UPDATE @ 10:48 mt
A map of the fire, which is east of Grayling, Michigan, is HERE.
The helicopter 57Z crew sent us some more amazing photos of the fire. We put them in a new article.
UPDATE @ 7:10 mt
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment said an hour ago that the fire in Crawford County (the Meridian fire?) is 6,000 acres, 6.5 miles long, and 1.5 miles wide, and “structures have been lost”. (Later that night the DNR revised the acreage to “at least 5,000″, saying they will have a more accurate map tomorrow.)
They said the fire in Kalkaska County near Camp Grayling is 1,100 acres and three or four structures have been lost. (Later that night the acreage was revised to “about 900″.)
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Photo by Helicopter-57Z, Redding Air Service
At least two forest fires that started in northern Michigan today are rapidly chewing up acres. One of them southwest of Luzerne, according to various news reports is between 3,000 and 5,000 acres, and the head of the fire is a mile wide. People within 10 miles of the intersection of F-97 and M-18 and 3 miles north of M-18 are being advised to evacuate. We believe this one is named the Meridian fire. HERE is a map of the general area.
Photo by Helicopter-57Z, Redding Air Service
These photos were taken by the crew of Helicopter 57Z, of Redding Air Service. The ship is working on a contract out of Cadillac, Michigan but was assigned to the fire today. They tweeted that multiple structures have been lost, which is confirmed by news reports.
A second fire is burning in Kalkaska County, within the Camp Grayling National Guard base. DNRE spokeswoman Mary Detloff said 10-15 houses have been evacuated near this 300-acre fire.
The Grayling weather station about 15 miles northwest of the fire recorded the following at 6 pm: wind at 6 mph with gusts to 13 out of the east, temperature of 76, and relative humidity of 14%. That is a VERY low humidity for Michigan. The maximum RH last night was 50%, again, a very low maximum RH for that area.
