ELY, Minn. (AP) -- The wildfire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness continued to grow on Sunday as firefighters battled the blaze and awaited reinforcements.
The fire near Seagull Lake, about 45 miles north of Ely, grew to 478 acres on Sunday, according to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
About 40 local firefighters were on the scene, and four 20-people crews were expected to arrive Sunday from West Virginia and Missouri, said Dewey Hanson, information officer for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center.
Authorities closed an entry point and a canoe route, but there were no evacuations, he said.
The portage from Seagull to Alpine Lake was closed, as was a lightly used canoe route between Seagull, Grandpa, Roy and Saganaga lakes, but officials said there were no archaeological sites threatened as of Sunday afternoon.
The fire grew from 200 acres to 400 acres Saturday night, and steady winds of 15 to 20 mph hampered fire crews, fire officials said.
On Sunday, firefighters used a water scooping aircraft to douse the fire with water from the air as its primary tactic.
Besides the fires in the BWCAW and between Bagley and Bemidji, there were small fires south of Babbitt and near Orr. All the fires except the one in the BWCAW are contained, fire officials said.
Crews have been fighting small blazes all week.
July was hot and dry, leaving the area vulnerable to fire. In Voyageurs National Park along the Minnesota-Ontario border, some trees already are showing fall colors, an indication of stress. And portions of the BWCA Wilderness still are recovering from a huge storm in 1999 that downed thousands of trees, leaving piles of dead wood that fuel a fire.
