DNR reports Duck Lake Fire at 63 percent containment

For the first time since the Duck Lake Fire started in the Upper Peninsula’s Luce County, the Department of Natural Resources has reported the fire area is more than 60 percent contained. More accurate GPS information has helped the department determine that fire area containment, as of this morning, stood at 63 percent.

 

The south end of the fire is 14 miles north of Newberry and 7 miles west from Tahquamenon Falls State Park campgrounds. The fire is long and narrow and stretches 11 miles to the north to Lake Superior. There are currently 45 miles of fireline. Of that, 6 miles is Lake Superior shoreline, 20 miles is completed line (that includes County Road 500), and uncontained fireline was reduced to 19 miles. Access remains very difficult with few roads.

Cooler temperatures allowed fire crews to construct fireline across all of Division G in the southeast corner of the fire, across roughly one-half of the east side of the fire and roughly two-thirds of the fire’s west side. Crews continue to remove hazard trees.

Governor Rick Snyder and Senator Debbie Stabenow visited the fire area on Thursday and talked with residents who lost structures in the fire. Both expressed their thanks to the firefighters for their efforts.

Detection aircraft identified a lightning fire from Monday’s thunderstorms south of Bodi Lake. National Guard helicopters made multiple drops on the fire and succeeded in knocking it down. Crews will check this fire today.