This week we’re featuring an episode of the Outside Podcast from Outside Magazine.
In August 2011, a lightning strike hit the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, and the Pagami Creek Wildfire started. But the wildfire was in a bog, surrounded by lakes – the kind of fire you could pretty much ignore.
At least that’s what Greg and Julie Welch thought, who were on their annual camping trip.
![Left: The Pagami Creek Fire in August 2011. Right: A photo of the same location one year later. (credit: Greg Welch)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ba5c276/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2866x940+0+0/resize/880x289!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F52%2Fd1%2F79fe79cc417081563ad02b498442%2Fscreenshot-2023-08-17-at-4.52.11%20PM.png)
But when conditions suddenly changed, the couple found themselves directly in the fire’s path. And it was moving fast.
“And all I could see was a wall of fire and it was just insane,” said Julie. “At that moment – that’s when I panicked.”
“I literally thought to myself, ‘This might be the last day, right now,’” Greg said.
![Julie and Greg Welch with their dog Penelope, a couple years after the Pagami Creek Wildfire. (credit: Greg Welch)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fb0b6e5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2133x1441+0+0/resize/880x595!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F05%2F98%2F26dd948c4ba3a4515a415d28a5cd%2Fjulie-and-i-2.jpg)
Credits for Outside Podcast:
Producer / Editor: Peter Frick-Wright
Narrator / Sound Designer: Robbie Carver
Music: Robbie Carver
The episode was based on a story written by Frank Bures for Outside Online.