Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Battling Wildfires

Crews are battling wildfires that have burned hundreds of acres in two sparsely populated areas of the north-central Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Officials with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said as of Thursday there were no reports of injuries or deaths.

DNR spokesman Les Homan says about 777 acres have burned in Marquette County southwest of Ishpeming. An estimated 500 people have been evacuated, and the fire is 65 percent contained.

A separate fire east of L’Anse in Baraga County has scorched roughly 400 acres. DNR fire specialist Robert Ziel says the fire was about 20 percent contained by Wednesday night. One structure was reported destroyed, and some residents have been evacuated.