The fire has burned 100 acres in a remote area.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 8:38 p.m.
Read more: Local, Wildfire, Iron County
IRON COUNTY -- Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 5:45 p.m.
Update by : Jeni Jewell
Firefighter's spent their second day of the Rock Dam Fire, just south of Amasa and the Fence River, trying to contain the last 40% of the blaze.
The fire started Monday.
Fire investigators with the Department of Natural Resources found a lightning scar on a tree near the origin of the fire. And that's what they say caused the blaze, which was estimated at 120 acres on Friday.
"It's a mixture of swamp, marsh grass", said Incident Commander, Rich Ahnen. "And then it gets into a lot of blown down and dead balsam and fir, and they're really dry, so it burns hard."
Some witnesses say they saw smoke from Crystal Falls, a few miles south, Thursday afternoon.
The smoke was so thick on the north side of the fire Thursday, that two firefighter's were treated for smoke inhalation. They've since recovered.
And with temperatures in the high 80s, other's battled heat exhaustion.
Cooler temperatures on Friday helped keep the fire under control, with flames continuing to burn on the north side, near the Fence River.
And even though there's no active flame on the south end of the fire, stumps still pose a threat. They retains heat, and can flare up the fire at any time.
"This little bit of rain we had doesn't mean much", said Ahnen. "The ground fuels are so dry that within a few hours it could be an active fire again."
The 30 people who worked the fire Friday are expected to return on Saturday to finish containing the fire, and start mopping up hot spots.
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Friday, August 14, 2009 at 1:40 p.m
The fire is being called the Rock Dam Fire. We have maps of the approximate containment at this point.
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Friday, August 14, 2009 at 11:21 a.m
At first report Friday morning, the fire, located 15 miles north of Crystal Falls, only gained an additional 20 acres overnight. That puts the estimated total at around 120 acres of burned forest.
DNR officials say the blaze is around 60 percent contained. Recent rain showers helped to keep the fire tame as 20 DNR fire crew members worked to control it. They expect others to arrive today.
Officials have also confirmed that the fire was sparked by a lightning strike and have found the tree that was struck.
The fire was reported Wednesday night by a logger, and crews arrived early Thursday morning to the scene.
The fire is currently burning in lowland swamps with mostly balsam and spruce as fuel. These types of trees burn hot and fast, which caused the fire to jump the original fire line and prompted the crews to pull back.
Two DNR firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation due to the thick, dark smoke coming from this fire.
It's reported that there is only one permanent structure in the area of the blaze, and it seems to be safe.
Witnesses say that they could see smoke from Crystal Falls, 15 miles south of the blaze.
Jeni Jewell is on the scene and will have more. Stay tuned for the latest updates on UpperMichigansSource.com and all of your newscasts.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 8:38 p.m.
The DNR is fighting a wildfire in Iron County. The fire was reported Wednesday night in a remote area of Mansfield Township.
The DNR believes a lightning strike started the fire last weekend. The fire has burned about 100 acres.
Two dozen DNR firefighters are battling the fire in rough terrain. Officials say it's about 50 percent contained.
No homes are threatened. Firefighters will be back on the scene Friday morning.
