Sacramento Interagency Hotshot Crew

Help With Search & Rescue in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The Sacramento Interagency Hotshot Crew, who are based on the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico, arrived on Friday, July 9 at the incident command post in Ely, Minnesota. Having just come off the line on a fire in Colorado, they were requested through the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise for assistance with search and rescue efforts on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the Superior National Forest in Minnesota.

Bob Wright, hotshot crew superintendent, said the 'shots got in late Friday, July 9th. They had some boating safety instruction planned for Saturday morning, after which they'd be flown in by floatplane to cut passages through the blocked portages and check for any persons who might still be trapped in the wilderness.

Early on Saturday, July 10, the Sacramento Hotshots had a safety briefing with Jim Hinds on the incident management team. The team is overseeing about 150 people on the incident who are searching lake-by-lake and campsite-by-campsite. "In some areas, the downed trees are stacked up 15 feet high for acres," said Ralph Bonde, the team's incident commander. He explained that over 900 campsites within the affected area would be checked; there are over 2000 campsites in the entire wilderness area.

Initial reports estimated that 385,000 wilderness acres were heavily impacted by the storm. By the evening of July 8, 146 of 337 portages in storm-impacted zone were passable, based on reports from the crews doing the clearing. The July 4th storm has been called the worst natural disaster to strike the Boundary Waters since it was designated in 1964. The resulting damage has been likened to the aftermath of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption.

Local experts Bert and Johnnie Hyde laid a bit of canoe orientation on the Sacramento Hotshots. "The hotshots were up till about one in the morning," says Minnesota DNR's Ron Sanow, lead information officer for the incident. "They repacked their fire bags into the traditional green Duluth packs, and the first team of two hotshots and one canoe left in a floatplane about 11 a.m. Saturday."

Canoes, gear, and hotshots were loaded on Beaver floatplanes for their trip to the interior wilderness. "The sheriffs in three counties are at 99 percent certainty that we've rescued everybody who needs rescuing," said Sanow. "Until they are 100 percent sure, though, we'll keep on with the search and rescue operation."

Jerry Jussila, Lake County Branch Director, along with Chip Elkins and others observed hotshot progress in canoe proficiency on Shagawa Lake. Concern by the sheriffs' departments that people could still be trapped on the portages prompted the request for the expertise of an interagency Type I hotshot crew.

The self-contained hotshots planned to head out by plane for 8-day stints; they'll be periodically re-supplied with provisions by Beaver floatplane. The crew has an EMT with them, and they have radio contact with the incident command post. "Spirits are pretty high," said Sanow. "Some of the crew were here before on a fire assignment, so they know the area."

The hotshots were flown to the interior of the wilderness, according to Sanow. "Much of the blowdown is more than chest-high," he says. "It's stacked up 15 feet high -- part of why we wanted hotshots, with their sawyer skill. On these portages, you canoe to the end of the lake, and there might be a creek between you and the next lake, but it's not navigable. You unload all your gear, carry your canoe across the portage to the next lake, go back and get your gear, and then load it all back up and off you go."

The incident management team wanted a self-contained hotshot crew for their expertise and experience in wilderness areas. The 'shots are opening portages between lakes and searching campsites and portages for anyone who may still be trapped in the 1.1 million-acre wilderness.

Estimates late Tuesday, July 13 -- after aerial survey -- indicated that 386,000 land acres (total of 478,000 acres counting water) of the 1.1-million-acre wilderness area are affected by the July 4th storm. About 1100 campsites are in the storm-damaged area. More than 200 people from 10 different agencies and organizations are still working under the direction of the incident management team on the search and rescue operation.

Chapter 2 - Can You Say "Trailbusters"?

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