The attack on the ground and in the air continued unabated Wednesday against the Alpine Lake fire, the largest wildfire the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has seen in a decade.
Ground crews continued to stretch hose and sprinkler systems along two remote canoe portages and etch out fire lines on the fire's western and northeastern fronts.
Helicopters and tanker planes continued to pound the blaze with water and chemical fire retardant. Choppers were also used, taking advantage of a breeze out of the northwest, to light two intentional fires to burn fuel before the wildfire reaches it.
An estimated 100 acres were lit intentionally, but the breeze pushed sparks or embers from those fires into the wildfire or burned areas and not toward other portions of the wilderness, said Jerry Jaskowiak, an ignitions specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Jaskowiak said the control burns looked to be successful as of 7:45 p.m. Intentional burns and efforts to solidify the fire's western boundary brought the return of one CL-215 tanker from Hibbing. Another tanker aircraft, the PV-2, dropped a flame retardant to harden previously established fire breaks and open escape routes for ground crews. The PV-2 was later reassigned to a higher-priority fire in Montana.
Firefighting efforts from the air remained most visible for campers and canoeists but ground crews made substantial inroads, said Doug Anderson of the Minnesota Interagency Fire Team.
"We knock stuff down from the air but you have to go in on the ground to knock it out," Anderson said.
Forest Service officials also closed more wilderness campsites on Red Rock Lake, bringing the number of closed campsites closed to 24.
Nine of 27 sites on Red Rock Lake were closed Wednesday. Ten on Seagull Lake were closed previously along with both sites on Grandpa Lake and three on Alpine Lake. "Be prepared to hear from some pretty unhappy people, as this is coming at their busiest time of the year," said Tom Kaffine, a resource manager with the Forest Service.
Campers in the wilderness were fascinated by the action and disturbed.
"It's interesting, but it sort of takes a bit away from what you came here for," said Andrew Buchinger of Alpena, Mich. Buchinger was ending a six-day canoe trek with his three sons and their friends. The group watched a CL-215 scoop water from the surface of Seagull Lake on Wednesday from an unnamed island just on the inside edge of the wilderness area.
"It's cool," said Ethan Buchinger, 12, the youngest of the group, as he watched the plane swoop in from treetop level and then dump its 1,400 gallons on the fire about two miles away.
Another fire team spokesman, Gil Knight, said efforts would be made to reopen closed camp sites as quickly as possible.
"These sites are closed temporarily, but we are very conscious of the fact that these times are the peak times for our visitors," Knight said.
The cost of firefighting effort as of Wednesday night was $676,500, said Alpine Lake Fire Incident Commander Jim Hinds, who called the costs reasonable considering the nature and size of the fire.
The largest expense is aircraft operations, Hinds said. "But they've saved the day for us twice," he said.
Monday, the CL-215 beat back an advance by the fire after gusting winds sent it eastward toward resorts, cabins and properties. The initial attack on the fire from the air Saturday kept it in check, Hinds said.
Wednesday, a 10-person "spike team" was deployed to a camp on Grandpa Lake to begin work on an additional portage sprinkler line system to stop the fire's advance toward the north or east. The team will camp in the wilderness, allowing them to spend more time working on the line and less time traveling to and from their work area.
The team's crew leader, Randy West, said a lot of time and energy has been expended getting to some remote areas. Wednesday, West's crew got a short boat ride but also portaged with canoes and gear to Grandpa Lake and began working on a sprinkler line on the portage to Roy Lake.
"Logistically its just very, very challenging," said West, a Wisconsin resident based out Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Forest Lake office.
Knight, the fire team spokesman, said two more 20-member spike teams would be deployed today.
Medical staff working the fire warned crews to take care of their feet and walk carefully on the rocky and often slippery terrain. They also advised firefighters to pace themselves physically because it could be up to two weeks, under the best conditions, before the fire is contained.
How long it would take to control the fire remained uncertain, but greatly depends on the weather, said Doug Miedtke, the fire team's fire behavior analyst. "The wind can push it one way one day and another way the next," he said.
Miedtke got help Wednesday from the National Weather Service, which sent Kelly Hooper, a meteorologist specializing in natural disasters and other emergencies, to work on the fire. Hooper is based in West Paducah, Ky. He joins a multi-state contingent, including firefighters from Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and West Virginia. An additional 20 firefighters from Ohio were expected to join the effort today, Knight said.
Wednesday also marked the 10th anniversary of the Sag Corridor Fire, which burned 14,000 acres in the U.S. and Canada in 1995.Duluth News Tribune
