The blaze has swallowed at least 160 square miles at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, making it one of the largest on record in the state, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lisa Radosevich-Craig said. Smoke from the fire drifted as far as Chicago and Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Sections of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness remain open, but Bergerson recommended that campers call ahead as many entry points and lakes have been closed due to the fire.
While the latest fire has grown quickly, it has done less damage than the 2007 Ham Lake fire, which destroyed nearly 150 buildings worth more than $10 million as it raced across 118 square miles in Minnesota and Canada. A fire in Red Lake in 1931 consumed about 1,550 square miles and killed four people.
Link (Via: Grand Forks Herald)