Tom and Jodi Hammond planned to visit their cabin in the Upper Peninsula last week and do some landscaping while on a side trip from an annual family camping vacation. What they didn’t plan on was a wildfire.
As of Wednesday, the fire suspected to have been started by a lightning strike Aug. 2 in the Sleeper Lake area had destroyed more than 18,000 acres, according to a DNR hotline. The southern edge of the fire was six miles north of Newberry, in Luce County, and 10 miles east of Tahquamenon State Park. No injuries or structural damage had been reported. The Hammonds? getaway is located nine miles north of Newberry off County Road 407.
The Brandon Township residents arrived at their cabin on Monday. Tom spoke to The Citizen by phone as he stood in his driveway, describing smoke rising over the treetops, an odor in the air, and helicopters flying by dumping water in an effort to contain the fire, fueled by high winds.
In spite of it all, he was remarkably calm.
‘I’m not wicking the flames off my forehead at this point,? he laughed, then adds, ‘I don’t get panicky over this type of stuff… There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. You can’t mess with Mother Nature.?
The Hammonds found a notice placed on their front door by the Department of Natural Resources that notified them of an informational meeting at the Wolf Inn to brief residents on the status of repression efforts on the Sleeper Lake Fire.
Tom said he visited a neighbor, whose husband is a DNR employee and has been working 16 hours a day since the fire began, driving a tanker truck to get water. The neighbor informed him everyone in the area would be evacuated Tuesday morning. She was already completely packed, with keepsakes sitting by the front door, next to crates for their pets.
Tom returned from the neighbor’s home to find Jodi trimming the bushes around the cabin.
‘I told her, ‘Honey, you may not have to do that, it might be done for us tomorrow,? he said, laughing.
The Hammonds bought the cozy cabin’which has two bunks, a kitchen area and a living room’seven years ago. Outside are a water pump, outhouse, and shed. They travel to the cabin half-a-dozen times in the summer, and in the winter come every weekend to snowmobile.
During the limited time they were at the cabin Monday, they took pictures of it and the contents for insurance purposes.
‘We may take a few goodies with us, but other than the snowmobiles, there’s nothing we can’t live without,? he said.
‘Anything can be rebuilt,? adds Jodi. ‘It’s a shame about the vintage snowmobiles, but the rest of the place can be put back up.?
Still, she said she is nervous and shaky and thinking about the wildlife.
‘There are a lot of moose and deer and bear and that bothers me; but they know when to run and how to get out of the way of danger,? she said.