Inver Grove Heights Resident Lends Hand Fighting BWCA Fire

Nick Jefferson had heard little about the Pagami Creek fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area—until he got an unexpected phone call earlier this month from his Minnesota National Guard superiors.

"I was in class on Tuesday and they called me up and said 'Are you willing to go to fight fires?', and I said 'Sure,'" Jefferson said.

On Sept. 13, Jefferson departed for Ely, where he spent a week helping refuel the four Minnesota National Guard Blackhawk helicopters involved in the firefighting effort. Jefferson, an Inver Grove Heights resident, is part of the 834th Aviation Support Battalion, which is based in St. Paul. He was one of 20 Guardsmen from various units who comprised the refueling team for the helicopters, Jefferson said.

Gov. Mark Dayton ordered the four helicopters and accompanying Guardsmen to the BWCA on Sept. 13, after dry conditions and high winds transformed a relatively small blaze into a wildfire that burned through more than 100,000 acres, according to a press release issued by the Minnesota National Guard. Officials now believe the fire is nearly 60 percent contained, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio.

Although Jefferson wasn't on the front lines fighting the fire, the support crew he belonged to dispensed thousands of gallons of fuel to the helicopters, which were each equipped with 660-gallon water buckets. On busy days, the helicopters would return several times to the Ely airport for refueling, Jefferson said.

Jefferson, who spent two years in California fighting fires as part of another National Guard unit before moving to Minnesota, said he was impressed by the reception Ely residents gave firefighters and Minnesota National Guardsmen who arrived to help. Often, he added, residents would approach him and other Guardsmen or firefighters in the stores or streets of Ely to voice their thanks.

"The civilians that live up there, they really appreciated what we did," Jefferson said.