Evacuation of Gunflint Trail canceled, but fires still burn

(AP) The voluntary evacuation order for an 8-mile section of the scenic Gunflint Trail was lifted on Monday by the Cook County sheriff's office.

A release from the department noted that the fires that threatened the trail were not out, but there was no longer an imminent threat to cabins and lodges.

The sheriff's office had ordered a voluntary evacuation on Friday after a pair of fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness flared up and threatened to move north toward the trail.

A stretch of cool, rainy weather helped slow the fires over the weekend and on Monday, when firefighters continued working on the north side of the fires, said Teresa Maday, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center.

She said a trio of National Guard Blackhawk helicopters and other aircraft were dumping water on the fires. Grounds crews were also working, she said.

The fires that prompted the evacuation had not grown since Saturday. The Famine Lake fire was 4,150 acres while the Red Eye fire was 1,085 acres on Monday.

Maday said fire officials were calling in additional firefighters from throughout the country to exploit the favorable weather, which was expected to continue Tuesday.

"We're trying to get additional resources in," Maday said. "We want to hit it hard now while we have the weather cooperating with us."