Progress made on BWCAW fire, but firefighters still wait for rain
prebhahn@duluthnews.com or
218-720-4154
Duluth News-Tribune
Duluth, Minnesota
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Cool, moist air and less wind aided firefighters battling the Alpine Lake fire on Saturday. But the weather that will finally send firefighters home from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness may still be days away. "Rain will be the eventual end of this fire," said Carson Berglund, information officer for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. About 33 percent of the fire was contained by 7 p.m. Saturday, fire center spokesman Dewey Hanson said -- up from 26 percent on Friday. "Everything went well," Hanson said of Saturday's work. Hanson said winds that gusted to a measured high of 31 mph on Friday made firefighters' jobs more difficult. He estimated top wind speeds at less than 10 mph on Saturday. Firefighters now on site total 244, up from 226 on Friday, Hanson said. The cost of fighting the fire has risen to $1.4 million, he said. The National Weather Service forecasted a small chance of light rain for the fire area Saturday night, today and into the work week, but predicted no chance for heavy rainfall before Thursday. A public meeting on the fire is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in the Grand Marais Community Center. The fire near the end of the Gunflint Trail between Alpine, Seagull, Red Rock and Grandpa lakes covers about 1,340 acres. A lightning strike started the week-old fire. Berglund said firefighters were pleased at the progress they had made given Friday's winds. "The burning-out efforts are really paying off," he said. "Burn-out" is firefighter lingo for an intentional fire set in the path of a wildfire to deprive it of the fuel it needs to spread. "But in reality, what's going to put it out is Mother Nature and time," Berglund said.
Copyright 2005, Duluth News-Tribune.
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Minnesota DNR's $6 million water bomber
purchase pays off
August 10, 2005
By John Myers, Duluth News-Tribune Staff Writer jmyers@duluthnews.com
or 218-723-5344
Duluth News-Tribune
Duluth, Minnesota
To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@duluthnews.com
It was like a marathon choreographed dance: two partners worked in perfect step, never stepping on each other's toes. Over and over, hours on end, two Bombardier water bombers dipped to scoop water from Seagull Lake, rose to clear the trees, dropped their payload on the front lines of the Alpine Lake fire, then banked, dipped and scooped again. Each round trip took less than four minutes, which meant a load was dropped every two minutes or less -- a 1,400-gallon, six-ton splash that tore into the heart of a fire torching pine trees. It was a mesmerizing site Sunday as the rumbling, twin-engine CL-215 airplanes kept going, hour after hour, stopping only to briefly refuel in Ely or for pilots to take a mandatory rest. That's when a third CL-215 would cycle into the mix, one on loan from North Carolina, so two planes were always on the fire. Combined, they dumped more than a quarter-million gallons of water on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness blaze. It was hard to believe any fire could survive the onslaught. But this fire has been stubborn.
Breaking Point On Monday afternoon, when the fire had jumped a creek, a benchmark that officials had set for evacuating the tip of the Gunflint Trail, the aerial dance moved even faster. At times, all three planes joined in. A hot west wind pushed the fire east, toward the only civilization within miles. For a few moments, ground commanders were on edge. The eastern spread of flames was supposed to trigger their elaborate and well-planned evacuation of homes, cabins and resorts. But they waited just a few moments, gambling on theCL-215s and their pilots. Just before 4 p.m., the smoke rose a bit and radios at the command compound crackled with a voice from one of the planes: "I think we can catch it." And they did. Without anyone on the ground actually battling the blaze, the CL-215s stopped the fire from spreading out of control. "We probably would have had to evacuate Saturday night or even today if it wasn't for those planes," Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk said Monday afternoon at the fire command post. "They're amazing."
Fire Flights Don MacDonald, 43, has been flying CL-215s for nine years, the past five based in Minnesota. He pilots one of two planes, which are owned by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and operated by Arizona-based Aero Flite. He's worked the Alpine Lake fire for days now and is surprised at its ability to keep burning. Fire can hide, even from tons of water, under logs and big trees. "We think we've pounded it into the ground, and we circle around and there's another tree torching up," MacDonald said Tuesday in a telephone interview from the tanker's Hibbing base. "Just last night, as we were about to quit for the night, I made one last run at a spot that kept torching up." MacDonald agreed that Monday afternoon's battle was intense, especially when smoke obscured the ground at times and it was unclear how far the fire had advanced. Even then, though, the aircraft's infrared imaging system could see flames through the smoke. "We came in first, and I could see on the screen that the fire was on the other side of the creek.... We got into a tight circuit, and we had all three planes in there for a time," he said. "It was moving pretty good for a bit there. But we finally got on top of it." MacDonald said Monday's quick up-and-down circuits kept pilots and their co-pilots focused, which is better than long flights between drops. "You don't have time to get tired with it. You get into a rhythm," he said. "We're talking to each other, letting the other guys know when you're off the water." A small plane circling above helps direct traffic. Pilots pick their dipping runs between the rocky islands based on wind direction and speed. Then they go to work, usually hitting the wind-blown head of the fire but also breaking off to attack any trees that candle or torch. "You don't want to leave them candling or they can send up (sparks and embers) that can spot outside your perimeter. Then you end up with a lot of small fires out ahead," MacDonald said. The powerful, twin-engine plane hits the water at about 92 mph. In just 10 seconds, 1,400 gallons of water are pushed through two small probes and into the belly tank. On calm days, the planes might need a mile-long run for safety. On Monday, with 20-mile-per hour west winds providing lots of lift, they only needed 800 feet to get their load, take off and clear the trees.
