What is the goal of the firefighters?

It seems that protecting structures would be a good goal and I assume that they are doing that.

But what about deep in the Boundary Waters??

We all wish that the area was not damaged by fire. But that is probably not realistic.

So... why don't we do nothing? It seems that we are really having a minimal effect on the fires. Why don't we just let them burn without putting firefighters in danger?

My understanding of their goals aligns with what you are suggesting. They are trying to prevent the fires from spreading to populated areas or areas where there are homes/cabins.

For instance, for the Sioux and Bear Trap fires the goal seems to be to contain them North of the Echo Trail - I doubt they are doing any work on the north side of these fires.

As you suggest, they are too large to put out, but can try to keep them from spreading further.

I know a huge goal of theirs today is saving Whispering Pines Resort. Lots of radio chatter about creating break lines and saturating the campus of Whispering Pines as the fire is approaching. I believe the same thing is happening on the shores of Fall Lake and that area, to discourage the fire from heading into populated areas and away from structures. Also, all flights are grounded as of right now due to smoke/lack of visibility. That could change, but right now the fighters on the ground are all we’ve got right now.

Tony

Mad_Angler: "What is the goal of the firefighters?

It seems that protecting structures would be a good goal and I assume that they are doing that.

But what about deep in the Boundary Waters??

We all wish that the area was not damaged by fire. But that is probably not realistic.

So... why don't we do nothing? It seems that we are really having a minimal effect on the fires. Why don't we just let them burn without putting firefighters in danger?"

This is the general strategy for forest firefighting everywhere. They will try harder to suppress man-made fires vs natural, but frankly they're not even able to contain massive fires such as these, deep in the wilderness. They focus on property and people as best they can.

Three priorities have been the same for ages, Protecting Life, Property and resources in that order.

From my years working along side fire fighters (not wilderness firefighters and I am not a fire fighter myself. I dispatch for emergency services) the goal is containment. Not to put the fire out, but stop its spread as much as they can. Sure some/most all of the area being affected by fire up there is non regularly people populated or so remote that people wont be there, but you have to think of all the animals too.

As they get pushed out of their natural habitat they migrate closer to populated areas. Maybe it pushes the deep woods bears and moose towards areas that are used by paddlers. In that, there are more encounters with animals that are not used to seeing people, not used to having the food smells. The likelihood of an attack under normal years are very very small, but the chances only goes up with more animals being pushed to people populated areas.

Fires can be good for areas to kick start new growth but it can also be devastating for areas that take 10's of years to recover, effectively taking out an ecosystem. Which then in turn puts stress on the ecosystem those animals are forced to move to.