to get people out of this area safely.”
Fire response teams have been prioritizing the protection of communication towers, power supply locations, homes and infrastructure.
“This is very difficult country and our priorities are always going to be firefighter and public life safety, and that’s especially true here,” Barth said.
Through partnerships with state, county and local partners, the team has responded to the Wolfpack, Camp, Thumb, Bear Trap and Sioux Fires. Beginning Friday, these individual fires will be named as branches of the collective Bear Trap Fire complex.
Barth said firefighters on the ground noticed the Wolfpack and Sioux Fires have joined in some locations, although the connection is difficult to view on current satellite webmaps.
Nine individuals from NIMO first arrived on scene in Ely on Monday afternoon before taking command of the fire system at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Prior to that, the organization supported Superior National Forest Authorities with command control.
NIMO has implemented a planning cycle, regular meetings and other management processes.
A complex incident management team is en route and was set to arrive the day of the council meeting. The Southern Area Complex team is projected to assume command of the Bear Trap Fire complex on Saturday morning, along with fires to the west extending past Crane Lake toward Highway 53.
“The Superior National Forest realized that the complexity was increasing and they needed additional support than what NIMO has to offer,” Barth said.
NIMO is scheduled to support the Little Knife Fire after command has transferred to the complex management team.
Fire personnel were able to fly large fixed-wing aircraft over the fires last night from midnight until 3:00 a.m. in order to measure heat signatures via infrared technology.
Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m., the Forest Service released information reporting the Camp Fire at 2,886 acres, the Sioux Fire at 7,368, the Little Knife Fire at 30,000 with 6,000 within Minnesota, the Bear Trap Fire at 13,500 with extreme fire behaviour, and the Thumb Fire at 14,129 acres.
12 other smaller fires were also listed on the report. 15 wildfires across the Superior National Forest are currently active, including three inside the BWCAW.
Barth said the shape and burn footprints of the fires have largely been wind-driven, with strong winds from the southwest early this week fueling fire expansion toward the northeast.
Wind direction later switched and began to blow the fires toward the south / southeast, but a heat wave is expected to return heading into the weekend with temperatures in the 80-degree range with winds from the southwest.
Press conferences will continue to be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with daily situational updates provided to outfitters and wilderness guides.
