Cummings Forest Fire BWCAW, September 2, 2012

Cummings Fire 

Update Sept. 2, 2012

FIRE: Cummings Lake

LOCATION: Township 64, Range 14, Section 28 (southwest corner), on a peninsula separating the west end of Cummings from the northeast side of Otter Lake.

DATE DETECTED: September 2, 2012

SIZE: Estimated at fifteen to twenty acres

CAUSE: Unknown

AGENCY:  Superior National Forest, West Zone

RESOURCES:  Two CL215’s, Forest Service Beavers, one squad of fire fighters; One helicopter has been ordered.

SPECIAL MESSAGES:  Although the fire behavior is creeping understory with some torching, it is putting up a lot of smoke. The fire is currently burning to the northwest, deeper into a sparsely occupied portion of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The involved fuels are mixed lowland, mostly black spruce. Fire fighting activities are likely to continue in the area for several days. The CL215’s are large fixed wing aircraft which skim across lake surfaces to fill their tanks. They may be scooping water out of nearby lakes, such as Burntside and Cummings. Please give them a lot of room to work. 

CLOSURES: There are no official closures at this time; however, camping on Otter Lake is not recommended.  An official list of closures if there are any, will be added to this update tomorrow.

An Additional Update:  Fort Frances #53, the Canadian Fire on Norway Point of Basswood Lake, has grown to twenty or thirty acres. It remains on the Canadian side of the international boundary. U.S. and Canadian crews are monitoring it closely. The fire put up a lot of smoke today, causing some people to believe it was closer than it is.