Still Burning

The Duck Lake Wildfire in the Upper Peninsula is now 57% contained, according to information today from the Michigan DNR.  Cooler temperatures yesterday allowed firefighters to make significant progress on putting out the fire, which has consumed nearly 22,000 acres.

Upper Tahquamenon Falls (Wikimedia Photo)

Of 138 structures within the fire zone, 132 have been lost.  This includes 46 homes and cabins, 23 garages, 35 sheds and outbuildings, 26 campers, one store and one resort motel.  The fire has been so hot that some of the camper trailers simply melted.  In addition, the fire burned to within seven miles of Tahquamenon Falls State Park, one of the UP's most visited tourist destinations.  That park reopened to visitors yesterday.

The Duck Lake Fire raises a concern which has been only lightly discussed here — How would Presque Isle Township fare in the event of a wildfire?  This area last burned in the Metz Fire of 1908.  That means we have over a century of accumulated material on the forest floor which would provide a ready source of fuel if a fire got started.

A fire isn't so improbable.  The roundup of Conservation Officer activity in today's Presque Isle County Advance noted two fire incidents in Presque Isle and Cheboygan Counties in the past couple weeks.  In one, a fire in a burning barrel escaped due to high winds, but local firefighters were able to extinguish it.  In the second, a Conservation Officer saw black smoke rising from a wooded area and, upon investigating, found a person burning plastic, furniture, and other items which ought to consigned to a landfill.  All this, despite a statewide, well-publicized ban on outdoor burning.  People can be so dumb! •••