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Wildfire Grows, Man Struggles To Save Dream Home

Along The Gunflint Trail, Minn. (AP) ― Thick smoke hung in the air and bits of ash fell from the sky Wednesday as Lou Reid struggled to protect his dream retirement home from advancing wildfire.

Reid and two friends rushed to hook up sprinklers and lay water lines, their work becoming even more urgent when a sheriff's official came by to tell them they had to get out. Reid begged, and got, another half-hour to attach a final sprinkler.

"We've got to set the sprinkler up and we've got to get the hell out of here," Reid shouted to his friends. "We've got to get rollin'!"

Reid built the home two years ago along the shore of Gunflint Lake, in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness along Minnesota's northeastern border. He was among the latest property owners to be evacuated as a wildfire that started Saturday at Ham Lake kept expanding due to shifting winds, low humidity and extremely dry conditions.

By Wednesday morning, the fire had flared to more than 34 square miles -- more than 8 square miles bigger than a day earlier. Greg Peterson, operations team manager, said the fire had destroyed 45 structures and was moving east, deeper into Canada and threatening more homes and cabins in Minnesota. About 200 to 250 acres of the fire was already in Canada.

A squad of elite firefighters prepared to take command Wednesday night, as officials braced for more dry weather and changing winds. Officials conducted a "burnout" Wednesday night in the area near Reid's property, prompting the expanded evacuation. Without the burns, officials said, shifting winds would imperil Reid's property, as well as other buildings and the Moosehorn Lodge in the path of the blaze. A burnout is when officials burn trees and brush on their own to reduce the fuel and stop an active fire from spreading.

"The best way to put out a fire is to take away the oxygen or take away the fuel," said Mark Van Every, a spokesman for the firefighters.

During the burnout, helicopters dropped accelerants similar to ping-pong balls into the forest. As flames flared up, other aircraft dropped water or fire retardants onto other areas to keep the fire under control. The effect was dramatic -- even trained firefighters stood mesmerized on the other side of Gunflint Lake, watching the sun set as flames licked the treetops and dark smoke billowed into the sky.

The Gunflint Trail is a 57-mile, dead-end two-lane highway leading from Grand Marais to the state-protected Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and other popular, remote vacation destinations. There are more than 4,500 square miles of protected wilderness in northeastern Minnesota.

Hundreds of firefighters from across the country were on the scene Wednesday, with about 500 expected eventually.

At a public meeting, Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk said he understood the frustration of the more than 100 people who have been removed from their homes because of the fire. But he wouldn't allow them into the fire zone.

"For now, that just can't happen," he said. It was too dangerous, he said, and firefighters needed to keep traffic at a minimum so they could work.

The fire remained 5 percent contained, but there have been no reports of injuries.

"There's a lot of work to be done, and there's a lot of dreams, and maybe some memories, that have been lost. But we're going to get through this and we're going to make it, and it's going to be stronger than ever when this is all over," Falk said.

Reid worked as a guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in the 1970s, and said he dreamed then of earning enough money someday to retire at his own place in the woods.

Two years ago, he made that happen -- transforming part of an old lodge into his summer and retirement home. He said he invested about $600,000 in the property, which includes six structures: A large home with a deck, a sauna, a weight room, two cabins and a garage with a loft.

"I've had lots of fun up here, and I've learned a lot up here," he said. "It's just been wonderful for me in high school and college. But now ... I've got a boy and a girl, and ... that was my legacy -- to leave them something like that.

"So if it's not here for them, that's tough on me, and obviously on them too," said Reid, 52, of Minnetrista.

The one thing Reid didn't invest in: a professional, propane-operated sprinkler system.

"Now in hindsight, I wish I would've done it, would've spent the $10,000. So that's an error on my part that I didn't do," he said. "To be safe early on in the process would've been smarter."

Reid was among the handful of people standing across Gunflint Lake watching the burnout Wednesday night. He was clearly relieved to learn that, so far, his property was OK.

Earlier Wednesday morning, he had sprinklers running on the rooftops of all of his buildings except one cabin. The sprinkler on the main house runs on electricity -- a problem if the fire comes close enough to make the power go out. The others were running on gas or propane.

As the evacuation order came, the work intensified. One friend, Jeff Dahm, began hooking up a sprinkler to a hose as quickly as possible.

"Dave, you getting that? I'll get the hose," he shouted to another friend, Dave Anderson. The three men climbed on the rooftop of the cabin and secured the sprinkler with hammer and nails. Then, they extended a hose into the lake so water could be pumped up where needed.

They got sprinkled while they worked in the hot, dusty air that was so thick the smoke could be tasted.

"They said it didn't look too good," Reid said as he looked toward the fire. "I hope to heck we'll be OK."

"Boy, look at that smoke rolling in," Anderson said.

Reid proclaimed that if the property was saved, he'd have a party.

"We ARE having a party," Dahm promised, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.

Reid wrote a note to firefighters that read: "Thank you for trying to save my retirement home ... I hope for your safety and success! Thank you again for your effort." He put it in a plastic bag and tacked it to his garage.

Reid said he was sad to hear that others had lost their houses, cabins or businesses. As he surveyed his property before leaving, he said he felt he did what he could. Hopefully, it was enough.

"We have our structures -- at least today."

It was time to go.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)