Fire Season

[shamrock7]

Fire season is upon us again. Currently, campfires are still allowed as long as they are in conjunction with a resort, campground or residence or in an approved fire ring at an authorized campsite. These will be changing before too long as things are drying down quickly. Many small fires resulting from the lightning strikes of the last couple of thunderstorms that went thru.

If you see any smoke during the day, call 911. If you see any smoke, even if you think it may be your neighbor burning his garbage, call it in. If you are one of those burning, watch the sky. Notice that airplane that flies over the same route all afternoon? Guess what they are doing? This is serious stuff. There are some out there that would like to trivialize this. Thats fine. I just hope to be able to save someone from having to tell authorities that "they didn't realize it was so dry in the woods" just as they are being ticketed for starting a fire that could cost them thousands of $$$$ and possibly a life.

Lake levels are approaching the low levels that we saw last fall.

[canadian1]

I see camp fires are banned except at resorts with a proper fire pit, Is it OK to have one at a private cabin that we rent? Same thing right.

[heartattack22]

After 8AM friday, there will be no campfires allowed. Here is the link. We have the potential for any fires that start tomorrow to become large fires in a very short time. The winds will be high and the relative humidities will be low. So starting on Friday, if you see smoke at any time of the day call 911!!! Here is the link to the current news release...

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/news/releases/index.html?id=1187207703

[Ranckenstuff]

Are wood burning stoves inside a cabin not allowed?

[heartattack22]

Inside a cabin they are allowed.

[shamrock7]

For those out on the lake today, if you looked south, you saw a huge smoke plume. That was a fire that was about 4 miles east of the Silverado.(junction of 169 and 21) there were actually 2 fires in the same general area. Luckily, the local CO spotted the fire from Vermilion and notified the DNR Forestry guys. Spotter plane was not in the area at the time. They called in lots of local departments and hit it hard with 3 of the CL-215 water bombers and helicopters. As of this time, the fire is under control but they will be working this thing for many days. Things are so dry that it will require many days of mop-up to get it completely out. Be careful out there. It is really dry out there. If you see anyone with any type of fire, call 911. It only took this fire 15 minutes to get to the point where ground crews would have had a tough time controlling it. Thankfully, there wasn't a second fire anywhere that would have required additional personel or equipment.

[Tominator692]

Great job and a big thank you to the fire fighters and all others involved. It rained in Duluth this morning, anything up in the Vermillion area? These dry conditions worry me.

[heartattack22]

The radar looked like we were going to get some precip but it dissapeared before it got here. So nothing yet...

[PSU]

How far is the lake down from early this season? I am coming up for the weekend.

[shamrock7]

It is within about 3-4 inches of being as low as it was last fall. Which is really low. Not much water coming in at the Pike River. Not much rain coming from the sky. As far as how much lower from this spring..... Quite a bit... about a foot, I would guess. With a little care and caution, you will be fine.