Weekend thunderstorms help fully contain the Horse River fire

The National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) Team continues its efforts to contain and suppress any hotspots for the Jenkins Creek and Horse River fires. As a result of the line of thunderstorms that passed through Saturday evening, the Horse River fire was 100% contained as the Jenkins Creek remains at 94%.

With the Horse River Fire 100% contained, all firefighters and firefighting equipment have been removed from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Management of the fire was handed back to the Superior National Forest on Sunday at 7:00 am.

Jenkins Creek

As the size remains at 16,145 acres and containment of 94%, crews continue to send unmanned aerial drones to find local hotspots inside the perimeter. The efficiency and precision of this equipment were evident when crews ground-truthing one of the hotspots tracked the heat signal to a cow moose and her calf. The remaining three hotspots contained no heat when located. The improvement of contingency lines in the northwest area of the fire along the 420 Road began in the north and northwest areas of the fire. 

Horse River

Thanks to the rain and thunderstorms, the containment reached 100%. Crews paddled the seven miles out of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the landing at the paved highway at Echo Trail. Teams used MIST, a noninvasive or damaging approach to fighting wildfire, to protect the nature of the Boundary Waters and leave their impact as minimal as possible. The fire was transferred back to the Superior National Forest. This is the last report NIMO will report for this fire.