{"id":11156,"date":"2026-09-15T11:08:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T11:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/11156\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T11:08:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T11:08:47","slug":"feeding-the-firefighters-catering-group-cooks-for-hundreds-fighting-northern-minnesota-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/11156\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding the Firefighters: Catering group cooks for hundreds fighting northern Minnesota wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELY, Minn. (Northern News Now) – More than 700 firefighters are working 14-hour shifts fighting flames in the Superior National Forest, but many work to provide them with the comforts of home in between those shifts by feeding the firefighters.<\/p>\n

\"FeedingFeeding the Firefighters(NNN)<\/p>\n

After a 14-hour shift protecting structures from the Camp Fire north of Ely, Fayal Township Firefighter Brian Hoag sat down to enjoy a home-cooked meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo come in and have a hot roast beef sandwich with mac and cheese and vegetables and beans, it\u2019s just delicious,\u201d said Hoag. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice way to end the shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meals are thanks to the work of 20 employees with Big Sky Mobile Catering, a service dispatched to fire responses around the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say the crew has plenty of food on hand, prepping 700 pounds of meat just for Monday night\u2019s pot roast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in plenty of fine dining, all the restaurants, bars, whatever,\u201d said Dean White, Big Sky\u2019s head cook. \u201cBut this is the restaurant gig where I feel like I\u2019m doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Sky\u2019s Kitchen Manager Slaton Owens said their goal is to make hardy, home-cooked meals so firefighters have the energy to do their job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting a good meal and then get to go home and get some good rest,\u201d said Owens. \u201cSo it\u2019s great just being a part of the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FeedingFeeding the Firefighters(NNN)<\/p>\n

Owens says he has been to around 30 different camps during his time catering. But in Ely, he learned quickly how the small town supports its neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, people are just coming knocking, looking for us, asking questions like wanting to be a part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s been super cool, just a tight-knit community wanting to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local firefighters like Hoag also feel the support from both the community and those working to keep them fed.<\/p>\n

\"FeedingFeeding the Firefighters(NNN)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have hundreds of people to feed, and what they have set up is amazing,\u201d said Hoag.<\/p>\n

Owens said his crew is anticipating even more firefighters to come in, prepping their meals for up to a thousand firefighters in the next few days. <\/p>\n

Click here to download the Northern News Now app or our Northern News Now First Alert weather app.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Northern News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ELY, Minn. (Northern News Now) – More than 700 firefighters are working 14-hour shifts fighting flames in the Superior National Forest, but many work to provide them with the comforts of home in between those shifts by feeding the firefighters. Feeding the Firefighters(NNN) After a 14-hour shift protecting structures from the Camp Fire north of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[4075,4073,4071,4074,4072],"class_list":["post-11156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-dining","tag-minnesota-food","tag-minnesota-grocery-stores","tag-minnesota-restaurant"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117274749568803571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}