The air quality reached unhealthy levels in some parts of Northeastern Wisconsin this morning, as smoke from wildfires in Minnesota and Canada traveled across Lake Superior.
“When the winds get going, those fires can throw smoke quite a ways,” says Trent Wickman, an air quality specialist for the National Forest Service. “If people looked at satellite views yesterday, they would have seen smoke blowing across Lake Superior, going over to the U.P. and Wisconsin.”
Wickman says the smoke should clear up today and stay away for the next few days as the wind shifts.
Although the smoky smell will go away, the fires aren’t dying out.
In fact, the opposite is happening.
The Greenwood fire in Minnesota spread 5,000 acres yesterday to about 26,000 acres.
Because of it, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has closed for the first time in 45 years.
That fire is expected to continue spreading, according to Catherine Koele, a wildfire prevention specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Minnesota is expected to hit peak fire season in the fall,” she says. “As the leaves start to fall on the ground, that dead litter is fuel for a wildfire. There are concerns that these fires are going to burn until the snow flies.”
Koele says the Wisconsin DNR has deployed about 20 firefighters to help control the blaze.
Another six people from the Chequamegon-Nicolet’s fire program are also assisting with fires in Minnesota.
