100-acre wildfire in Marquette Co. fueled by winds

Crews in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have made progress in battling a roughly 100-acre wildfire that has been fueled by warm weather and strong winds, officials said Friday.

The “County Road 601” wildfire was about 95 percent contained, said John Pepin, a spokesman with the Department of Natural Resources. Crews from the DNR and several township departments hoped to fully contain the fire Friday.

No injuries have been reported from the blaze, which was spotted Thursday afternoon in Marquette County’s Humboldt Township. The fire started in an area where logging had occurred last winter and loggers had begun working this week to test a newly built road.

“The slash, stumps, debris and stacked piles of logs made for good fuel for the fire, but made it more difficult for firefighters working to build a containment line around the fire,” said Pete Glover, incident commander on the fire for the DNR.

DNR fire crews had some mechanical problems with firefighting equipment, but mechanics were on the scene, officials said.

The blaze was first reported about 1:05 p.m. Thursday, when tower personnel at Sawyer International Airport reported seeing smoke, according to the state. A DNR pilot later flew over the scene, about four miles northeast of Republic in Humboldt Township.

The fire had burned about 10 acres in an area where loggers had started to test a newly built road for hauling timber.

The Associated Press contributed.