Just got this from the USFS. Wood Lake Fire

Tony

It sounds like they are thinking it was caused by humans. It appears to be on NW part of lake. It is not clear if they are cancelling permits yet. They are asking for people to stay clear and change routes.

That's a shame if it was human caused. Hopefully the fire is put out and no one gets hurt in that process.

I just hope it doesn’t blow up and get out of control with all of the dead spruce in the area. Seems ripe to light up if the winds kick up at all.

Tony

I hope they can knock it out quickly. When we were on Wood in June of 23 I thought that any fire there would go “poof” and all burn because of all the dead spruce.

Thanks for the heads up. Got a permit for an EP 15-20 miles away this weekend. Something to pay attention to. :)

ducks: "I hope they can knock it out quickly. When we were on Wood in June of 23 I thought that any fire there would go “poof” and all burn because of all the dead spruce. "

I’ve seen a few places like you describe, tinderboxes of spruce budworm infested stands. About Fourtown Lake is another place I noticed that could get out of control quickly.
On the topic of the budworms, I noticed a white pine which was infested on the solo island site on Ensign. Sad to see as it is an old & towering tree, though it is now a hazard - not too many trees scare me up here & that tree scared me. During a couple of windy days it was dropping 4”+ diameter limbs.

the fire is on the island? does that have a campsite?

Mocha: "the fire is on the island? does that have a campsite?"

No, the island they show in the photo does not have a campsite. In fact, it looks like it’s 1/2 mile to the nearest 2 campsites. The photo looked to me like the fire might also be on the land north of the island, but that’s hard to tell from that angle. The photo is looking roughly the same direction as the green arrow.

Jaywalker: "

Mocha: "the fire is on the island? does that have a campsite?"

No, the island they show in the photo does not have a campsite. In fact, it looks like it’s 1/2 mile to the nearest 2 campsites. The photo looked to me like the fire might also be on the land north of the island, but that’s hard to tell from that angle. The photo is looking roughly the same direction as the green arrow. "

The earlier posted link from FS stated the fire began on the island though spread to a nearby ridge on the ‘mainland’.

Heads up, this fire now has a larger closure area associated with it. EP 26 and many of the smaller lakes & portages & campsites in the vicinity are now closed.

Emergency Closure Order: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/notices/?cid=FSEPRD1204721

Incident FAQ: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1204727

Wood lake entry point has been officially closed.

Closures:
Closed BWCAW Entry Point: #26-Wood Lake.
Closed Lakes: Wood, Hula, Good, Indiana, Wind Bay (Basswood Lake), Wind Lake, and Washte Lakes
Closed Portages: Wood Lake Entry Point Parking Lot to Wood Lake, Wood Lake to Hula Lake, Hula Lake to Good Lake, Good Lake to Good Creek, Good Lake to Hoist Bay (Basswood Lake), Good Lake to Indiana Lake, Indiana Lake to Basswood Lake, Indiana Lake to Wind Bay Creek (Wind Bay, Basswood Lake), Wind Bay to Wind Lake, Wind Lake to Washte Lake, Wind Lake to Moose Lake.

Closure Map

Appreciate seeing the map. Unfortunately the forecast continues to be unseasonably warm with no rain. I think Ely has set record high temps the last two days and the forecast would have them set a record again today.

Forecast also has 10 mph winds from the south everyday for the next week. I haven't been in this area for over a decade but sounds like there may be a lot of fuel for this fire.

I thought I heard something about a possible fire somewhere around the North end of Burntside. Anyone know about this?

The Wood Lake fire grew from approximately 3 acres yesterday to 17 acres today as reported by InciWeb. Photos on Inciweb

Jaywalker: "The Wood Lake fire grew from approximately 3 acres yesterday to 17 acres today as reported by InciWeb. Photos on Inciweb "

Just saw that.

airmorse: "

Jaywalker: "The Wood Lake fire grew from approximately 3 acres yesterday to 17 acres today as reported by InciWeb. Photos on Inciweb "

Just saw that."

Looks like that’s what they had anticipated.

With hot weather and strong could get interesting.ng winds today it

Wood lake fire pics

27 acres as of 2:30 this afteroon per inciweb.

