Update on enormous fire at Sleeper Lake

NEWS RELEASE COMPILATION

MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

************************* Sleeper Lake fire update Sleeper Lake Fire Incident Commander Rich Ahnen said it best yesterday morning during the daily briefing with firefighters, that the Sleeper Lake Fire may have been "sleeping" yesterday, but it is likely to awake with the dryer weather forecast for today.

Firefighters continued their efforts to place a perimeter around the Sleeper Lake fire yesterday.

Currently dozer line is constructed around approximately 70 percent of the fire perimeter.

The fire is considered 25 percent contained.

The weather cooperated enabling crews to continue the direct attack on the fire.

Yesterday afternoon, winds increased from the south and southeast pushing the fire to the northwest.

National Guard helicopters continued to drop water on the fire to supplement the work of firefighters on the ground.

Firefighters continued to work protecting homes by creating additional, defensible space.

This work includes clearing brush and ladder fuels, raking leaves and moving wood piles, propane tanks and other combustible materials away from the homes.

In addition, a dozer line has been constructed between the structures and the fire.

New resources continue to arrive to provide additional staffing and rest time for fire personnel.

One of these new resources is a heli-torch crew with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources out of St. Frances, Ontario.

The members of the heli-torch crew are experts in ignition.

They will assist firefighters in improving the fire perimeter through burning operations.

Burning operations will only occur if weather conditions allow and firefighters complete the construction of dozer lines around 100 percent of the fire.

An incident meteorologist with the National Weather Service arrived yesterday.

He will provide on-site weather forecasting.

County Road 407 is now open to traffic from Four Mile Corner to Halfway Lake.

Extreme caution is advised due to the presence of firefighting equipment and law enforcement vehicles utilizing that road for access on the north end of the fire.

County Road 407 remains closed to through traffic from Halfway Lake to Pine Stump Junction, and evacuation orders remain in effect.

The following State Forest campgrounds remain closed: Perch Lake, Headquarters Lake, High Bridge, Pretty Lake, and Holland Lake. No other campgrounds in this vicinity have been closed.

M-123 is open, but a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit has been established in the vicinity of the fire.

Motorists are advised that construction is also occurring on M-123.

SIZE: Last estimate was 18,158 acres. Containment is currently estimated at 25 percent

LOCATION: Luce County, north of the Village of Newberry. The south line is a dozer line between M-123 and County Road 407, northern line is east of Pine Stump Junction, the east line runs along a portion of M-123 and the west line runs parallel to County Road 407.

RESOURCES: 220 people, including Michigan DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Michigan National Guard, The Nature Conservancy, Wisconsin DNR, Michigan State Police, Luce County Sheriff's Department, National Weather Service, numerous volunteer fire departments, Salvation Army, American Red Cross and keymen firefighters working for Michigan DNR.

AIR SUPPORT: - Four helicopters from the National Guard in Camp Grayling are assisting as well as Michigan DNR detection aircraft and the heli-torch from Ontario, Canada.

WEATHER: The forecast for Friday calls for variable winds less then five miles an hour in the morning and switching to northwest 7-12 miles an hour in the afternoon. Dry weather is expected to continue through Saturday.

A statewide toll-free phone line is available with regularly updated information. That number is 877-261-3473. (EDITOR'S NOTE: SooToday.com is advised that state officials will update this information later this morning). *************************