Cook County Airport becomes hub for wildfire response

Chuck Olsen | July 27, 2026

Substantial resources have been brought to Cook County to help contain the Little Knife wildfire–both human and airborne. WTIP recently spoke with Grand Marais/Cook County Airport Manager Rodney Roy about the specialized aircraft currently occupying parts of the tarmac.

Airport manager Rodney Roy with Chinook

The largest aircraft, pictured behind Roy, is the Vietnam-era Boeing CH-47 Chinook.

“I’m told it is capable of approximately 2,400 gallons based on our normal average temperature and air density,” said Roy. “It just hovers right over a body of water and sucks up the water until it’s at capacity and goes right off to the fire. You start dumping 2,400 gallons at a time on a fire, now you’re starting to make some headway versus the few hundred gallons some of the other ones can do.”

Other aircraft pictured include the yellow Bell 407 and the gray Airbus H145.

According to Roy, when the airport runway was extended in 2018, it was designed to accommodate large firefighting aircraft including the Canadair CL-415 in the event of a fire in our region.

“We all live in the forest, so we know that the likelihood of us needing fire bombers here is high,” said Roy. “The airport commission was wise enough to realize that our runway at that time could not manage a 415. Even if the fire was right over there, it would have had to come from Ely. We didn’t think that was a great idea, so when this runway was extended, it was truly built with the intention of being able to house CL-415 fire bombers.”

Listen to the full interview audio below. Photos by Chuck Olsen.