District Forest Ranger Dennis Neitzke calmly let the town know that USFS resources were maxed out. In his non-panicky underdramatic way—he reported over the radio that overall conditions in the Superior National Forest ranked in the 99th percentile on a danger scale of 100. (YIKES!)

Since Smokey Bear also said conditions were SEVERE, Jake and other staff members spent some time making sure our fire pump worked, watering trees and crispy grass, just hoping to raise the humidity a little bit.

BUT NO MORE!

We’ve had some rain this week—an entire Cross River full one night—-a few washed out roads, and a happy Jake could kayak down the swelled river—that was just a trickle last weekend. Smokey says MODERATE. The fire ban has been lifted, water levels are way up. Fortunately, our neighborhood is equipped to handle this kind of rain without many problems—other than a few temporarily soggy people in the woods.