Some Bingham Township residents may have seen smoke billowing up over Shady Lane at various times in the last week. Forest fires started in the area Oct. 11, and the Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire Department and Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have been struggling to keep them from spreading further.
Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire Chief James Porter said the fire was contained Monday, but it will likely continue burning until the area gets some rain. Porter said the source of the fire was a nearby compost pile that overheated due to the unusually high temperatures and low humidity.
And when the compost ignited due to the heat, the strong winds that have been coming through the county recently carried the embers to a nearby tree line. According to Porter, local firefighters were also dispatched Oct. 12 and 16 to try to extinguish hot spots where the fire had spread.
“Then we went back on Saturday checking on hot spots. And Wednesday, we went back and got back in there to put out some more hot spots because it had spread – again, because there’s no rain. And all the leaves on the trees were falling now, causing more fuel,” Porter said.
DNR wildland firefighters arrived Friday to dig a trench around the affected area. Trenches and ditches are often used to prevent wildfires from spreading. Unfortunately, this trench wasn’t completely effective. Porter said that embers seemingly “jumped the fire line” Monday to continue razing the forest.
Local firefighters worked over eight hours Monday to stop the spreading fire before the DNR returned to the scene. The DNR started backburning, which is the process of starting smaller, controlled fires to destroy potential fuel sources before they feed the larger inferno – fighting fire with fire.
Porter recommended carefully monitoring compost piles in warm conditions and checking the fire danger forecast before starting a fire. The daily fire risks for Suttons Bay, Northport, Omena, Leland, Lake Leelanau, and Glen Arbor can be found on the fire department’s website at sbbfireandrescue.com.
Burn permits for all townships in Leelanau County except Leelanau Township can also be found at michigan.gov/burnpermit. To apply for a burn permit in Leelanau Township, which includes Northport and Alpena, call the township emergency services Chief Hugh Cook at (231) 386-5343.
According to an Oct. 21 press release, Michigan DNR wildland firefighters battled many firefighters over the weekend, including a 100-acre fire in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula, and the fire dangers across the state are expected to stay high to very high. So far, the DNR has fought more than 250 fires covering nearly 1,200 acres this year.
