Residents of a small Minnesota town are braced for possible evacuation after strong winds whipped a forest fire into a blaze covering about 93 square miles in the northeastern part of the state.
The fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a lake-dotted region along the Minnesota-Canada border, on Tuesday was sending a plume of smoke and haze across the Upper Midwest, with reports of haze as far away as Illinois and northern Michigan.
The fire started Aug. 18 with a lighting strike 20 miles from Ely, but began spreading quickly this week in windy, dry conditions. The fire raced 16 miles east in a single day from Monday to Tuesday.
The blaze has forced officials to evacuate more than 100 campers threatened by the fire and smoke.
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