The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
Copyright 2007 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
GUNFLINT TRAIL, Minn. — Authorities lifted an evacuation order for part of the upper Gunflint Trail on Wednesday as firefighters continued to make headway against a wildfire that has chewed through more than 117 square miles of northeast Minnesota and western Ontario since May 5.
Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk allowed residents and resort owners in the Gunflint Lake and Loon Lake areas to return to their homes and businesses starting at noon. Sections of the fire that flared and forced them to evacuate last Thursday have been largely contained. Structures in that area escaped damage.
The fire at times had sent a smoky haze over northwestern Wisconsin.
The sheriff’s order essentially moved the roadblock back 20 miles to the final seven miles of the 57-mile Gunflint Trail, which remain evacuated.
About 100 people were free to go back, but they and their guests can’t boat or canoe on Gunflint Lake yet because it’s still getting heavy use from firefighting planes and helicopters.
“We’re hoping to be open for business Friday or Saturday,” said Shari Baker, owner of Gunflint Pines Resort and Campground. “The boating ban is a concern, though. We’re hoping that doesn’t last long.”
Falk also repeated plans to allow people with property toward the end of the trail near Sea Gull and Saganaga lakes into the evacuation area for four hours this afternoon. They will be allowed to inspect their property and retrieve a few belongings before leaving.
The fire was 35 percent contained overall, and 65 percent contained on the U.S. side of the border. Full containment was still projected for Sunday. More American crews and aircraft were being moved to the fire’s northern flank in Canada, said Carson Berglund, a spokesman for the firefighters.
Mark Van Every, another spokesman for the firefighting effort, said at a public meeting in Grand Marais that they continued to make good progress, largely because of the weather in recent days. Firefighters had continued favorable weather Wednesday, and the fire remained largely inactive, though not out.
But Van Every cautioned that the fire will not be completely out anytime soon. It may take until late summer or early fall to eliminate the threat of it jumping over containment lines, he said.
About half of the blackened area is in Ontario, and Canadian officials call it “cottage country” for people from Thunder Bay, Ontario, as well as for many Americans.
Dave Manol, the Canadian incident commander, attended the morning meeting in Grand Marais and called the fire’s northern prongs a “three-headed monster.”
However, he said, Canadian firefighters also have been getting a break from the weather. He said he was “optimistic that we’ll be able to hold it through the weekend.”
The battle has been helped by a front of cool, moist air that moved into the area late Monday. That weather pattern was expected to hold until today, when winds and temperatures were to increase while the humidity dropped.
“We’re concerned about that,” Berglund said.
The fear is that the changing weather could fan parts of the main fire that are laying low and kindle new flare-ups in other parts of Minnesota’s northern forest that were hit by lightning earlier this week.
About 970 firefighters were on the scene as of Wednesday, but Berglund said many of them were on standby away from the main fire in case of new flare-ups.
No one has been seriously hurt in the fire, but 133 structures - including 61 homes - have been lost on the U.S. side of the border, primarily toward the end of the Gunflint Trail. Fourteen buildings in Canada have been destroyed. Officials have put the value of buildings lost on the U.S. side at $3.7 million and the cost of fighting the fire at over $7.4 million.
The fire started May 5 near Ham Lake and quickly expanded through the dry forest, forcing the evacuation of the upper half of the Gunflint Trail, a scenic dead-end highway that leads from Grand Marais northwest into the forest and provides access to several entry points for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In Canada, the fire is officially known as Thunder Bay Fire 37.