Gunflint Burning

Gunflint Burning chronicles the Ham Lake fire, which was the most destructive wildfire in modern Minnesota history up to that point and remains among the largest the state has seen. The story begins in early May 2007, when Stephen Posniak, on his twenty-seventh visit to the Boundary Waters, chose a site beside Ham Lake for a campfire. In the two weeks that followed, that single blaze destroyed 75,000 acres of woodland and 144 structures. More than a thousand firefighters joined the effort to stop it, and the operation cost roughly 11 million dollars.

Cary J. Griffith reconstructs the disaster moment by moment, from the first warning signs through the scramble of residents and visitors trying to escape or protect their property. The book follows the sheriff and his deputy, who were responsible for getting people out safely, along with tourists who had no warning and local families who stood to lose everything. It also tracks the crews who used every available tool and firefighting method against fierce winds and parched conditions as the fire grew to historic size.

The account also turns to Stephen Posniak, whose life ended by suicide in the aftermath; he was the only person killed in the fire. Griffith presents the key events as they unfold, so readers feel close to the front lines of a struggle that was by turns heroic, tragic, and awe-inspiring.