GO Alert issued for Lake County residents north of Fall and Cedar lakes

Residents north of Fall and Cedar lakes in Lake County were ordered to leave immediately on July 13 after a GO Alert was issued as the Cloquet Line Fire jumped its containment area. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office went door to door in the evacuation zone, and Lake County Emergency Management moved the area to the highest level of evacuation response as wildfire conditions worsened near Ely and Winton.

The GO evacuation notice covered the area north of Fall and Cedar lakes, just north of Ely and Winton. Fall Lake in Winton was placed under a SET evacuation zone, which meant people there had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The fire was lightning-caused and was burning northeast about 8 miles north-northeast of the Cloquet Line, outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, after pushing beyond its containment line.

Minnesota Incident Command took command of 10 wildfires burning in the Superior National Forest, with public safety at the top of the response. Karen Harri, the public information officer, said safety was the top priority, including firefighter safety and focusing resources on what was most likely to affect the public, property or infrastructure.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was shut down as the fires spread, the third closure in the wilderness area’s history. Lake County Emergency Management initiated GO evacuations because there was only one road in and out of the Boundary Waters area, a limitation that made fast action necessary before access or visibility got worse.

Lake County’s evacuation system was also active beyond the initial alert. On July 14, the county said the temporary evacuation point at the Babbitt Municipal Center would remain open until 9:00 p.m. and reopen July 15 at 8:00 a.m., and that there were no public shelters available at that time. The county has emergency planning documents in place, including an Emergency Operations Basic Plan, a Hazard Mitigation Plan and a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and its newer wildfire evacuation zones were being rolled out in response to last year’s Camphouse Fire.