Star Tribune
BWCA fire smolders as forest officials close large surrounding area
DULUTH — The Spice Lake Fire that began Tuesday in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was still smoldering Thursday night as forest officials closed a large area of the wilderness surrounding it.
A closure order for the area, effective Friday, prohibits visitors on approximately 100,000 acres of trails, portages, rivers and lakes surrounding the fire, including a portion of the Kekekabic Trail. It affects 80 campsites.
Popular entry points affected include Moose Lake, Saganaga Lake, Seagull Lake and Snowbank. The U.S. Forest Service said it notified affected permit holders and outfitters.
The closure comes, in part, because the area is highly remote, according to the Superior National Forest. “It takes an extended length of time to paddle the area, the capacity for extreme fire behavior and excessive fuel conditions all lend to a large fire growth potential,” the service said in an online post. “These factors combined require a large closure area until we have complete containment.”
A 19-person hotshot crew is expected to arrive within the next few days to work the 20-acre fire from the ground, the Forest Service said. The elite team was ordered because of the logistics of supporting firefighters in such a remote area.
The Forest Service had been paddling into the area to disperse backcountry visitors near the fire. Campfire restrictions in the Superior National Forest, which includes the Boundary Waters, were already announced.
Firefighters were flown to the area by float planes, and aerial water drops continue to be conducted.
“These are not normal circumstances, the drought, warm temperatures, unpredictable high winds and fuel loads are creating a dangerous condition for our firefighters and the recreating public,” the post said.
The Spice Lake fire was discovered Tuesday afternoon on a routine wildfire detection flight, only hours after the Superior National Forest announced a campfire ban for the entire BWCA.
The area of the fire includes dead downed and standing trees that were killed by spruce budworms, the Forest Service said.
A 65-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed by a pickup truck near Christmas Lake Friday afternoon as she was walking through a crosswalk, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
The woman was crossing Highway 7 around 1 p.m. when she was hit by a 2019 Ford F-150 turning left from Christmas Lake Road onto the highway headed east, the State Patrol said in its report. The intersection is just east of Excelsior, between Saint Albans Bay and Christmas Lake west of Minneapolis.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Minnetonka police, and other agencies responded to the fatal collision. The State Patrol has not released the identity of the pedestrian.
The driver has not been arrested. Agencies are still investigating the collision, State Patrol Lt. Michael Lee said. Alcohol was not involved in the crash, the State Patrol said.
Former trooper Shane Roper, 32, had his last day Tuesday, State Patrol Lt. Michael Lee said. Roper’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Friday evening.
In July, Roper was charged with criminal vehicular homicide and manslaughter. He was also charged with criminal vehicle operation related to five other people who were seriously injured in the incident.
The criminal complaint states that Roper had been pursuing someone “suspected of committing a petty traffic offense” as he exited Hwy. 52 onto 12th Street SW. As he neared the intersection with Apache Drive, he reportedly turned his lights off and continued to accelerate with a fully engaged throttle.
Roper was traveling at 83 mph with his lights and siren off as he approached the intersection, a Rochester police investigation found. The trooper’s squad car slammed into the passenger side of a car occupied by Olivia Flores, which was heading west and turning into the mall.
Flores died from the blunt force injuries. She was an Owatonna High School cheerleader and set to graduate June 7. There were two other people in the car with Flores.
Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem said in a statement following the charges that Roper violated his duty in “a gross fashion.”
Roper told investigators he was not paying attention to his speed at the time of the crash, and that he believed his lights were still activated when he exited the highway.
Steven Frane Bailey, 56, of St. Louis Park was arrested in connection with the incident and charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and nine counts of criminal vehicular operation. His blood alcohol content measured at 0.325% after officers administered a preliminary breath test at HCMC, according to charges filed in Hennepin County District Court.
In his first court appearance Wednesday, Bailey told a judge his use of alcohol is not a problem. He has an extensive history of drunken driving convictions, starting in 1985 in Wisconsin. Additional convictions followed in Wabasha County in 1993 and Hennepin County in 1998, according to court records. Two more convictions followed in 2014 and 2015.
A Hennepin County judge set his bail at $500,000 with several conditions, including that Bailey take a substance use disorder assessment, that he abstain from drinking alcohol, avoid Park Tavern and stay away from the victims and his family.
His next court appearance is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1.
Staff writers Paul Walsh and Jeff Day contributed to this report.
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