Fire containment expected by end of the week

Hundreds of firefighters battling a forest fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness hope to have the blaze fully contained by the end of the week.

The Pagami Creek fire was nearly 60 percent contained as of Tuesday, according to Superior National Forest officials. Nearly 800 firefighters continue to make progress, with a goal of full containment by Saturday, according to Forest District ranger Mark Van Every.

"A lot of that's going to depend on the weather, and we are in a warmer, drying trend, so we may see some renewed fire behavior," Van Every said.

Forest officials planned to begin rehabilitating campsites and trails this fall. Van Every said most of the 2,200 campsites in the BWCAW were untouched by the fire.

Meanwhile, five Iron Range legislators said they want the state Department of Natural Resources and the state attorney general to sue the U.S. Forest Service over its management of the fire, arguing that, because Forest Service officials chose not to put the fire out immediately when it began in August, they should be held accountable for the loss of valuable state resources.

State timber sales help fund the state's K-12 schools.

It is unclear how much of the land that burned was state land.