The Nation - News from April 18, 1988

Hundreds of firefighters from as far away as New England battled a rash of wildfires near the Mississippi River headwaters north to Canada, officials in Duluth, Minn., said. About 100 firefighters from Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire flew in to help some 500 Minnesota firefighters hold the line against the flames that have so far this year burned 91,000 acres in 714 fires, officials said. That surpasses the 1987 spring fire season when 78,000 acres burned, although there have been about 500 fewer blazes this year. Last year was the state’s worst fire season in a decade. More than 80 new fires charred nearly 10,000 acres--with more than 200 fires already burning that will require “extensive mop-up before they are considered out,” said Tom Kroll, state Natural Resources Department spokesman.