Michigan Ag Connection - Bureau of Indian Affairs Updates Poverty Island Fire Info

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Bureau of Indian Affairs Updates Poverty Island Fire Info
Michigan Ag Connection - 07/21/2016

Rain early this week and high humidity moving into the area have delayed plans to use fire to control a wildfire on Poverty Island, south of the Upper Peninsula's Garden Peninsula.

First reported in late June, the fire threatens a historic lighthouse, which wildland firefighters have now protected with fire line and sprinklers. The 26-acre fire continues to smolder and creep in deep duff, crevices, roots and decaying logs but hasn't grown since rains on Sunday.

The fire is on the north end of the 200-acre island, opposite the three buildings of the lighthouse complex, which are not in use. The island is uninhabited and mostly covered with thick blowdown of spruce, fir and cedar.

The sprinkler system will be tested by firefighters today to make sure that when the fire becomes active again it can be quickly started to wet-down and protect the lighthouse structures, which are built of brick and wood.

The 15 firefighters involved in the effort will then begin demobilizing over the next few days. They had hoped to burn out the unburned parts of the island yesterday and today, but will have to wait until drier late summer conditions come to the area.

"We can't wait here for a couple weeks," said Jeremy Bennett, the incident commander for the fire. "We can protect the lighthouse and come back when conditions are better for burning. The rain put the fire to sleep for a little bit."

Bennett is one of six Bureau of Indian Affairs firefighters from Michigan and Wisconsin on the fire. The others are part of a Forest Service helicopter module from the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. The Bell 407 light helicopter has been ferrying firefighters and equipment to the island from Fayette State Park, where the operation is based.

The helicopter would also have been used to light the planned burnout. This was deemed necessary due to the danger and difficulty of putting-out the fire with other suppression methods. Along with down timber, the island has many rock crevices hidden by foliage and duff that make footing unsafe.

The island is federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which authorized the BIA to respond to the fire after it was reported on June 30. On July 1, the BIA sent four fire fighters to the island by boat for several days. They stopped the fire at 1 acre in size but were unable to completely extinguish it before stormy weather forced them to leave the island. The fire flared-up again and was reported last Friday, when the current effort to control it began.

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