We have had a very exciting few weeks "Up North." As many of you have enjoyed seeing and smelling some of our smoke, we thought we would attempt to pass on some of that excitement. We are, of course referring to a huge forest fire that started a few miles south of our lodge. This is the third largest fire in the history of Minnesota. It is the largest since 1918 and I am sure will come to be known as the great Pagami Creek Fire of 2011.

     Rather than attempt to give you a day-by-day replay of the fire events, allow me to summarize the essential history of the fire. It started on August 18th from a lightning strike and was monitored for about 10 days. Then some heavy winds caused the fire to make a one mile run in an afternoon. This caused the Forest Service to shift policies from their "let it burn" philosophy to a strategy of suppression. Then came a series of "Old Testament" type events. On Sunday, September 11, and mostly on Monday, September 12th, gale force winds from the North and Northwest took the fire into record dry woods on a spectacular run of over 16 miles in just a few hours. This created the incredible plume of smoke seen on many of your TV news shows.
 

     The smoke rose nearly 40,000 ft in the sky and was seen and inhaled in most mid-west states. Thank you, we were happy to share. It was a very fortunate day for our location. The winds took the fire south towards Lake Superior and we were spared. It was a very scary time, however. There was a major evacuation south of the Boundary Waters in the Isabella area. Luckily, the firefighters were able to save all the structures there.

     Since that eventful day, peaceful little Ely, MN has been turned into the hub of one of the most massive firefighting efforts ever seen in this part of the country. A Level One Incident Command Team from the Rockies (The Big Boys) was brought in to manage the effort. Ten Hot Shot Crews and what seems like a hundred aircraft are among the many forces now all working on snuffing out the last of the fire. At the peak, over 970 firefighters were engaged in the battle. After the fire is out, I am sure we will all have a lot to say about the "Let It Burn" policy, but for now the men and women engaged in the suppression effort are truly magnificent.

     The speed with which the logistics to support the fighters was put in place was stunning. Just imagine the difficulty of inserting and then supporting fire teams in the remote canoe back country. The fighters have come from all over the country and had to be taught to canoe, and fend for themselves in this dense country. They have used chainsaws and explosives to create fire lines in the most difficult areas imaginable. This effort is still ongoing on the eastern edges of the fire.

     The efforts continue. The fire is now 71% contained. However, we now have record high temps and stiff winds that are threatening to test the fighters again. Everybody keep your fingers crossed. This is the first time I can ever remember us wishing for our first snow. So far, the canoe routes that our guests typically use are only minimally affected. The only areas affected are the Insula/Hudson/Lake Three area in the BWCA. Fortunately or unfortunately depending upon your curiosity levels, unless you are in an airplane, most of you will probably not even get a chance to see the after effects of this amazing natural event. We will be sure to keep you all updated as we go along.

Fire Map As Of Oct 9th

Here are a couple of great websites for those of you who would like to see some of the amazing photos of the fire.

 http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2534/
 

https://picasaweb.google.com/112717872039965407359