Crews in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are making progress in battling a roughly 100-acre wildfire that’s been fueled by warm weather and strong winds.
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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced today that many portions of the state are seeing very high fire danger.
HUMBOLDT TOWNSHIP – Crews are still battling a wildfire that began early Thursday afternoon in Humboldt Township. A DNR pilot then flew over the scene and saw the fire burning an area about four miles northeast of Republic in Humboldt Township.
The fire had burned about 10 acres in an area where loggers had started to test a newly built road for hauling timber.
“And so that burns hot, but also because there are stumps and all kinds of debris, it makes it harder for the firefighters to get in there and set a line around it”, said DNR Deputy Public Information Officer John Pepin.
Overnight, piles of logs that were on fire at the site were consumed, reducing the heat of the fire on Friday. Officials estimate that loss to be at least $150,000.
“We have seven dozers and six engines working through heavy fuels and rough rocky terrain”, said DNR Resource Protection Section Manager Paul Kollmeyer. Crews from the Humboldt, Champion, Ishpeming and Republic townships volunteer fire departments were among those involved.
No homes or other structures have been threatened and no evacuations were ordered.
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Wildfires are springing up around the state at an alarming pace, but the acreage burned has yet to reach last year’s record-setting fire season.
