Buoyed by cool, wet weather, firefighters tackle north side of BWCA blaze

Pagami Creek burn area
Aerial photo of an area of the Pagami Creek fire (brown area surrounding small lake) where it confronted the Turtle Lake Fire of 2006 (green area to left of cloud shadow). The young green trees were too moist for the Pagami Fire to consume.
Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service

Firefighters on the Pagami Creek fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are slogging through another wet, chilly day.

They've made a lot of progress on the western edge of the fire. Incident Command spokesman Doug Anderson said two crews are combining on that side, which releases firefighters for the more problematic north side.

"Because they've got lines contained, they ... pass through once in awhile and look for hot spots," he said. "That frees people to move on where they're building new lines."

Beaver float planes are supplying those crews on the north. No aircraft will be dumping water Thursday, because the fire is well-suppressed from recent rains.

Crews are making good progress using bulldozers on the southern edge, which is outside the BWCA. Thursday, new crews are heading to Kawishiwi Lake on the eastern edge.

The fire remains 30 percent contained.

BWCA FIRE MAP

The icons contain photos of the burn area before the fire started. The icons show closed entry points. The icons indicate entry points that are still open to use as of Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011.