Fire Risk Rises Again in Northern Michigan

The fire danger is on the rise in northern Michigan again, one year after a blaze destroyed 31 square miles of forest and marshland in the Upper Peninsula.

The Duck Lake fire was the largest of many wildfires that struck northern Michigan in 2012.

The blaze in Luce County’s McMillan Township hit last May and destroyed 136 structures. Another fire destroyed 5 square miles in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in upper Michigan’s Schoolcraft County.

The state Department of Natural Resources says fire conditions are elevated in some of the same areas affected by wildfire last year.

Weather was wetter and cooler than normal this spring, but National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Alumbaugh tells The Detroit News that the area has dried out enough to make fire a concern.