ON THE GUNFLINT TRAIL, Minn. (AP) -- Firefighters worked with hand tools Tuesday to build a perimeter on the north side of the wildfire burning in the blowdown area of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
''I would say they are making real good progress,'' said Cynthia Sage, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center in Grand Rapids.
She said a group of firefighters were clearing trees and brush in a two-mile line with hand tools. ''It's a little gentler on the environment than a bulldozer,'' she said.
The idea was take fuel away from the fire and stop its advance, she said.
Sage said other firefighters were mopping up little fires in the area and patrolling fire lines on other sides of the fire.
The blaze remained 45 percent contained, unchanged from Monday night. Sage said 1,335 acres had burned, also unchanged from the day before.
Nearly 270 firefighters were on the scene. The firefighting operation had cost $1.9 million as of Tuesday afternoon.
The fire has burned between Alpine, Seagull, Red Rock and Grandpa lakes since it was sparked by lightning on July 30 and smoldered until flaring up Aug. 6. It is the largest fire in the area in a decade.
No structures have been damaged, and a sprinkler line has been set up to the east of the fire should prevent it from reaching cabins and businesses near the end of the Gunflint Trail, the 57-mile road leading into the wilderness from Grand Marais.
Firefighters working on the rough terrain of northeastern Minnesota have suffered only minor injuries so far, Sage said, including a twisted ankle, a broken finger and a strained knee.
''That's not too bad, considering,'' she said.
