Sheriff Mark Falk on WTIP: Pagami Fire update

Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk spoke with WTIP Station Director Debbie Benedict on Wednesday morning, September 14 about the Pagami Creek Fire, located in the BWCAW near Ely, MN.

The Pagami Creek Fire has now burned more than 100,000 acres and 156 square miles of forest across Lake County and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

This fire is the largest forest fire in Minnesota since the 1918 Cloquet-Moose Lake fire.  It is larger than the Ham Lake Fire in 2007 which burned 38,000 acres in Cook County and another 38,000 in Ontario.  That blaze destroyed 163 buildings.

The fire is approaching the Lake and Cook county border from the west.  Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk told a group gathered in Grand Marais last night that plans are in place if the fire continues to move east.  A Type Two Incident Management Team is located at the Cook County Community Center to assist with any fire situations that could arise within the county.