FRANKFORD TOWNSHIP, NJ — August 8, 2026 — According to the Frankford Township Fire Department, two firefighters were sent to Minnesota with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to help fight the Bear Trap Fire.

Firefighter Andy Andican was assigned to a team that worked immediately on the fireline, while Safety Officer Chris Franek was designated as an Operations Section Chief.

The department requested that locals and other firefighters wish both members a safe assignment and return home after announcing the deployment on August 8.

About 20 miles north of Ely, close to the Bear Trap River in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Bear Trap Fire started on July 7. Later, the fire combined with the neighboring Dark Fire to form a massive, complicated incident that needed support from several agencies.

By early August, incident officials were reporting tens of thousands of acres burned across the Bear Trap fire area. An August 8 incident update listed the Bear Trap Fire at approximately 37,812 total acres, including 29,705 acres in the United States, with 40% containment. The fire was burning in remote terrain with extreme fire behavior that included crowning, torching and spotting.

The scale and terrain of the incident required firefighters from outside Minnesota to supplement local and federal resources. The Delaware Forest Service, for example, deployed a Type 6 wildland engine and a three-person crew to the Bear Trap Fire to assist with suppression and structure-protection operations.

For Franek, serving as an Operations Section Chief places him in a supervisory role within the incident-management structure, coordinating resources and personnel assigned to operational objectives. Andican's assignment places him directly in the field with a wildland firefighting crew, according to the Frankford Township announcement.