This spring will be remembered as one of Minnesota’s driest, with continuing elevated fire conditions. A normal fire season for the Chippewa National Forest runs from April to mid-May with the Superior National Forest (SNF) following from mid-May to mid-June. Normal is a relative term.
The conditions that were in place when the Ham Lake Fire ignited May 5, 2007, arrived at least four weeks early this year and remain in place. Record-breaking fire indices, partnered with lack of rain, keep the Arrowhead in extreme fire danger.
The following fire facts, collected by the DNR for the past 25 years, demonstrate the place spring 2010 plays in recent history:
• The top three years for total number of fires in March
1987 with 572 | 2000 with 494 | 2010 with 374
• The average number of fires per year from 1985 to 2009 is 100
• 8,222.9 acres burned in March 2010. The 25-year average acres
burned per year is 400.
• In April, the DNR responded to 612 fires encompassing
about 20,000 acres.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) success in keeping this spring’s fires relatively small and under control can be attributed to a number of factors including availability of necessary air and ground resources; fires were detected early with a quick initial response; and fires were aggressively attacked with air and ground resources.
While the current scattered light showers are welcome and provide a much needed rest to crews who have been hard at work since mid-March, they are not enough to replenish our lack of moisture. In order to maintain levels and keep the fire danger from extreme, the area needs one-half inch of rain per week. According to the weather service in Duluth, April was the warmest on record since 1871. Temperatures were seven degrees above normal. Precipitation at those stations was 2.7 inches behind normal.
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