Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Border fire scorches 50,000 acres

|
|
 
  
Published: May 12, 2007 at 1:50 AM

GRAND MARAIS, Minn., May 12 (UPI) -- About 500 firefighters worked Friday to contain a wildfire that charred 50,000-plus acres in northern Minnesota's pristine camping and fishing wilderness.

The huge blaze filled the sky with smoke the day ahead of the state's popular fishing opener.

"It's very emotional," said Debbie Mark, the owner of Seagull Outfitters who lost two cabins to the fire while her other buildings were saved by a sprinkler system.

The fire that started at a Ham Lake campsite Saturday had destroyed at least 134 structures and forced the evacuation of more than 270 people along the Gunflint Trail by Friday, the Cook County News-Herald reported. The blaze also reached into neighboring Canada.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area had been considered ripe for a major forest fire since July 1999 when a storm flattened millions of trees and forestry officials decided against allowing loggers to remove them. That left huge amounts of dried out fuel in the area for the fire to feed on.

Some angry and frustrated citizens questioned why there hadn't been an early fire ban in the county given it has been so so dry this spring, the News-Herald said.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Not many companies can claim that their net domain address clearly explains what it is that the...
"Any self-important, self-propagating elitist, I will happily bare my buttocks to"
You don't have to be too smart to coach high school sports. Just smart enough to not post nude photos...
There's vandalizing your school, and then there's doing a million dollars damage to your school
Police say Taylor Burnham, 18, was only wearing cowboy boots as she led police on a Sunday morning...
If you're working as a dog groomer and accidentally chop off a dog's ear, don't try to glue it back,...