Grand Marais Fire Department members work to get a submersible pump going and hoses connected to extinguish a small fire on the Sweetheart’s Bluff Trail in Grand Marais.
A small fire along the Sweetheart’s Bluff Trail in Grand Marais was reported by some hikers on Sunday, July 22. Their quick action likely prevented the fire from spreading through the forest next to the Grand Marais Recreation Park campground.
Tina Ross and Ryan Person of Anoka were staying at the campground and decided to hike the Sweetheart’s Bluff Trail. They noticed a blackened tree just off the lower portion of the trail. Ross said there was an odor of something burning, but no fire. Person guessed that a tree had been hit by lightning recently.
The Anoka couple continued up the bluff and as they circled back by the site of the burned tree, they were shocked to see flames. “One log was on fire on the ground. The fire was about as high as a campfire would be,” said Tina when the News-Herald contacted her by phone.
Ross and Person tried stomping the fire out and went to the nearby lake to get some water, but they realized they wouldn’t be able to extinguish the fire and called 911 at 6:56 p.m. They stayed at the trail entrance to direct firefighters to the growing fire.
Kenny Bockovich, a Grand Marais Rec Park staffer, happened by on his way to water flowers with the Rec Park’s Yamaha utility vehicle with a 25-gallon water tank. The Grand Marais Fire Department recruited him and he drove to the fire to help provide water while firefighters set up a water pump in Lake Superior and ran hoses up to the fire. Other firefighters hiked in with backpack water pumps and also doused the fire. Chainsaws were used to cut away burned logs and brush.
The efforts quickly extinguished the small fire and the Grand Marais Fire Department cleared the scene at about 8 p.m.
Reached by phone this week, Park Manager Dave Tersteeg said he was grateful to the campers who reported the fire, to Bockovich for his assistance, and to the Grand Marais Fire Department. “It was really dry then, so it could have turned into a bad situation,” said Tersteeg.
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