Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wildfires break out in UP



map showing approximate area of black river falls fire
Update 5/22/09- TV6 has said the fire is contained and roads are reopened. Our hearts go out to those that lost all. We know some on the volunteer fire dept that didn't get much sleep the past couple days... thank you so much for the hard work in getting this beast under control. The link for continuing coverage on the Black River Falls and other fires is here:----continuing fire coverage

Update:05/21/09- The fire in Ishpeming,the Black River Falls fire, has burned 770 acres, taken at least 33 structures and homes. Black River Falls obviously must be pretty scorched as well, looking at the fireline map. Looks like the homes lost are on the west side of 581 between a little north of CR CG to CR CS. I hope they can keep this fire from jumping 581 when the winds pick up today out of the W NW. Now they say the fire is 65% contained.


05/20/09-
As of now there are two near L'anse,(one near Pinery location) one in Ishpeming Township near Co Rd. 581 and one near Champion (Fish Lake Grade). My husband just drove thru L'anse and Ishpeming and said the smoke was thick. They are evacuating homes on 581. These firefighters are up against hellish conditions today. Pray for these fires containment. Just saw firefighting equipment drive by, looked like a fireline grader.
It will be interesting to see the cause of these fires. Red Flag warnings have been issued well in advance of these incredible weather conditions, and common sense says you don't burn when it's 90 degrees with a 40mph gusting wind out of the south......(btw, we had the largest degree swing in high temps from day to day- today !- 44yesterday, 89- officially today).
Funny, when I lived in places like Cincinnati, I worried about tornados. Here, it's definitely fires. We have nothing but miles of woods to the south of us... tinder dry right now.

9 comments:

  1. All these firefighters will be in my prayers. The fire got my uncle's home today. I hope everyone gets out safe.

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  2. my house is on 581 the houses like a mile or 2 north of me burned 2 ashes so i hope it doesnt get my house!!!!! they evacuated my house im at my grandparents house now so i pray that the wind dies down and the fire goes out!

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  3. actually they live south of me made a mistake!! yuck i can still smell that awful smoke YUCK

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  4. I pulled a DNR map and posted it here

    http://vielmetti.typepad.com/vacuum/2009/05/black-river-falls-fire-maps.html

    thanks for the details, wishing the best for everyone and saddened for those who got hit by the fire.

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  5. does anyne know if the fire reached near South Tasson Road. We have a cabin up there and are really worried but are out of state now

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  6. Anybody know if the fire reached any part of the Michigan North Woods Club property at 64500 County Road 581? I have family up there. Thanks

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  7. Does anyone know how I can contact the fire victims. I would really like to help them in anyway possible.

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  8. Sigh...Almost every video and every group of pictures seems to have my burned home showing. We lost everything. We were stupid enough not to have house insurance. We actually couldn't afford it to be honest, and since it was paid off already, sigh... I don't know how I'll ever get rebuilt back there again. I don't know I ever will get back there, but you know what? I love 581 a lot.

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  9. Real sorry to hear of your loss. Living in the UP- it's fires I fear most. Everyone living in da yoop has the potential to be affected by wildfires....

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