Minnesota wildfires: 700+ crews battle blazes as containment grows

ELY, Minn. (FOX 9) - Firefighters are making progress against several large wildfires burning across northern Minnesota as authorities work to increase containment and reduce smoke pollution that has affected air quality.

Firefighters work to contain wildfires

What we know:

Cooler temperatures and recent rain have helped more than 700 firefighters as they battle more than a dozen wildfires across thousands of acres in northern Minnesota.

Crews have reportedly made noticeable progress in recent days on fires that have spread over large areas between Lake Superior, International Falls and Hibbing.

Dig deeper:

A recent update by St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay says the Thumb fire is now 58% contained after burning about 16,000 acres to date, while the Bear Trap fire has burned nearly 30,000 acres and is about 34% contained currently. The Chub fire has also jumped to 85% containment after becoming one of the first fires to have containment progress made.

Despite gains on some fronts, the Little Knife fire is still 0% contained and has burned nearly 5,000 acres as of Wednesday morning.

What is containment?

Why you should care:

The U.S. Forest Service—Superior National Forest explains that having a fire line built around a wildfire doesn’t automatically mean the fire is "contained."

As part of their efforts, crews will use existing roads, trails, rock outcrops, streams, rivers, and lakes as natural barriers as firefighters also put in a huge amount of work to clear brush, limb trees, and remove any heat sources in an attempt to make sure fire doesn’t spread.

However, the department says that some areas have fuels burning deep underground, which makes containment more challenging, increasing both the time and effort needed before the line can truly be considered "contained."

Containment percentage goes up as crews secure sections of fire line, and fire managers are confident those areas will hold.
But sometimes the containment percentage can go down if secured lines have failed, increasing the total amount of line that still needs to be contained.

When a section is declared "contained," it means firefighters and engines can safely shift their focus to other areas of the fire, working to bring those sections to containment as well.

There’s also a difference between a fire being contained, and extinguished.

A fire can reach 100% containment, but being officially declared "out" takes much longer, and can often require significant rain or snow.

Even after a fire is fully contained, local crews will continue to monitor the area to make sure any visible smoke coming from interior pockets of unburned fuel is no longer threatening to containment lines.

By the time a fire is finally considered controlled or out, most people hardly notice and the area has seemingly returned to normal, according to officials.

What's next:

Authorities hope that a stretch of continued cool, dry weather ahead will help firefighters get the upper hand on the remaining wildfires in the northern regions of the state.

Meanwhile, many communities are banding together to gather supplies for those who have been adversely affected.