Oswego Residents Report Smelling Smoke from Minnesota Wild Fires

The National Weather Service (NWS) Chicago has issued a special weather statement due to smoke from a Minnesota forest fire. According to NWS, the smoke traveled more than 400 miles due to a combination of sinking air and northerly winds.

NWS warns the smoke will persist through the afternoon and into the evening hours.

Residents in Oswego and Plainfield have reported smelling the smoke, as well. Oswego Patch Facebook readers reported the smell of smoke coming through their homes late Tuesday afternoon. 

Cheryl Johnson, executive director of the Kendall County Health Department, said her office had not received any calls on the smoke. However, she said she planned to release information sometime late Tuesday or Wednesday.

The fire started Aug. 18 with a lightning strike 20 miles from Ely then smoldered for over a week before flaring to life, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

The fire has spread to cover 60,000 acres in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Called the Pagami Creek Fire, it has spread so rapidly that residents of a small Minnesota town of Isabella were preparing to evacuate on Tuesday.