Sprinklers carrying water from Gunflint Lake were wetting down this patch of grass and brush several hours after it had burned beside a cabin on Gunflint Lake the morning of Friday, April 23, 2010. Bruce Kerfoot, owner of Gunflint Lodge about a mile away, said the Gunflint Trail Fire Department’s new 2,000-gallon pumper truck came in handy.
While the Cook County Emergency Services Conference was taking place in the city of Grand Marais on Friday, April 23, two real fires sent the Gunflint Trail and Lutsen Fire Departments, as well as US Forest Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fire crews in motion.
A page went out at 10:14 a.m. to the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department, reporting a grass fire near the Robert Telander home at 365 South Gunflint Lake Road. With Fire Chief Mike Prom and Assistant Fire Chief Bob Baker at training in Grand Marais, firefighter Jason Merrill stepped into the role of Incident Commander.
By 12:16 p.m., the fire was contained. A US Forest Service fire crew also responded and helped with mop up. The fire department set up a portable water sprinkler system to give the area a good soak.
Fire Chief Prom said he contacted his department from the Emergency Services Conference as soon as the first call went out. “Theysaid they had it under control,” he said. “We’ve got a welltrained crew.”
Prom said the fire appeared to have been caused by a sparking electrical wire, at first believed to be an Arrowhead Electric line. However, it was determined that the fire was most likely caused by heat tape used over the winter that shorted out.
Arrowhead Electric Manager Don Stead confirmed that the fire was not on Arrowhead’s line, but noted that the electric cooperative was very cognizant of the fire danger. “This is why we do right-of-way clearing, to keep trees away from lines. Under these conditions, it’s scary for us. We’ve stopped mechanical right-of-way clearing because of the possibility of our equipment starting a fire. We are only doing hand clearing right now.”
Lutsen fire burns storage shed
Another fire, in Lutsen, was reported later the same day, at 4:18 p.m. Thefirst calls reported a grass fire at Lutsen Mountains, behind Rosie’s Café. Lutsen Fire Chief Paul Goettl was out of the county and firefighter Matt Kartes was first on the scene so he served as Incident Commander.
As Lutsen Fire responded, mutual aid was requested from the Tofte and Schroeder Fire Departments. The US Forest Service and MN DNR also responded, with the Forest Service contacting a Beaver airplane that was on the way to Devil Track Lake to participate in Emergency Services Conference training. The Beaver made several water drops on the fire.
Assistant Fire Chief John Groth said the terrain and mosquitoes made extinguishing the fire difficult. “We had to go up a little road that curves around the Mountain Shop, basically up a ski run. We had to back up the hill,” he said.
“And we used the Lutsen Mountains water supply and must have disturbed the mosquitoes. They were terrible,” said Groth.
With the assistance of the Forest Service, the West End fire departments had the fire under control and were clear of the scene by 6:30 p.m.
However, the Lutsen Fire Department was called back at 11:36 p.m. when the fire rekindled at the top of a tree. Groth said, “We dropped the tree and put it out and re-checked the area.”
The fire burned approximately two acres by the Big Bunny ski run and a storage shed. The cause of the fire is undetermined.
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