Yesterday, ground crews were able to continue establishing containment lines, conduct structure protection and assessments and used dozers to establish both direct and indirect containment lines. Several fires in the area west of Echo Lake where fire activity has been minimal for several days are in a patrol and monitor status where the fires are being monitored by crews several times a day. Combined acreage overall of the July Lightning Incident is just under 68,956 acres based on information from an infrared flight overnight, 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.

** A Community Meeting will be held tonight at the Vermillion Community College at 7:00p.m. Please join us for an update on the current wildfire situation.**

Lake County: “GO” status for Hwy 16/Fernberg Corridor from the Garden Lake Bridge to the end of the Fernberg at Lake One due to the Camp Fire. Evacuate immediately.

St. Louis County: ** “GO” status was updated on July 18th for additional near the Echo Trail and “Ready” for the City of Winton north Burnside Lake. “GO” status for portions of the Echo Trail from Big Lake up to the 200 Road near the Sioux Fire. Other areas are under “SET” evacuation notice for Marian Creek, Ridge, Beaver Tail, Coffin & Echo 2 Fires

Cook County: Remains at “SET” status at the end of the Gunflint Trail due to the Little Knife Fire. The Midtrail area of the Gunflint Trail west of Hungry Jack Lake Rd. and the northern parts of the townships of Schroeder, Tofte, and Lutsen have moved into "READY" status. 

Superior National Forest:  has issued an expanded Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) Closure Order to protect public and firefighter health and safety. The BWCAW permit issuance and forest closure is being evaluated daily. Notifications are being made to permittees seven days prior to permit entry date.

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

Winds will switch out of the southwest today, bringing warmer temperatures reaching the high 80s or low 90s. wind gust could reach 20 miles per hour and relative humidity will drop to between 29-37% during the afternoon hours. The warmer air mass will bring more unstable conditions with a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. An increased chance of thunderstorms is expected for Sunday evening as well, including small hail, gusty erractic winds, frequent lightning and brief periods of heavy rain.

Today’s forecast suggests increasing surface fire activity across the all of the fires today. There is potential for isolated torching in pine and mixed wood fuels. As surface fuels continue to dry, increased flame lengths and deeper burning is expected. Afternoon thunderstorms may moderate fire behavior especially where precipitation occurs, but potential also exists for increase fire behavior where only outflow winds reach active fire edges.

Each of these fires are staffed with fire engines and crews who are working on establishing handlines and extinguishing all areas of heat. Some of the acres have changed due to more accurate mapping. There is a combined containment of 13% 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.