SENEY -- The wildfire at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge continues to burn. The fires have now consumed more than 3200 acres of forest. It's been burning for four days.
The wildfire at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge started Sunday night from a lightning strike. It was discovered Monday when it had already burned 60 acres.
"It's burning through the night. It's burning aggressively. We're seeing fairly rapid rates of spread," said Gary Lindsay, Incident Commander for the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.
There have been no reported injuries or damage to structures, but thousands of burned acres later, the refuge is still working to contain it.
"We've got about 65 percent of the fire contained, but we have unchecked spread to the north," Lindsay said.
If the fire travels much farther north, it will cross M-28 and onto state land, but it needs to cross the diversion ditch first, and it's getting close.
"As of last night, it had gone north to within a hundred yards of the diversion ditch, and our goal is to keep it from crossing that ditch," said Mark Vaniman, Refuge Manager.
The refuge called in the cavalry to assist on the fire line as well. With more than a couple dozen vehicles at their disposal, over 60 firefighters from the U.P., Minnesota, and Wisconsin are all working together. They also have two planes and a helicopter dumping water from overhead.
"It's a large collaborative effort. We are taking the lead on the fire. It's our fire," Vaniman said.
The weather has been extremely dangerous in spreading the fires. Wind speeds have been increasing all morning and afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for Thursday, and that makes the fire crews nervous.
"My concern is 30 miles per hour winds out of the south blowing the fire toward unburned fuels, and that could cause us some problems," Vaniman said.
Fire crews continue to battle the blaze, but the fight is far from over.
If you have photos or video of the fire, please send them to us at wlucnews@wluctv6.com.
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