Red flag day on Friday for Pagami Creek Fire

[Lee Borgersen]

Red flag day on Friday for Pagami Creek Fire



The weather gave a boost to the Pagami Creek Fire Thursday with a foreboding forecast for Friday.

Daria Day, a public information officer, said Thursday was an active day in the fire area.

"There was lots of burning going on out there. No sign of runs but we did use a lot of aircraft on the northeast boundary of the fire," said Day.

Winds were out of the south on Thursday and expected to gust to up to 35 miles per hour from the south on Friday.

"Some spots have grown a bit, maybe 10 or 20 acres. We're seeing spot development down in the Fern Lake area and a few around Section 29 Lake. We had the CL215 (bombers) fly down there so we had those well in hand," said Day.

The fire was listed at 92,682 acres with a 71% containment and a total cost of $16,300,000.

Day said all of the aircraft available were being used on Thursday.

"It was definitely more of an air show up there," said Day.

Governor Mark Dayton sent a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter with two paramedics in case of serious injuries require medevac from the wilderness.

Day said the Forest Service had a helicopter that could lower a basket and lift up an injured person, but that crew was due to come off duty.

"The issue here is the remote nature of the fire. There's always the potential for injury when guys are working with chainsaws and you've got snags falling down," said Day.

There are currently 436 personnel assigned to the fire.