MPCA: Pollution Near BWCA Fire Reaches Unhealthy Level

ELY, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Pollution Control; Agency says air pollution briefly reached unhealthy levels near a raging forest fire in northern Minnesota.

Between midnight and 8 a.m. Friday, an air-monitoring station near Ely measured fine particle pollution at levels considered very unhealthy.

But the MPCA says pollution levels at the monitor had dropped below levels of health concern as of 10 a.m. Friday.

The agency says the morning peak in air pollution confirms that smoke from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area fire has the potential to reach very unhealthy levels. The MPCA is urging people to take precautions if they find smoke in their area.

Pollution monitors near Duluth, Finland, Grand Portage, Grand Marais and Tofte as well as Thunder Bay, Ontario, show pollution below levels of health concern.

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