Basic Information
Current as of Sat, 09/14/2024 - 14:38
Incident Time Zone America/Chicago
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Tue, 09/10/2024 - 11:00
Location Township 64, Range 10, Section 26
Incident Commander Incident Commander: Joe Friedmeyer
Incident Commander Trainee: Jeremiah Kaminski
USDA Forest Service-Superior National Forest

Current Status and Resources: Firefighters continue to suppress the fire, strengthen holding lines with pumps and hose lays, use natural features, and backfire with hand ignition when needed to reduce spotting potential near the perimeter or containment line. Yesterday and overnight, fire activity included group tree torching, especially in pockets of spruce budworm infested balsam fir. Aircraft are working the fire to prevent more intense crown and running fire behavior. The National Preparedness Level remains at 5.



Planned Actions: Resources will scout for new containment line locations while continuing to strengthen existing lines on the west side and hold eastern lines. Additionally, firefighters continue to analyze contingency planning around the Moose Lake area, planning that wider perimeter area around the fire.

USFS truck pulled up to my cabin today…we never get visitors. I had to throw some pants on quick to greet the guy, lol. He was “assessing conditions” around our area (our cabin is on Jasper Lake, east of Wood Lake), just in case the fire turns and moves in our direction. He showed me a map of the current condition of the fire and explained exactly what they’re doing to try and snuff it out. Planes were circling the area all morning, but then they got called off when some humid air rolled in the afternoon. I’ve never had a fire this close to our place before. I honestly wasn’t concerned at all before, but now I am.

Tony

Tony, have you been doing any firewise prepping at your place over the years?

“ The National Preparedness Level remains at 5.”

Is this out of five or ten?
Hopefully, they are able to get a solid handle on the situation.
At 27 acres, the fire is ~4% of one 1mi x 1mi map square (640 acres).

JohnGalt: "“ The National Preparedness Level remains at 5.”


Is this out of five or ten?
Hopefully, they are able to get a solid handle on the situation.
At 27 acres, the fire is ~4% of one 1mi x 1mi map square (640 acres)."

John, planning levels go from 1 to 5. I dont know all the details that go into PL's. They are set in Boise ID at the National Interagency Fire Center.

LindenTree: "John, planning levels go from 1 to 5. I dont know all the details that go into PL's. They are set in Boise ID at the National International Fire Center."

Thank you for enlightening me, LindenTree :)
When I spoke to some at the outfitter earlier this week, they had expected the closure to be wrapped up by Monday - looks like that won’t be coming to pass…

takk: "Tony, have you been doing any firewise prepping at your place over the years? "

I have, we keep a pretty wide swath tree free around the cabin and I make it a habit to remove any dead trees and use the wood for campfires. The Firewise people come around every couple years and give us some more tips that help in keeping us fire prepared.

Tony

Just had a helicopter fly low over by Moose Lake. Pretty sure it was black/yellow & perhaps these folks:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/helitack

Sounds good! If you're still concerned there are some checklists around you can look at to make sure you've done all you can. :)

JohnGalt: "Just had a helicopter fly low over by Moose Lake. Pretty sure it was black/yellow & perhaps these folks:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/helitack"

The DNR flies a yellow and black MD. They used it up at the Curtain Falls rescue.

Inciweb is still repoting 27 acres and 25% contained as of 11:30 on 9/15/24.

John, FYI. Planning Levels set at the National Interagency Fire Center are national PL levels. Each state and geographic areas (there are 9 or 10 geographic areas in the US) have their own set of fire danger perparadness levels.

What PL 5 means mostly is that competition for aircraft, hot shot crews, hand crews and equipment are limited/scarce due to other fires going on in the US.

I just spoke to the Rangers since I have a permit for Sat 9/21 I'm still hoping to be able to use.

The closure is extended through Thursday. They seemed optimistic it would be open by Saturday. Fingers crossed!

Hoping the high overnight RH (Relative Humidity) is helping. Also encouraging to see light but consistent rain in the forecast.

DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – The U-S Forest Service says good progress was made over the weekend in battling the Wood Lake fire in the BWCA.

As of Sunday, the 27 acre fire was about 25 percent contained. Additional firefighters arrived from Connecticut to assist in fighting the fire and reinforce containment lines.

