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Summary

Overall combined acreage of the July Lightning Incident remained at 64,054 acres, while assigned personnel grew to 1,038. The Little Knife Fire is estimated at 4,958 acres with 139 personnel assigned. The public can support firefighters and their safety by adhering to all evacuations, closures and fire restrictions; by refraining from flying drones, which endanger firefighting aircraft; and by keeping boats off the water in areas where water-gathering aircraft are operating.

Evacuations and Closures

Residents and property owners can search their respective county’s interactive evacuation map by address to determine exact locations and evacuation levels.

• Lake County: The following zones are evacuated (“GO!” status): BWCAW Bald Eagle Lake, BWCAW Clear Lake, BWCAW Perent Lake, BWCAW Squirrel Islands, North Fall Lake-1A, North BWCAW and South BWCAW. Cloquet Line Road reopened July 28. Please view the Lake County evacuation zone map for site-specific information.
• St. Louis County: The following zone is evacuated (“GO!” status): SL-100. Zones SL-200 and SL-201 have been reduced to “SET” status as of July 28. Echo Trail from North Arm Road to Forest Road 200 is closed from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily for the safety of firefighters and equipment still working. Forest Road 199 is also closed while firefighters work in the area. Please view the St. Louis County evacuation zone map for site-specific information.
• Cook County: Gunflint District 1 is in “READY” status. Please view the Cook County evacuation zone map for site-specific information.

Please note that most counties within the fires’ vicinities are under burn bans or other fire restrictions.

Superior National Forest

Portions of the Superior National Forest have moved from class IV or class III fire restrictions. Campfires are now allowed in open developed recreation sites and designated rustic campgrounds within Forest Service metal fire rings. Forest closures and fire restrictions are available on its “Alerts” web page. Visitors are encouraged to monitor these pages for current information. Status of specific recreation sites can be found on its “Recreation” web pages, as well. A partial reopening of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will begin July 30, contingent on weather and fire behavior. Forty-one entry points into the eastern and central portions of the wilderness area will be open for day or overnight use. The reopened areas represent about 39 percent—or about 432,500 acres—of the wilderness area.

Temporary Flight Restrictions

Temporary flight restrictions are over portions of the fire. A permanent flight restriction is over the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Visit the Federal Aviation Administration website for more information.

Weather and Fire Behavior

Ground-level moisture is expected to keep fire behavior moderate today. However, as temperatures climb to 90 degrees with sunny skies, firefighters will be watching for fires smoldering from a July 26 thunderstorm to begin presenting themselves. The storm produced more than 300 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. Aerial resources responded July 28 to a tree burning north of the Bear Fire that was suspected from the storm.

Operations

Subdued fire behavior is allowing firefighters to engage wildfires across the area more directly, constructing containment lines and laying hoses close to the fires’ edges where possible. Initial attack crews are in place to respond to new fires that might present themselves from a July 26 thunderstorm.

Non-Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Wildfires

• Camp: 4,397 acres; 46% contained. Location – 5 miles north of Winton. Fewer heat signatures are being detected by infrared flights as crews focus their attention to securing the fire’s northeast perimeter. Structure protection along the Fernberg Corridor has been completed, and crews will continue to patrol the fire’s southern perimeter.
• Sioux: 12,576 acres; 42% contained. Location – North of the Echo Trail and east of Jeanette Campground. Infrared flights July 28 picked up heat signatures on both sides of the Echo Trail, which firefighters will seek and extinguish today. Firefighters are also scouting and looking for opportunities to more directly contain and extinguish heat on the fire’s northeast perimeter. Crews are widening the fuel breaks along Echo Trail and Forest Road 199 west of the fire.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Wildfires

• Little Knife: 4,958 acres; 49% contained.Originated in Ontario and crossed into the United States on July 15. Firefighters are working to secure peninsulas along the southwest side of the fire. Crews on the northeast side of the fire are using natural features such as lakes and streams, as well as improving portage trails, for indirect containment lines. Crews will be using drones to conduct aerial reconnaissance. A helicopter will be resupplying food to firefighters camped out and working in remote areas. Firefighters continue structure protection and assessments in the Gunflint Trail corridor. No significant fire behavior is expected today; however, heat remains in the duff beneath the surface. The public is invited at a community meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Gunflint Volunteer Fire Department Fire Hall 1. The Little Knife Fire is being managed by the National Incident Management Organization.
• Bear Trap (Bear Trap and Dark Fires combined): 37,837 total acres (29,767 acres in the United States); 39% contained. Location – South of Lac La Croix, 20 miles north of Ely. Hot shot crews will stay overnight to aggressively construct fire line and lay hoses along the southern perimeter of the fire. Meanwhile, additional crews will widen the fuel break along Echo Trail to the south and Angleworm Trail to the east. Crews will also patrol and fortify structure protection measures in the area.
• Thumb: 17,236 total acres (16,890 acres in the United States); 57% contained. Remote and located 6 miles south of Gakijiwanong Anishnaabe Nation Canada. The fire continues to be monitored by aircraft as fire activity remains minimal.

Wildfires West of Echo Lake and East of U.S. Hwy 53

• Chub: 424 acres. 95% contained. Location – North of Chub Lake, southwest of Crane Lake. Crews will be following up on heat signatures detected from infrared footage captured the previous day.  
• 493, Echo 2, Beaver Tail, Ridge, Creek, Marion Creek Trail, Nine, Camp 5/Duck, Bug Creek, Coffin Fires: 64.4 acres combined for all 10 fires. All are 100% contained. Crews continue to patrol these fires, extinguishing any lingering heat.  
• Long Lake Fire: 15 acres. Crews are patrolling the perimeter and extinguishing residual pockets of heat. 

Local DNR-Managed Fires

• Little Lake and 614 Fires: Minnesota DNR officials declared the 614 Fire out on July 28; the Little Lake Fire was declared out July 26. For more information, contact Leanne Langeberg at MNMNCC_information@firenet.gov.

For a glossary of fire terminology, visit this site.

History

More than 1,000 lightning strikes were recorded July 6 when a dry thunderstorm moved across northeastern Minnesota and southern Canada, resulting in dozens of fire starts. As unprecedented dry and warm conditions followed, fires were detected across Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties. Where fires were accessible by ground, firefighters kept some of the fires contained within small perimeters, but due to the number of fires and their vast and remote locations, some fires continued to smolder and grow in the following days. Local fire managers were successful in ordering additional resources, such as engines, hand crews, aviation resources and two incident management teams, to support firefighting efforts. While many of the fires were contained, several have grown due to record-breaking high temperatures and low humidity. Additional firefighters, equipment and support staff continue to be ordered as needed.