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Watching the smoke: Former PL area residents poised to evacuate if BWCA fire gets too near Staff Writer The smoke from the nearby Cavity Lake fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area hovers like fog over Poplar Lake along the Gunflint Trail.
Rod and Jan Johnson, Pequot Lakes area residents who now live full time on the Gunflint Trail, said like their Poplar Lake neighbors they are taking a wait-and-see approach whether to evacuate their home in light of the BWCA fires.
"So far it isn't too bad," Jan Johnson said from the Gunflint Trail of the fires close to her home. "The smoke is bad. If you have asthma you wouldn't want to be here. We feel like we're OK now, but it's a daily thing. We just don't know from day-to-day and that's what we have to pay attention to."
The Johnsons, who own Silver Creek Traders in Pequot Lakes and frequently return to their home here, attend daily briefings each morning about 25 miles away on the Gunflint Trail to find out the ever-changing fire conditions. Johnson said the fire was about 15-20 miles from their home Wednesday but according to local reports she said it was heading north and away from their home.
Johnson said it was windy Wednesday and their greatest concern is that the wind would start spot fires that could cut off the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais, their only escape route. Johnson said they've been told by fire service officials they would receive a minimum of about two hours' notice if they had to evacuate via helicopters if this occurred.
"They don't want us afraid but each day this thing grows," said Johnson.
Johnson's neighbors on the Gunflint Trail also include Gaynard and Shari Brown of Breezy Point, who own a cabin on Poplar Lake. They spent the weekend on the Gunflint Trail and returned Tuesday.
Gaynard Brown said they would go for walks and ashes would fall from the sky on them from the Cavity Lake fire. The smell of smoke was everywhere but since the fire was about 25-30 miles away, he said they didn't feel they were in imminent danger.
Johnson said several of their neighbors have installed sprinkling systems since the 1999 storm that blew down millions of trees in the BWCA to help protect their homes in case of fire. But if the forest around their home is destroyed by fire, Johnson said they would leave the Boundary Waters.
"Why protect your house if everything around you is gone?" said Johnson. "If the forest goes, we leave."
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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