Combined acreage overall of the July Lightning Incident is 63,117 acres in the United States and an additional 8,401 acres in Canada. There are a total of 780 personnel on the July Lightning Incident. Three new fire starts were detected yesterday, with firefighters responding to all new starts, with work continuing today. 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.

**There is a Community Meeting for the Little Knife Fire at the Gunflint Trail Fire Hall at 3:00 p.m today and on Tuesday July 21 at the Lutsen Town Hall at 7:00 p.m. These Community Meetings will be live streamed on the Superior National Forest Facebook page.**

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

Minnesota DNR updated fire restrictions are now in effect.

Temperatures will remain warm today with highs in the 80s. Relative humidity will still fall into the 40s as a result. Winds out of the west/southwest will increase in strength and slowly turn from the west/northwest as a cold frontal passage occurs. Gusts of 28-34 miles per hour are expected for the afternoon and evening. There is a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon as the front passes. One or two storms may be severe with large hail and damaging wind gusts. Frequent lightning and brief downpours can also be expected with these storms. Cooler air arrives this evening.

Expect increasing fire behavior today in areas that did not receive precipitation. Warm temperatures and strong winds will support active surface fire, with potential for isolated torching in pine and mixed wood fuels. Anticipate afternoon smoke clearing and the warmest temperatures to provide the most fire activity, just ahead of thunderstorms. Any new fires will exhibit increased resistance to control.  

The Chub and Echo 2 Fires remain the most active fires in this area. Some of the acres have changed due to more accurate mapping. All of the fires have firefighters and engines working on a variety of suppression tactics including building line, mop up and patrol and monitoring. There is a combined containment of 30% on these ten fires.

Last evening two new starts were reported, the Long Lake Fire (5 acres) north of Long Lake and 493 Fire (1 acre) off of the 493 Forest Service Road. Aviation and ground resources responded to both fires yesterday and will remain available for initial attack on any new starts today.

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.