Smoke From Minnesota Wildfire Makes Its Way to Naperville

The sky is hazy and the air smells like a campfire. The cause is a wildfire hundreds of miles away in Minnesota.

The Pagami Creek Wildfire is more than 400 miles northwest of the Chicago area in northeast Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, yet the smoke has blown in to Naperville.

The fire was started on Aug. 18, the result of a lightning strike, according to InciWeb.org, a site, which offers information on the fire. The fire is about 14 miles east of the town of Ely, Minn.

The sent an alert to residents Tuesday afternoon. Anyone with respiratory or cardiac problems, the elderly and anyone doing strenuous activity outdoors is asked to be cautious while outside.

A cold front moving into the area earlier today blew the smoke from the 60,000-acre wildfire into Northern Illinois, the city said.

“The front has transported smoke all the way into Northern Illinois. The smoke will likely persist through the afternoon and into the overnight hours before winds become more westerly in advance of another cold front which will approach early Wednesday morning,” according to the National Weather Service.

Residents should expect the sky to appear hazy and the air to smell like a burning odor.

In Minnesota, crews are working the fire, with airplanes and helicopters dropping water to slow its spread. Hand crews are on the ground monitoring the fire for any spreading, according to InciWeb. The fire grew on Monday, making a 16-mile run to the east and is in excess of 60,000 acres, InciWeb said.