Some areas around the fire remain closed and the Forest Service reminds people that no drones are allowed in or near the fire area and are illegal in federally designated wilderness areas.

The fire was first detected September 10th on an island on Wood Lake north of County Road 18.

The fire was human caused and Superior National Forest Staff continues to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to email their tip line.
SM.FS.SUP-tipline@usda.gov, Superior NF Webpage Tipline.

Duluth, MN. September 16, 2024 — The Superior National Forest is adjusting the Emergency Forest Closure Order 09-09-24-07 established for the Wood Lake Fire, beginning on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 12:01 a.m., within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The adjusted Exhibit A-List of Closed Areas and Exhibit B-Closure Map, have removed the following recreation areas from the closed area:

Wind Lake
Wind Bay to Wind Lake portage
Wind Lake to Washte Lake portage
Wind Lake to Moose Lake portage
The Forest Order closures include:

All campsites, portages, rivers, and lakes within the current updated closure order (see Exhibit A), including but not limited to 9 locations as noted.
The Forest Service has notified permit holders, cooperators and outfitters and is encouraging permit holders to seek an alternate area of the BWCAW or consider non-wilderness areas of the SNF (see below) for similar experiences. At this time overnight paddle and day use is not permitted in the closure area.

We understand that this will impact visitors, cooperators, and communities near the restricted area. This emergency closure is necessary for the safety of our visitors, our wilderness rangers and our firefighters.

Northern Minnesota continues to experience drought conditions, causing active and increasing fire across the landscape. Forest staff are managing suppression actions on the Wood Lake Fire with additional resources on standby.

Beyond the closures for the Wood Lake Fire, the Forest is open to the public and no other restrictions apply.

Read Full Detail

How do they determine whether it was human caused? From reading the posts it appears that it started on the island and that there is no campsite there.

jamotrade: "How do they determine whether it was human caused? From reading the posts it appears that it started on the island and that there is no campsite there."

This was also the case with the Spice Lake fire last year, suspected to be human caused though not near a campsite.
Imho, it is arson.
There has been an uptick in arson related wildfires in recent history, not just in the US.
Imho again, a multitude potentially overlapping motives are present, e.g. ‘climate fear’ news headlines, federal government subsidies given to states which have fires (perverse incentive to mismanage forest land as a fire may be a net positive economically for the state), displacing people from their homes/land so that it might be bought by others, just to name a few.
That though is just my hunch, ymmv.

jamotrade: "How do they determine whether it was human caused? From reading the posts it appears that it started on the island and that there is no campsite there."

We have lightning maps that will show all cloud to ground striks with lat and long. Anything not near a stike within the few days of an ignition will lead the agency to suspect it human caused. Even powerline fires are called human caused, basically anything that is not a lightning strike.

Someday: "

JohnGalt: "

jamotrade: "How do they determine whether it was human caused? From reading the posts it appears that it started on the island and that there is no campsite there."

This was also the case with the Spice Lake fire last year, suspected to be human caused though not near a campsite.
Imho, it is arson.
There has been an uptick in arson related wildfires in recent history, not just in the US.
Imho again, a multitude potentially overlapping motives are present, e.g. ‘climate fear’ news headlines, federal government subsidies given to states which have fires (perverse incentive to mismanage forest land as a fire may be a net positive economically for the state), displacing people from their homes/land so that it might be bought by others, just to name a few.
That though is just my hunch, ymmv.



"




"

More likely someone camped illegally…

Its an easy scenario to imagine. You are due out the next day, perhaps a local outfitter is picking you up. You get to Wood Lake lae for one final night and all the campsites are taken. You pushed hard all day and you don't want to go back out across all those portages; your ride is scheduled for 8:00am. You find a little secluded spot near water on an island that looks like you could stealth. How hard could it be to build a fire ring? You build a tiny fire ring to cook with and put it out. You do all the things, add water and stir. A week or more later there's a fire at the same location.

