BWCA forest fire/what to do? Boundary Waters Listening Point - General Discussion
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06/22/2018 11:09AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
We ran into a problematic situation in Quetico in early June--camped on Darky/Darkwater, we were day-tripping on relatively remote Wicksteed Lake when we spotted smoke billowing off a small island in the middle of the lake. The wind was blowing 15-20 mph from the east and the fire was confined to the west end of the island which was a long way from any other land. There were no campsites on the island and there had been severe thunderstorms a couple days earlier so we assumed there must have been a lightning strike. We did not have a satellite phone and rain was imminent (we carry a weather radio and in fact it rained for the next two days) so we did what we could with three water bottles and we threw all the burning logs we could handle in the lake. We had also heard and seen planes nearby earlier and assumed that rangers were out checking on storm damage. What else could/should we have done?
 
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06/22/2018 11:57AM  
What else could/should we have done

Its hard for me to offer much advice Springer, sorry.

FYI: A big danger from fires in the BW and Quetico come from falling trees.
Once the shallow rooted trees (roots) are compromised they fall over easily, that is one of the biggest risks we firefighters face when taking action on fires in the BW and Canadian Shield area.
 
06/22/2018 12:12PM  
I figure you did about the best you could given the situation.





 
tumblehome
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06/22/2018 01:50PM  
As you know, there is a fair amount of plane traffic over Quetico. When I say fair, I mean at least one or two low flying planes a day can be seen or heard. You can bet 'they' knew about it. And based on the location and the weather, they just let it burn.

What else could you do? It sounds like a rather exciting experience in the Q. You never know what will happen out there. My biggest excitement on my trip was having a porcupine almost run into my canoe as I was meandering along a very narrow stream. I think he was going to waddle in to the water and didn't see me. I had to get his attention and he just stopped and raised his quills. Nothing a porcupine does happens fast. :)
Tom
 
06/22/2018 03:34PM  
If it's not a campfire start I think the policy is to let it burn- unless of course the burn can't be controlled.

In a dry season between Louisa and Glacier I came across a tree and some bushes burning near the shore. Lightening had struck the tree and days later the roots went from smolder to open burn. Without a thought I spent a half hour with my water bag putting it out (I had to come back the same way in another day- a fire would be an inconvenient detour). I reported it to the Ranger at PP and mentioned that I had not followed park policy and put it out. I apologized, he shrugged and said he would have put it out too, it's what we do without thinking.

Thing is these low-level burns encourage the pine stands and discourage the large scale conflagrations that fuel build up over the years can cause. Its quite surprising how easy and fiercely the rotted and rotting woods and stumps can burn.
 
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