Three wildfires are burning across Michigan's Upper Peninsula during severe drought conditions. The Ridge Fire, 10 miles northwest of Marquette, has burned 466 acres and is 40% contained. The Craig Lake Fire, at the north end of Craig Lake State Park, has burned 606 acres and is 90% contained. The Black River Fire, 4 miles south of Wakefield, has burned 350 acres and is 70% contained. Combined, the three fires cover just over 1,400 acres and are burning up to 2 feet deep in the duff layer — the organic material beneath the forest floor — making suppression efforts challenging.
Drought conditions across the Upper Peninsula have been severe to exceptional, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "Drought conditions in the U.P. range from severe to exceptional. We were hitting levels that we haven't seen in 20 or 30 years, and they made conditions perfect for wildfires," said Nate Stearns, incident commander for the Rugged Terrain Complex. Recent rainfall has not been sufficient to extinguish fires burning so deep in the duff layer.
DNR firefighters are using leaf blowers, hand tools, water pumps, and equipment such as tractor plows and dozers to establish containment lines scraped down to bare mineral soil. The Craig Lake Fire was caused by a lightning strike and was detected Oct. 8. The Ridge Fire was spotted Oct. 9, and the Black River Fire was detected Oct. 11; the DNR took over management of the latter on Oct. 13. The causes of the Ridge Fire and Black River Fire remain under investigation.
The DNR has temporarily closed portions of Craig Lake State Park through the end of October, including the area north of Craig Lake proper and the Teddy Lake Yurt. The North Country Trail within the park is also closed. The Noquemanon Trail system west of the trailhead on County Road 510 remains closed. A temporary flight restriction is in effect over both the Ridge Fire and Craig Lake Fire for a 5-nautical-mile radius and below 3,500 feet.
A total of 84 firefighters were assigned to the Rugged Terrain Complex on Saturday, with support from the U.S. Forest Service, National Weather Service, Michigan State Police, and local emergency management agencies.