At a community meeting Monday evening, Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team Operations Section Chief Shane Sturgill said recent rainstorms have moderated fire behavior, but fire areas are still active.
Precipitation totaled up to 1.5 inches in some locations across the region.
“We’re not seeing the smoke, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done before we feel that these fires are going to be in a really good place,” Sturgill said.
Crews have completed assessments and protection for nearly 1,000 structures threatened by the key complex of fires stretching across northern St. Louis and Lake Counties.
Firefighters have implemented a shaded fuel break along the Echo Trail 60-100 feet deep. The cleared brush prevents approaching flames from climbing ladder fuels and spotting across the road via the tree canopy.
“There’s been hundreds of hours of labor put into trying to remove some of that brush,” Gonzales said.
Sturgill clarified the difference between a contained fire and one that is controlled: crews can walk away from a controlled fire, confident it won’t burn beyond its footprint. Contained fires still require mop-up work.
Crews not only need to worry about hotspots deep in the duff, but they also must confront layers of smoking brush and fallen trees in order to work the edges of a fire.
“It’s days, days and days of work,” said fire behavior analyst Art Gonzales.
As of Monday morning, the Sioux Fire had burned 12,615 acres and reached 27% containment. Sturgill said over two million gallons of water have been dumped on the fire, alongside ongoing structure protection efforts in the Moose River Loop and Meander Lake locale.
The Camp Fire is 39% contained at 4,407 acres. Throughout Monday, crews scouted the southeastern side of the fire to determine where to establish a line free of fire fuels to help contain the fire.
Crews brought the Bear Trap Fire to 38% containment by Monday morning, with a 39,767-acre footprint in the United States and an overall area of 37,837 acres. Firefighters continued chipping fuels around structures in the Big Lake locale.
The Thumb Fire is 56% contained at 17,236 total acres, including 16,890 in the United States. It is a remote wilderness burn.
The Little Knife Fire is 49% contained and about 4,958 acres. A hotshot crew worked Monday via canoe to improve portages, while smokejumpers and two specialized crews addressed the southwestern and eastern perimeters.
Crews have brought nearly all wildfires east of Highway 53 and west of the Echo Trail to full containment besides the Chub Fire, the largest at 344 acres, which was 95% contained on Monday morning.
Authorities continue to emphasize Ely is still approaching its critical August fire season.
“We can’t just walk away from this and say we’re all good (because) we don’t see smoke flying up in the air,” Sturgill said. “There’s still that potential.”
Gonzales said the fires have not been all devastation, with green swaths still standing even amidst each fire’s footprint.
“At the end of the day, it’s a very healthy burn for that forest out there,” Gonzales said.
Ely Chamber of Commerce representative Spencer Peter said the Chamber has been working with city, county, state and federal legislators to begin planning for relief options.
Specified BWCAW locations opened up for day use in Cook County today, while overnight paddle permits are in the works soon for some entry points in Cook and Lake Counties.
“We obviously want everyone to be safe, and safety is the number one priority,” Peter said. “But as soon as it is safe to do so, we want business to return to Ely.”
