ELY — Crew members were fastening canoes to 60-year-old, red and white beaver sea planes in Ely on Wednesday, July 29.
The planes were being prepared to bring the Sawtooth Hotshots of Idaho and their equipment into the Superior National Forest, where they’ll then hop into the canoes to access remote areas of Northern Minnesota’s wilderness. The highly trained, specialized wildland fire crew will continue the weekslong fight against several lightning-caused blazes burning in and around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
John Fish, the air operations branch director for the wildfire’s management team, said the team is just starting its two- to three-week assignment, where they will work 14-16 hours each day.
“They’re actually going to have to unload the canoes, work their way into where they’re going to go into, and make sure that they’re able to put some fire line in a particular spot that we’ve assessed,” Fish said.
The Ely Seaplane Base — the only Forest Service seaplane base— is home to three Beaver float planes. The planes have a single engine, are propellor driven and specially made for short takeoffs and landings. The Forest Service only has three other Beaver planes, located in Alaska. They hold 125 gallons of water, as well as transport crews and equipment and carry out search and rescue missions.
The Ely Beaver plane fleet was purchased throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Tim Olson, the aviation maintenance inspector, said the planes’ lifespans are basically forever.
“They’ve been upgraded with all modern avionics and equipment,” Olson said. “Nothing replaces this aircraft. We can still get parts, [and] we can still utilize it.”
Olson routinely inspects the aircraft.
“Every 50 flight hours, there’s a 50-hour inspection,” Olson said. “Every 100 flight hours, there’s a 100-hour inspection. Then it’s five years, or 2,000 flight hours, is a propeller change.”
Since the fires started in July, over 627 hours have been flown, along with 3 million gallons of water and 120,000 gallons of fire retardant being dropped. Fish said the air fight is essential to the ground fight.
“We’re here to support the ground,” Fish said. “You can’t put the fire out without the aviation resources.”
The water and fire retardant dropped by aircraft don't put fires out, but they help cool down active flames so ground firefighters can go in and address hot spots. Hot spots are particularly active areas that are likely to reignite or spread, like burning stumps or dead trees.
It’s not just the aircraft that are specialized. Jeremy Harmon, the supervisor pilot at the seaplane base, said the U.S. Forest Service looks for pilots with 1,500 hours of flight times. For unique missions, Harmon said they seek pilots with about 200 seaplane hours. He added that most pilots have other wilderness flying experience.
“Most all of the pilots that have come through this facility within the last several decades have all flown in Alaska or northern Maine and have backcountry or what we would call bush flying experience,” Harmon said.
Fish said at its peak, the fire effort had 18 helicopters and about as many planes available. However, as they have gained more control over the fires, aircraft have left the national forest to help other fires in the U.S.
“We have to move those around. They’re critical resources,” Fish said. “We’ve got plenty here still to do what we need to do to help continue to contain and control these fires.”
In the Forest Service’s Thursday update, it stated that as containment across the fire area grows, firefighters are moving to uncontained areas to create fire lines. The five largest fires — Camp, Sioux, Little Knife, Bear Trap and Thumb — range from 38% to 70% contained.
Containment is the percentage of the fire perimeter that is surrounded by a control line. Control lines are built and natural fire barriers, like rivers or areas where vegetation has been cleared down to the soil. The lines are typically created by heavy equipment and crews of firefighters with shovels and axes, though heavy equipment can’t be used in wilderness areas.
Firefighters have also utilized sprinklers to prevent fire from reaching structures. The sprinklers wet vegetation around the buildings to prevent fire from reaching them.
Over the week, some areas have reopened, and fire restrictions have been eased. Many of those evacuated due to the wildfires were able to start returning home on Sunday. The next day, the Boundary Waters partially reopened for day access. It partially reopened for overnight access on Thursday. It was completely shut down for the third time ever on July 14 after multiple lighting-caused wildfires started amid dry conditions.
On Wednesday, the Forest Service lifted some campfire restrictions in Superior National Forest. All burning was banned in the forest starting July 11 and 12. Campfires are now allowed in designated metal fire rings in campgrounds.
The latest wildfire conditions can be found on InciWeb.
