MN wildfires: Crews make some progress in fight

Welcome back and thank you for joining us here on Fox Local. Another day of firefighting in northern Minnesota. Once again we are craving any and all updates that we can gather. Karen Harrison, the spokesperson for the Minnesota DNR, is generous to join us once again this morning. Karen, I'm just gonna open it up to you. We chatted yesterday briefly after the morning briefing on Saturday. I imagine by this time you've had another briefing. What can you tell us about the last 24 hours or so? Yeah, so we've made some great progress in different areas across the north here. In the western fires, which is now known as the Lightning Branch, there's been some containment. We have 13% containment of those 10 fires that are being managed by that branch. There's been some, the acreage has stayed the same, although I will note that the Chubb Fire, which is one of those western side fires, the acreage actually went down. And that is due to better and more accurate mapping. So when we're able to do a flight with infrared, then we get that more accurate acreage data. And so that's why people might see some shifts in the acreage as things go along and we're able to get better data across the board. And also yesterday morning, we have the southern area complex incident management team. They took over management of almost all of the wildfires that are occurring from the north. So kind of from that Highway 53 over to the eastern side. So the Little Knife Fire is being managed by a national incident management team, otherwise known as NEMO. And that complex incident management team is really important. All incident management teams kind of come in to manage the whole incident. And once an incident, like a wildfire, starts to increase in complexity, size, number of resources needed, then the type of team that manages an area will increase with that. So the, where I was working yesterday with the July lightning event, we were a type 3 incident management team. That team is now under the complex incident management team as a branch. And these teams kind of help do all of the management, everything that's needed. We have different teams like logistics, planning, operations, public information, like where I'm sitting. And all of these things, finance included in that. All the things that help plan, coordinate, and direct the actions on the ground. Tracking all of the financial costs and time, the different contracts that are here. Our logistics supplies, all the food supplies, facilities for everyone that's working up here. It's a very well run system. It is a national incident management system that's used. Um, and this system is used across the country for all types of incidences, including wildfires. Wow. So many logistics and so many, so much personnel and resources and details that go into all of this. I'm curious if you can speak at all to the change in evacuation zones. We had been been told, um, that, uh, that the eco trail corridor now in the go zone. Uh, but thankfully there are a few structures in that area, but also the city of Winton in the north side of Burnside Lake has moved to a ready zone. Can you speak to any changes in any evacuation zones? Yeah. So I think it's really important. Anyone that lives in these areas, even if you're not in a ready set or go zone, um, be looking at your county's G. I. S. Web page for updates because those can change very quickly. There are notification systems through the county as well when it goes into a go. Um, and there's not always the opportunity to go from a ready to a set to a go. These fires right there, they can be very dynamic. They have their own weather within them when they get so big. And based on what's happening with those fires, sometimes we need to go right to a go. So be prepared. And that's kind of where that ready comes into place. It's start thinking about a plan. Where are you going to meet with your family? A safe meeting location away from the area. What are your exit routes? You should have more than one. Um, sorry, I'm in a room where lights and, uh, the set is be ready to evacuate at any moment's notice. So you have your go Bay packed, ready to go thinking about important documents, medication, any pets or Children's supplies that you need. And that's gonna be in your car or at a place where you can grab it at the ready. So I highly suggest people get on those notification lists from the county. They're the ones who are initiating the ready, set, go. Um, and and get on their notifications. Pay attention to the map so that you understand when those ready and set places, you know, go into place. Our public information officers on the team are doing our best to also get that information and share it. People can go to the, um, minutes Facebook page or the Superior National Forest Facebook page for those updates, as well as their counties. Facebook page. Good advice, because, yes, we know it just as quickly as these fires can move that, you know, we need to be ready and have that those alerts ready for you. So, uh, Karen Harrison is folks are sitting with the ministry of DNR. Thank you again for chatting with us. We appreciate the update. Thanks for having me on everybody again. Stay safe up there and working so hard.