DICKINSON COUNTY — With extreme fire danger in the western Upper Peninsula today, firefighters are working hard in Dickinson County this afternoon to contain and extinguish a small fire burning since Sunday northeast of Iron Mountain.

The fire was reported burning at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, just past Pine Creek, along Carney Lake Road, roughly 14 miles from Iron Mountain. The cause is being investigated.

“Firefighters were battling the fire last night over a rock outcropping, in an area of mixed hardwoods and large pines,” said Keith Murphy, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources fire specialist at the agency’s Incident Coordination Center in Harvey. “About 5 to 6 acres have burned.”

Nearly three dozen firefighters were working on the fire today, including a 20-person Hot Shot crew based in the Idaho panhandle and a Type I helicopter on loan from the U.S. Forest Service.

DNR equipment on the fire includes two bulldozers, three fire engines and a high-volume pump, which is pulling water from Pine Creek to battle the blaze.

A Michigan State Police helicopter crew is dumping 320-gallon buckets of water on the fire. A dozen DNR firefighters are involved in the effort, along with two firefighters from the Norway City Fire Department.

The DNR is urging the public to avoid the area. A temporary flight restriction is in place prohibiting drone flights and private aircraft in the vicinity of the fire.

Across the U.P. and the rest of Michigan, fire danger today is characterized as either high, very high or extreme.

The extreme fire danger – which is heightened by a combination of high temperatures, dry conditions, strong gusting winds and low humidity readings – is reported from parts or all of Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, Iron, Dickinson, Menominee and Delta counties.

“Please match the extreme fire conditions with an extreme use of caution with any source of fire,” said John Pepin, DNR deputy public information officer in Marquette. “The largest proportion of wildfires are caused by human-related activities.”

For more information on fire safety tips, fire statistics and more visit Michigan.gov/FireManagement.