Cavity Lake Base Camp

     The most recent update on the Cavity Lake Fire is it is now 65% contained.  The crews are continuing to work on fire lines and check for hot spots.  The cost of the fire is up to $6,367,520.00 and there are around 532 personnel on the fire. 

     There are many crews out in the wilderness at spike camps and a large amount of people at Base Camp on the Gunflint Trail.  The Base Camp is known to residents of the Gunflint Trail as the gravel pit, the old canister site road, brush dump or the softball field.  To me it looks like a scene from MASH.

     There are tents everywhere; tucked into the trees, set up behind buses, between sand piles, and a neat colony of them in a fenced off area.  Fire Crews use port a potties and shower in a portable shower trailer complete with a sink and changing area out front. 

Their food is stored, prepared, and cooked in onsite travel trailers.  When it’s time to eat the fire crews walk up the metal stairs to the serving window window and then bring their food into the big mess tent for eating.  The buzz of generators and flurry of activity makes it looks like a refugee camp in the middle of a sand desert.   The heat of the past couple of weeks makes it even more so. 

     We’re not sure how long the Base Camp will remain but we do know the Type I Team will be leaving on Thursday.  A Type II Team will take over the Cavity Lake Fire and we’re hoping for another smooth transition.  If the new team is half as good as the Type I Team then we will consider ourselves lucky.  I’m sure I’m not alone in saying we will miss our Type I Team who have become our friends and neighbors during the Cavity Lake Fire.