Fire Danger

[shamrock7]

For those of you interested, the DNR maintains a very informative web site to help everyone stay up to date with fire danger. As most have heard, we are in for a busy spring fire season with the drought that started last spring. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/fire/index.html

Will get you there. Lots of really good information. When we are in the prime fire seasons, I refer to it everyday. We are currently getting a very light shower with a strong north wind with a passing cold front. Suppose to be nice the rest of the week with more rain possible over the weekend.

If I remember correctly, I think that I heard somewhere that it takes about 1/2" of rain per week to maintain current lake & soil moisture levels. Thats just to maintain current levels and we all know that we need to make up about 12" to get to where we should be right now. (Anyone with more accurate information, feel free to correct me)

The spring burning restrictions went into effect today also. This means that you can not get a burning permit unless you have special circumstances. Any permit requests have to go directly thru the DNR Forestry office. Local Fire Wardens can not issue any permits until these spring restrictions are lifted. You can still have recreational fires. These must be less that 3' in diameter and 1' in height. And must be used for ceremonial or cooking purposes. (I think thats the way the law reads anyway)

Watch what you are doing and remember that your campfire must be out cold when you are done and then it still can reignite sometimes.

Do your share to keep the pagers quiet.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Thanks Randy!

It is not looking good as far as this springs fire danger!

Maybe the rain we are getting tonight will keep the fire danger down for a few days.

Cliff

[shamrock7]

We have received about .75" of rain so far this week. Most of that came last night. It all helps but by no means eliminates the fire danger. Within the next week or 2, we will start to welcome back our summer visitors and we need to make sure that they all know that there is still a serious danger of wildfire. The conditions are better but burning is still not allowed until after green-up. (campfires are still OK) If you are coming into Greenwood Township, watch for the Smokey the Bear sign by the houseboats. We try to keep the fire conditions updated on a daily basis.

[SledNeck]

could be the worst fireseason that never was. Which is fine with me. Anyone else notice how much greener the grass got over the weekend?

[shamrock7]

I think everyone would agree. But we all have to remember that there is an ongoing drought or near drought. All you have to do is dig a hole and look at the sub soil moisture level.

Watch the DNR link up on this thread and look at the the Grass and Hardwood Models. These are updated every day.

[SledNeck]

2 good rain storms and we could be out of drought conditions.

[shamrock7]

Looks like the lake is up about 6" so far. Didn't get 6 in of rain but with the frost still around, the rain we got was not able to soak in so it ran off. Good for the lake, bad for the woods. From what I heard, the area got about 1.5 in of rain over the last weekend.

[caseymcq]

Part of why you are seing the rise in the water levels like they are has to do with the geology of the area. At lot of the area is relatively shallow soils. Where the frost has left the groung the water penetrates quickly to the bedrock contact and then flows "down stream." This leads to "flashy" water delivery to lakes and streams.

My brother lives near Brainerd. They got as much if not more rain in the same time frame. Their waters levels hardly moved if at all. There is a lot more soil in that area to absorb the rain fall.

Our shallow soils and resulting flashy water flow also lead to drying out quickly. If we have another week without a significant rain fall we will be right back into increased potential for fires.

[shamrock7]

Getting pretty dry again. Talk is that there is the potential for a RED FLAG WARNING on Sunday. This means that if a fire gets started, it could spread at into a major fire very quickly. We just want as many people to know that conditions are there for fire. So many times we will get called to a fire and the people will say "we didn't know it was that dry"

[SledNeck]

You guys didnt get any of that rain tonite? It rained off and on in Virginia after 4 pm.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

We got only enough rain to knock down the dust here in Tower!

Until it greens up it only takes a few hours of wind to dry out the grass and brush into a very dangerous fire situation again!

Be careful this weekend with any type of fire!

I have too much to get done before the "Opener" to have to waste time fighting fires!

Cliff

[shamrock7]

The National Weather Service issued a RED FLAG WARNING for all of Northeastern Minnesota from Noon to 7:00 PM. (Sunday) Conditions will be ripe for any fire to grow to a large fire quickly. Make sure you report any smoke immediately. Call 911

[shamrock7]

For those coming up this weekend, just want you to know that we are still very dry. We are under a Red Flag Warning now and I expect to be under one again tomorrow. They are predicting a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday evening but only a 20% chance. Better chance Sunday and Sunday night. Red Flag Warnings indicate that any fire may spread at an explosive rate. Lets all be careful and avoid any burning. Campfire rules are being handled a little different now also. The old rule was as long as the fire is less than 3' in diameter and 3' in height, you were ok. Now, they are enforcing the entire rule. The law states that only cooking or ceremonial fires are allowed during Spring Restricted Burn Time. So if you are having a small campfire, make sure you have a hot dog and a stick in hand.

And if you see smoke, call 911 immediately.

[shamrock7]

We received .25 in of rain Friday night. Saturday the winds blew and all that moisture is gone. Large fire in the Eastern BWCA. A few fires last night when the wind came to town. Cook had a nice save on a power line down fire in the middle of the night. Caught it quickly and kept it from becoming a large fire. Red Flag Warning again for today. The rain that we were suppose to get has pretty much dried up. Maybe a little rain tonight and Monday but then mostly dry the rest of the week. This could bring about a very interesting situation for next weekend. Will keep this updated so everyone can know what to expect. Some further restrictions may be headed our way if we do not get any moisture.

