Bogus Fire

“This is Aaron from the DNR Forestry Office in Grand Marais. I wanted to give you a heads-up that there was a fire discovered yesterday just North of your property up by Bogus Lake. There was most likely a lightning strike from last weekend’s storm. It started on forest service ground and it’s going to come down onto your property.”

Aerial view of the Bogus Lake fire shortly after it was discovered, October 8th, 2024 (U.S. Forest Service)

Our property is in wildfire country. As near as I can tell, this area tends to burn every century or three, and last burned a little over a hundred years ago. The maple forest that dominates our land is a little more fire-resistant than the evergreens which are more common further inland from Lake Superior, but we’ve understood there’s a good chance of a fire on our property during our lifetime.

Fortunately this fire was not one of the giant crown fires most people associate with forest fires. Most of the leaves had fallen and the underbrush had died back for the season, and the fire was low-intensity. According to the forester I spoke to, it mostly burned the downed leaves and forest litter. In another stroke of luck, the fire was limited to the northern portion of the property and there was little chance it would jump the beaver ponds and wetlands to reach our building site or any existing structures.

We’re planning to visit in a few weeks, and as long as there’s not snow on the ground we plan to hike back to the burned area to check it out.

Fire perimeter according to the Forest Service. The blue dot is our building site.