News · Marquette
Ridge Fire near Marquette grows to almost 500 acres in the wind, and the DNR says only rain or snow will put it out
MARQUETTE — The Ridge Fire northwest of Marquette is growing again, slowly, and state firefighters say the weather will decide when it finally ends.
Winds over the past several days pushed the fire about 30 acres farther west, bringing it to almost 500 acres, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday. The DNR said the fire is still “well within” its confinement strategy, the area firefighters have chosen to hold it inside.
The fire sits about 10 miles northwest of the city, between County Road 510 and North Basin Drive. A spotter plane found it Oct. 9.
Burning underground
Most of what is left is burning down in the duff, the thick layer of fallen leaves and decaying plant matter on the forest floor. Earlier this month the DNR said the fires in the area were burning as much as 2 feet deep, which is why rain alone has not put them out.
“We continue to monitor it daily from the air and on the ground, and we’re keeping a close watch on it, so we can continue to hold and improve the lines that we have,” said Peter Glover, fire supervisor for the DNR’s Gwinn Unit.
Glover said the same steep, rocky ground that makes the fire hard to reach also helps keep it from spreading, along with trails and roads that act as breaks. “What’s going to stop this fire and put it out is season-ending rain and/or snow,” he said.
People who live near the fire may still see and smell smoke, depending on the wind, he said.
The fire has crept up through the month. It was about 434 acres in mid-October and 466 acres a few days later, according to fire perimeter figures reported by WJMN and Watch Duty. The DNR lifted the last “Ready” evacuation alert for North Basin Drive on Oct. 19, as we reported when trails west of County Road 510 stayed closed.
Two more weekend fires
The same winds helped spread two smaller fires over the weekend, the DNR said. One burned about 4 acres near Wetmore Pond in Marquette Township, a fire crews call the Game 2 Fire, which the DNR said may have started from a trail campfire. The other, the Silver Leaf Fire, burned about 11 acres in Sands Township. DNR crews fought both with local fire departments.
The Ridge Fire is part of what the DNR calls the Rugged Terrain Complex, which also includes the 606-acre Craig Lake Fire in Baraga County and the 350-acre Black River Fire near Wakefield. The other fires in the complex are largely contained and have stayed inside their footprints, the department said.
Trail and park closures tied to the fires remain in effect, along with flight restrictions for civilian drones, WJMN reported. With the ground still dry, the DNR is asking anyone planning to burn yard waste or light a campfire to check first at Michigan.gov/BurnPermit and to keep water close by.
Sources:
Michigan Department of Natural Resources, “Windy days expand Ridge Fire in Marquette County,” Oct. 28, 2026 (about 30 acres of growth, almost 500 acres, location, Oct. 9 discovery, Glover quotes, Game 2 and Silver Leaf fires, Rugged Terrain Complex, burn permits), https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2026/10/28/windy-days-expand-ridge-fire-in-marquette-county
WJMN/myupnow.com, “High winds push Marquette County’s Ridge Fire to nearly 500 acres,” Oct. 28, 2026 (earlier acreage and containment, closures, drone restrictions, 2-foot burn depth), https://www.myupnow.com/news/high-winds-push-marquette-countys-ridge-fire-to-nearly-500-acres/article_5f3b1355-9136-4b39-9767-ad77c45e52d6.html
Watch Duty, Ridge Fire incident page (NIFC perimeter acreage by date), https://app.watchduty.org/i/124082
Photo: USFWS Endangered Species, “Fire in Huron-Manistee National Forest.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_in_Huron-Manistee_National_Forest.jpg
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