Today, the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team has assumed command of 15 wildfires burning in the local counties and the Superior National Forest. As the smoke cleared yesterday, firefighters were able to conduct mapping of the fires after several days of dense smoke coverage. Combined acreage overall of the July Lightning Incident is just over 71,000 acres, with an additional 6,000 acres consumed by the Little Knife fire in the United States. The public is being asked to support firefighters and public safety by adhering to all evacuations, closures, and fire restrictions; by refraining from flying drones, which endanger firefighting aircraft; and by keeping boats off the water in areas where water-gathering aircraft are operating. Fires reported on this update may change as some fires have merged or been moved into patrol status.

Superior National Forest Forest-wide Fire Restrictions are also in effect.

A temperature inversion this morning will trap smoke near the surface. Smoke will lessen by the afternoon as temperatures warm with highs reaching the lower 80s. Drier air and mostly sunny skies will drop relative humidity into the 30s while winds out of the northwest gust to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Yesterday’s precipitation will likely provide only a temporary pause in fire activity before hotter and drier conditions are forecast to return. Increasing surface fire activity today with potential for isolated torching is expected.

Each of these fires are staffed with fire engines and crews who are working on establishing handlines and extinguishing all areas of heat. There is a combined containment of 1% on these ten fires.

On the evening of July 6, a dry thunderstorm moved across northeastern Minnesota and southern Canada resulting in more than 1,000 lightning strikes, causing dozens of fire starts. As unprecedented dry and warm conditions followed in the days after, fires were detected across Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties. Where fires were accessible by ground, firefighters were able to work to keep some of the fire perimeters small in size, however due to the number of fires, locations and number of firefighters and equipment, some of the fires continued to smolder and grow in the following days. Local fire managers ordered many additional resources including engines, hand crews, aviation resources and two incident management teams to support the firefighting efforts. While some of the fires were contained, several have continued to grow due to record breaking high temperatures and low humidity. Additional firefighters, equipment and support staff continue to be ordered including a Complex Incident Management Team.