Prescribed burn near Ely now classified as wildfire

A prescribed burn started by the United States Forest Service just west of Ely has escaped and is now considered a wildfire.

The fire is heading north through a dry forest toward the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The fire escaped at approximately 2 p.m. today and firefighting crews, including aerial support, are presently fighting the blaze.

This is from a press release via the Forest Service sent late Thursday afternoon:

The Superior National Forest has a prescribed fire that escaped the containment lines this afternoon at 1400. The fire escaped to the north and west of Foss Lake. We have declared the prescribed fire a wildfire and have air tankers, helicopters, and additional ground fire fighters assisting with containing the escape.
We are also initiating aerial reconnaissance of the lakes to the north and east of the Crab lake entry point. We will notify visitors of the fire moving in the area. The fire is north of highway 169, north of the far western end of the Wolf Lake Road, west of South end of Burntside Lake.

According to reports from the area, the smoke column can be seen from many miles away and a number of 911 calls came in reporting the fire.

Stay tuned to WTIP in the coming days for more information on this fire burning near Ely and the BWCAW.