Crews have nearly contained a wildfire burning in a North Shore state park, and a portion of the Superior Hiking Trail will reopen Thursday.
The 300-acre Crosby Fire, burning through fallen leaves in and near George H. Crosby Manitou State Park since it was ignited by lightning on Oct. 8, was 95% contained as of Wednesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
That means control lines — either natural or artificial gaps in vegetation — exist around nearly all of the fire’s perimeter and are expected, but not guaranteed, to stop the fire from spreading. It does not mean fire within the perimeter is completely out.
With the help of rain overnight Sunday, the fire has not grown since the weekend, and containment of the fire has grown steadily.
“Things are looking good,” Mary Nordeen, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Incident Command System, said Wednesday.
“The firefighters are just going to be working along the containment line, mopping up hotspots, checking the fire area,” Nordeen said.
The Superior Hiking Trail Association said a section of trail from Caribou Falls State Wayside Rest to Lake County Road 7 (Cramer Road) that was closed because of the fire will reopen Thursday at 8 a.m. Users should stay on the trail and not be alarmed if they see or smell smoke, the association said.
“There are no threats of fire to the trail any longer, however the fire did burn up to, and across the trail,” the association said on Facebook.
More rain is expected Thursday and Friday, said Woody Unruh, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Duluth.
“Conditions are favorable for helping to contain the fire, just given that we’re seeing the precipitation coming in, no dry days and then the winds are also cooperating,” Unruh said.
Although the weather has improved, firefighters will remain on scene.
“We’ll keep crews in the area for a while yet to keep monitoring, patrolling. … That weather has really helped and those crews really worked hard,” Nordeen said.
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