A wildfire that started Monday afternoon in hot, dry conditions near Burntside Lake about eight miles northwest of Ely had burned an estimated 25 to 30 acres as of Monday evening.
The Birch Bay Fire was detected at about 3 p.m. Monday about a half mile from the North Arm of Burntside Lake. It’s burning in thick forest, fueled by hot, dry conditions and dead trees, but fire crews have been aided by light winds that have pushed the blaze away from cabins and toward the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Nine seasonal cabins were evacuated along the southern-most part of North Arm Road, near Lindskog Road. The fire burned to within a quarter mile of the road, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
Two water scooping aircraft that were stationed in Duluth were able to quickly respond to the fire Monday, along with two helicopters carrying buckets, to keep the blaze in check.
The aircraft skim the surface of the water, scooping up several hundred gallons of water at a time. Because the fire is burning so close to Burntside Lake, “they can have a really fast turnaround” time, explained Tim Engrav, a public information officer with the Superior National Forest.
The planes and helicopters “drop that water where it’s needed on the fire’s edge, and then make another turn and just keep scooping water,” Engrav added.
Several agencies responded to the fire, including local crews from nearby fire departments and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Additional out-of-state firefighting crews that had been brought in to Minnesota to assist during the spring wildfire season are also helping fight the fire.
Those crews have to contend with rugged terrain and a thick forest that in some areas is choked with dead and dying balsam fir trees that can quickly increase the scale and intensity of a fire, Engrav said.
The Birch Bay Fire is burning near areas where the Superior National Forest has conducted recent prescribed burns to clear out undergrowth and improve forest health. It also burned into an area where the Forest Service was preparing to conduct another planned burn called the Geraldine prescribed fire.
Those prescribed fires were designed to reduce fuel loads to help reduce the intensity of a potential wildfire that might start in the Boundary Waters and move toward homes on Burntside Lake. The aim is to create “protective blocks between public forest land and private homes,” Engrav said.
Burntside Lake is a large, popular lake studded with dozens of islands and lined by cabins and homes. Two popular YMCA camps, Camp Du Nord and Camp Widjiwagan, are located near the fire along the North Arm of the lake. Neither camp is in danger, Ramsay said.
Camp du Nord posted on social media Monday evening that its staff members are “currently midway through staff training. The staff, along with a few volunteers, are safe and will remain on site until given further instructions from the USFS. We’ll continue to follow our safety plans and protocols to respond to the situation. The wildfire suppression system has been activated, dampening the area around buildings.”
While campfires are allowed, officials encourage people to be careful and to follow burning restrictions that are in place around much of the state.
“Across all of northern Minnesota, it's really dry, and we need some rain,” Engrav said. “And if you're done with your campfire, make sure it's cold and out before you leave it.”
