INFORMATION #4 06-04-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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INFORMATION For Immediate Release Contact: MN Interagency Fire Center 218-327-4558 May 20, 2007 ANSWERING THE CALL: GUNFLINT FIRE DEPARTMENT, OTHERS SAVE LIVES AND STRUCTURES Minnesota Mutual Aid Agreements Save Lives, Property A strong contingent of homegrown Minnesota fire engines and their crews are heading home after nearly two weeks of fighting fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA W). The engines were called to the incident as part of Minnesota's mutual aid agreements between fire departments across the state. The agreements proved their worth-- saving more than $42.1 million in structures along the Gunflint Trail. The engines and their crews are now demobilized from the Ham Lake fire as containment fire is reached. While mostly overshadowed by the massive Type I incident management team operation, the local engines were some of the first to arrive on the scene to assess the situation, determine needs and priorities, and protect those homes and structures they could by setting up sprinkler systems and spraying foam on and around the structures. The structural protection efforts on the fire included both structural and wildland fire engines and persounel. In the early hours of the fire the Gunflint Volunteer Fire Department called in engines from the Cook County mutual aid agreement when the fire first threatened homes and businesses along the Gunflint Trail. Eight of the nine Cook County fire departments responded to that initial call on Sunday, May 6, when less than 24 hours after ignition, the fire began to threaten the Gunflint Trail corridor and evacuations were ordered. The Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association in conjunction with the Minnesota State Fire Marshal's Office called in additional resources, when the fire started heading back toward the trail four days later. The Miunesota engines were called in from a couple dozen fire departments across the state, including the Anoka-Champlin, Aurora, Biwabik, Bloomington, Canosia, Colvill, Elk River, Esko, Forest Lake, Grand Lake, Grand Marais, Hovland, Lakeland, Lakeville, Lakewood, Lindstrom, Linwood, Lutsen, Maple Hill, Minneapolis, Oakdale, Onamia, Palo, Ramsey, Rush City, Solway, St. Louis Park, Tofte, and Zimmerman. In the midst of a fire that would eventually grow to more than 36,000 acres in the United States (more than 75,000 acres total, including Canada), these structural engine crews managed to save 759 buildings along the Gunflint corridor, worth an estimated $42.1 million in market value. While 140 structures were ultimately lost to the blaze, that nnmber could have been much higher had the Gunflint Volunteer Fire Department not called the Minnesota State Fire Marshal's Office to mobilize additional resources as quickly as it did.