Fire investigators would be looking for anything that might have been left behind to confirm human involvement or even rule it out. Remember Ham Lake? The origin campsite was mostly intact despite the severity of the fire and investigators reached it on the first day and started recovering evidence. d

I got rain here near Isabella a couple days ago. Did the fire get any?

takk: "Its an easy scenario to imagine. You are due out the next day, perhaps a local outfitter is picking you up. You get to Wood Lake lae for one final night and all the campsites are taken. You pushed hard all day and you don't want to go back out across all those portages; your ride is scheduled for 8:00am. You find a little secluded spot near water on an island that looks like you could stealth. How hard could it be to build a fire ring? You build a tiny fire ring to cook with and put it out. You do all the things, add water and stir. A week or more later there's a fire at the same location.


Fire investigators would be looking for anything that might have been left behind to confirm human involvement or even rule it out. Remember Ham Lake? The origin campsite was mostly intact despite the severity of the fire and investigators reached it on the first day and started recovering evidence. d"

Doesn't necessarily have to have been someone camping. They could have just been having shore lunch.

The fire is currently 25% contained and is 27 acres.

The current closers:

The following areas are restricted:
• BWCAW points of entry:
o #26 Wood Lake
• Lakes:
o Wood Lake
o Hula Lake
o Good Lake
o Indiana Lake
• Portages:
o Wood Lake Entry Point Parking Lot to Wood Lake
o Wood Lake to Hula Lake
o Hula Lake to Good Lake
o Good Lake to Good Creek
o Good Lake to Hoist Bay (Basswood Lake)
o Good Lake to Indiana Lake
o Indiana Lake to Basswood Lake
o Indiana Lake to Wind Bay Creek (Wind Bay, Basswood
Lake)

BWCA: "The fire is currently 25% contained and is 27 acres.


The current closers:


The following areas are restricted:
• BWCAW points of entry:
o #26 Wood Lake
• Lakes:
o Wood Lake
o Hula Lake
o Good Lake
o Indiana Lake
• Portages:
o Wood Lake Entry Point Parking Lot to Wood Lake
o Wood Lake to Hula Lake
o Hula Lake to Good Lake
o Good Lake to Good Creek
o Good Lake to Hoist Bay (Basswood Lake)
o Good Lake to Indiana Lake
o Indiana Lake to Basswood Lake
o Indiana Lake to Wind Bay Creek (Wind Bay, Basswood
Lake)
"

This just sucks. Hoping for some solid rain soon. Wood is one of my favorite lakes.

Doesn't necessarily have to have been someone camping. They could have just been having shore lunch."

+1

Not sure if the rain today in the area hit the Wood Lake fire. I saw that Ely got rain but not sure if they got any 15 miles east down the Fernberg Road. Can anyone confirm rain in the area?

Tony

Today’s (9/20) update on InciWeb. Looks like it’s not far from over…..

This will be the final fire update unless there is a change in fire activity.

Current Status and Resources: Fire activity is minimal; smoldering and creeping in the duff layer. The fire received additional precipitation from last evening’s storm. Fire weakened dead and downed trees are widespread in the fire area, along with burnt standing trees with fire weakened root systems called snags. For safety of firefighters from the snag hazards, firefighters are not mopping up. Aircraft remain available if needed. The National Preparedness Level remains at 5.

Planned Actions: The White Mountain National Forest firefighters continue to monitor the north line of the fire, along with a local incident commander. All perimeter or containment lines are holding.

The Wood Lake fire is currently 50% contained and currently 27 acres. Despite the still smoldering fire, the FS is lifting the closures on the following effective Saturday - 9/28.

BWCAW points of entry:

#26 Wood Lake
Lakes:

Hula Lake
Good Lake
Indiana Lake
Portages:

Wood Lake Entry Point Parking Lot to Wood Lake
Wood Lake to Hula Lake
Hula Lake to Good Lake
Good Lake to Good Creek
Good Lake to Hoist Bay (Basswood Lake)
Good Lake to Indiana Lake
Indiana Lake to Basswood Lake
Indiana Lake to Wind Bay Creek (Wind Bay, Basswood Lake)

CLOSURES

Wood lake closures have been reinstated along with an overall fire ban.

Closures: The Superior National Forest (NF) is reinstating Emergency Closure Order #09-09-24-07 and the closure of Wood, Good, Hula, and Indiana Lakes and connecting portages for the public’s health and safety due to the Wood Lake fire within the vicinity of recreation areas