He says they are sending people to Kirkland Community College. Eyewitnesses are reporting heavy smoke and fire.
The U.S. Forest Service says the wildfire in Crawford County is definitely not contained at this time. They are using all of their resources to fight the wildfire. Details of exact location of the wildfire are not known.
Anyone within 10 miles west of the intersection of M-18 and F-97 and 3 miles north of M-18 needs to evacuate the area immediately. A shelter has been set up at Kirtland Community College. However, people are being sent to Richfield Township Hall in St. Helen.
The Department of Natural Resources says the fire is about 1,000 acres and crossed M-18 around 4:00 p.m. The DNRE says the head of the fire is more than a mile wide.
About 100 people are gathering at a Rite Aid Pharmacy parking lot in Roscommon with their families and belongings.
The wind direction is northeast at around 15 mph to 20 mph. Temperatures are in the mid-70s at the site of the fire.
Crews are also on scene of a second fire burning in southern Kalkaska County. The wildfire is in Garfield Township in the area of Sharon and Pemberthy Crossing.
Again, a large forest fire is burning off Meridian Road just west of M-18.
People living within a 10-mile radius of F-97 and M-18 are being told to evacuate immediately.
F-97 is also known as McMaster's Bridge Road.
The smoke plume is from the site in southeastern Crawford County and heads southwest into southern Crawford, northern Roscommon and northeastern Missaukee counties.
Mobile Medical Response Inc. is mobilizing EMS resources to assist in the evacuation and medical care efforts in Crawford and Roscommon counties as a major forest fire threatens the city of Grayling.
All available ambulances and wheelchair vans have been deployed north to the Grayling area. MMR's DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) trailer is currently being readied for deployment.
The MERV (golf cart-type unit capable of transporting patient on a stretcher) is also being sent north.
MMR staff members are being held over to cover shifts and/or deploy north and additional staff are also being called in.
This is the information available at this time.
The state Department of Natural Resources and Environment says one fire has burned about 3,000 acres in Crawford County's South Branch Township near the Oscoda County line.
Four structures have been destroyed. More than 15 residences were evacuated. A Red Cross shelter was being opened at Resurrection Life Center in Grayling.
DNRE spokeswoman Mary Detloff says the fire is mostly on federal land. The second fire is in Kalkaska County, within the Camp Grayling National Guard base.
Detloff says 10 to 15 houses have been evacuated there. Military personnel are helping DNRE crews fight the 300-acre fire.
(WPBN/WTOM Channel 7&4 and WWTV/WWUP Channel 9&10 contributed to this report, as did MMR Inc. and The Associated Press.)