[DougSpringBay]

Shamrock-

The fire you refer to on the down power line was here at the resort. The power went out about 3:00 AM and woke us up. My wife looked outside just to see what it looked like and came back calling fire. We evacuated our home and I got my wife and kids in the van and a safe distance away. Though the fire was on the northern end of the resort, our home was never in danger, but the fire came within 30 feet of our largest cabin. The fire was knocking on the door of the first cabin north of our resort as well.

After nearly two hours of firefighting the blaze was extinguished. A great effort by both the Cook fire department, members of the DNR, and I and a couple of neighbors prevented what could have been a very serious situation. My sincere thanks to the Cook Fire Department and the DNR fire guys. Outstanding job fellas!!!!!

Doug

[shamrock7]

Glad to hear there was no loss at your resort. One cabin in a week is too many.

Some people try to downplay the seriousness of the fire situation. But with conditions as they are, we are really lucky that we have had few incidents. The DNR said that your fire had extreme behavior especially for the time of day. It just goes to show how serious this really is. Lets all be glad that your fire didn't happen this afternoon.

Hope you everyone has a great opener but lets be fire conscious and call 911 if you see smoke and if your neighbor is burning, don't be afraid to go ask them to put it out.

[shamrock7]

Well, as I hinted towards in the last post, we are now in a fire ban. This was just posted on the DNR web site.

Additional Burning Restrictions Imposed (2007-05-06)

Further burning restrictions from the Department of Natural Resources will go in place for Cook, Lake and that portion of St. Louis county north of County Rd 16 on Monday, May 7 at 8:00 am.

Under these more restrictive restrictions the following are prohibited: No burning permits will be issued except for special exceptions issued by State or Federal agencies having suppression responsibilities.

Recreational fires are not allowed, except gas and propane fired camp stoves, grills or similar devices. No charcoal permitted.

No welding, acetylene torches or other devices with open flame allowed in forested areas except under special permits.

Use of fireworks and explosives in municipalities will be under control of municipalities.

Smoking outdoors is permitted. PLEASE USE CAUTION!

No rainfall was received over the weekend in this portion of Minnesota. Fire danger remains very high. No rain is expected for the next several days. Northeastern Minnesota is under the hold of a drought that started last summer. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center lists northeastern Minnesota with severe

[SkunkedAgain]

Everywhere I read it seems like this drought started last summer. Although it seems to me that the region has been short of water for the past two years at least.

Does anyone know if this is just a technical issue about when it's actually called a drought...or if I'm just stupid?

[shamrock7]

This dry spell has taken a long time to set up so I would have to agree that it is a technical term. Kinda like "honkin" ( I know I watch to much TV) I don't know when it goes from dry to drought. I'm sure someone from the NWS could answer it or a hydrologist from the DNR. All I know is that with the coming opener and the campers headed this way, it will make for a long weekend. We will be doing patrols on the lake to educate those that do not know about the fire ban.

[LunkerBaitCo]

BIG thanks to Shamrock and others for keeping us informed here on this stuff!

[BEEGONE]

Does this mean I wont be able to launch boom rockets all weekend long?

Dang

[shamrock7]

Yes, fireworks would be a problem.......

[SkunkedAgain]

I'll have to hold off on the "Lord of the Flies" fire until another weekend.

[shamrock7]

Yeah, you will have to wait for that special campfire but can you imagine the trouble the guy is in that had the campfire on Ham Lake. The suppression costs and lost homes and businesses.......wow....... now thats expensive and if they catch who was responsible..............glad it wasn't me. Can you imagine something like that getting going on Vermilion. It's a lot easier to just wait till conditions aren't so severe.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Randy,

Thanks for the tour of the new Greenwood fire and rescue boat the other day!

That sure is a nice rig! We can all be happy that that type of equipment is available and on call in fire danger weather like we are having at this time!

Cliff

[shamrock7]

You are more than welcome and I will put out the invitation for anyone and everyone to stop by and take a look. We would be more than happy to show everyone the capabilities of this boat. Range TV 11 will be doing a story on the boat on Wednesday. I do not know the date that it will air. I will try to find out and report back.

[shamrock7]

Another nasty fire day is upon us. And it looks like conditions will not improve much thru the weekend. Keep your eyes open and report any fire of any type to 911. This is really serious. We have the potential of some really bad fires.

[SledNeck]

We were on one today near Cherry. The air traffic was unbelievable. 4 different choppers and 3 different planes. I think every structure but a shed was saved.

[shamrock7]

Sledneck,

You on a department?

Those air shows can be really impressive. I was monitoring on the radio. Air Attack is the one that circles the fire and directs where the other aircraft are to work. We should have a few days or lower temps but the RH is going to stay low and little if any rain then back to the heat and extra dry air. This could be a long long spring.

All the firefighters deserve a pat on the back for getting into the thick of it and saving those homes. It can be really intimidating having that fire came roaring down on you.

[vermilionfox]

Shamrock,

What's the status on the fire danger situation?

When a statement says charcoal not permitted, does that also mean a charcoal grill at a resort?

Just curious. Trying to make planes for the first week of June. Any rain expected?