Fires in the Superior National Forest are still listed at the highest level of national response, though progress continues toward containment.
The Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team 1 has taken over command of the incidents from the Eastern Area Complex Incident Management Team.
Acreage burned in Northern Minnesota has reached 78,701 this summer.
The number of personnel has decreased to 599, down from last Thursday’s update when 706 responders were on the fires.
The Camp Fire has nearly reached full containment, with fireline implemented around 97% of its 4,357-acre footprint.
“The Camp Fire has been really pounded a lot with resources. It’s in a really good place. We picked up no heat yesterday on the Camp Fire,” said Troy Floyd, Operations Section Chief for the Southern Area team.
Suppression and repair activities will begin along the south end of the fire’s perimeter.
The Bear Trap Fire has burned 30,810 acres and sits at about 51% containment. About 77% of the total personnel responding to the three fires were assigned to this incident on Thursday morning.
Floyd said crews have been hard at work along the fire’s eastern edge. Backhauling, the removal of equipment from a former work zone, has ensued in other portions of this fire’s area.
The Thumb Fire is the second-largest incident currently under the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team’s command, at 25,015 acres and 47% containment.
Crews have been watching heat signatures on islands along the Thumb Fire’s northern boundary on a daily basis. Mop-up continues along other edges of the fire’s northern edge.
“Crews are doing a great job up there, especially in the wilderness,” Floyd said.
Incident command has now classified the Wolfpack Fire under the Thumb Fire.
The Sioux Fire is the smallest of the three with a footprint of 6,833 acres. Fireline has been implemented around nearly two-thirds of the fire’s perimeter.
Work continues on the southern half of the fire, where cabins and other values are still at risk. Suppression and repair has begun in the southeastern corner of the fire’s footprint.
The Sioux, Bear Trap and Thumb fires exhibited minimal fire behavior early in the week. These three fires have resulted in $56.8 million in costs, as of Thursday morning.
The Camp Fire’s costto- date was $6.9 million on Sunday, Aug. 16, bringing cumulative costs among all four incidents to over $63 million.
WHILE IN ELY Governor Tim Walz made several stops, starting with the Ely Folk School where he talked about his executive order to ban coppernickel mining in the Rainy River watershed. He also stopped at Camp Widjiwagan and spoke to people there as well as visiting with Tom Grant who oversaw sinking the historic canoes during the fire danger on the North Arm Road. Photo by Ken Hupila.
