Winds Spread Smoke From Minnesota Wildfire to Neighboring States
Things are heating up in northeast. The Pagami Fire in Minnesota has tripled in size covering over 16,000 acres and recent reports say smoke is spreading to northern states.
The Minnesota wildfire began about a month ago when lightening hit the Pagami Creek. Recently, strong odors are alarming residents in these states. The Wisconsin Department of Resources reports that many people called concerned about the smell. Fire Chief Robert Kiser told ABC 2Wbay that the strong odor is not common and is being watched.
"That's unusual. Very unusual. There's been times when we've had a reddening of the sun because of wildfire out west but nothing as pungent as this smoke has been," Kiser said.
The elderly and those with respiratory and cardiac issues and anyone who has sensitivity to the smoke are advised to stay indoors until notified otherwise. Schools in danger zones like the Green Bay Area Public School District are also taking precautions. Students with asthma or other health issues are told to stay inside.
Incident Information reports released yesterday said that 200 fire personnel have been assigned to the fire, it also informed inhabitants of Minnesota’s high and extreme conditions in the border lakes. Lake One and Lake Two are being closed off and highways have also been shut down.
The Pagami Fire has spread 60,000 acres since August and evacuations have been put into affect. Evacuations have been directed towards residents living along Cramer Road and Lake County Road, as well as from the Kawishiwi Lake to the Wanless Road and other threatening areas. Low rainfall, a little over 3 inches below normal is not helping efforts to extinguish the blaze.
The Pagama fire is a reminder of the infamous 1870 Peshtigo fire in Minnesota, which killed over 2,000 people. So far no injuries or deaths have been reported but health officials are on alert.
