Forest Service Backs Managers Of Minn. Wildfire
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The National Forest Service says managers made all the right decisions as they battled a forest fire that blackened 145 square miles of northeastern Minnesota last year.
The agency released three reports Monday reviewing the management of the Pagami Creek Wildfire, which started in mid-August with a lightning strike in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area near Ely.
The Forest Service found that "all actions and decisions" made in managing the fire "were consistent with laws, regulations, and policy."
The fire remained relatively small until a fateful Sept. 12, when it grew rapidly due to an explosive combination of high winds and warm, dry conditions. The reports say the fire moved in ways that were not only unexpected, but unprecedented for generations of firefighters and land managers.
Nobody was seriously injured.
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