Land of 10,000 Runways Jean Bergerson, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center and a veteran of dozens of wildfires in several states, said Northland fire experts are wondering aloud how they put out fires before the state hadCL-215s. "They've added the ability to drop large amounts of water much faster than we could ever do with helicopters or smaller planes," she said. "And we knew, after the blowdown in 1999, that we would have fires that would be all air-show, where we couldn't get people in on the ground. And that's what we've had now." MacDonald agrees theCL-215 is perfect for northern Minnesota's lake country. While a bit biased, he said taxpayer's money was well-spent in 2001 when the state decided to pay $6 million to Quebec-based Bombardier for the two planes. With a decade of above-average fire danger ahead due to the 1999 windstorm, DNR fire experts felt buying was more prudent than renting. The move gave Minnesota more flexibility during busy fire periods, like right now. In years past, the state had to lease planes from other states. But they aren't always available. Canadian provinces help, too, and Manitoba lent twoCL-215s to the Alpine Lake fire on Saturday. But, by Sunday, those planes were needed back in Canada, and it was critical that Minnesota had its own planes to fall back on. Now, Minnesota can lend its planes out when it's wet at home, but they can always be kept nearby if needed. The past few days near Alpine Lake, they've been needed. On a blaze miles from the nearest road and too inaccessible and inhospitable for people to battle with picks, shovels and water hoses, the cockpits of the CL-215s have become the front line of firefighting. "They've paid for themselves already," Bergerson said, noting that whoever calls for the plane, a federal agency or another state, ends up reimbursing the state thousands of dollars per flight hour.
Copyright 2005, Duluth News-Tribune.
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Dry and dangerous - Northern
Minnesota on alert after a hot July makes brush highly flammable
August 6, 2005
By Dennis Lien dlien@pioneerpress.com or
651-228-5588
St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul, Minnesota
To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@pioneerpress.com
If you're headed up north this weekend, be careful. An extremely dry July in the northern half of Minnesota has state and federal fire officials on edge. A dozen small fires have popped up this week, and continued warm, dry and windy conditions could push the fire danger rating there from high to very high or extreme. "We've had one or two fires a day and, while they have remained fairly small, they have been extremely difficult to put out,'' said Jean Bergerson, information officer for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. "They are burning exceptionally hot.'' A wet June left northern Minnesota a lush green, but the extended period of hot, dry weather in July changed the situation drastically, Bergerson said. In Voyageurs National Park along the Minnesota-Ontario border, some trees already are showing fall colors, an indication of stress. In and around the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, lightning has started several fires, prompting air and ground crews to move quickly to put them out. Portions of the BWCA Wilderness still are recovering from a huge storm in 1999 that downed thousands of trees, leaving piles of dead wood that could provide fuel for a large fire. "Lightning fires are a sign that fuels have dried and will start quickly,'' said Ron Stoffel, wildfire-suppression supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In July, rain in north-central Minnesota was 2.21 inches below normal and, in the northeast, 3.17 inches below normal. Grand Rapids and Duluth had less than an inch of rain, or about 3.5 inches less than normal. As the level of rainfall declined, temperatures spiked. St. Cloud, for example, had nine days in July in which temperatures reached 90 or higher, the most for July since 1999 and 16th-most for that month in the city's recorded history. The southern third of the state has had hotter weather but more rain. Even with a heavy rainfall in the Twin Cities on Thursday morning, city arborists recommend homeowners continue to water their trees, especially newly planted ones on boulevards. Bergerson said the situation in the north has become severe enough to hold back firefighting crews that normally would be available for fires in Western states. In addition, she said CL-215 water-scooping planes have been called in early to ensure fires are quickly doused. Bergerson said officials haven't imposed any burning or camping restrictions yet but have discussed the possibility. She recommended people take sensible precautions and be extra careful about putting out campfires. Drivers of all-terrain vehicles, she added, should be mindful about where they park their machines. "If you are out in the back country, don't park them in an area where grass has dried out,'' she said, alluding to the vehicles' exhaust systems, which can remain hot. The weather for northern Minnesota isn't expected to change much. A slight chance of rain and temperatures in the 80s are predicted for next week.
Copyright 2005, St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Precipitation for Minnesota, Week of August 2 through August 8, 2005
Source: The Minnesota Climatology Working Group
Weekly Precipitation, Departure and Ranking Maps for August 8, 2005
http://climate.umn.edu/climatology.htm
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