Crews continue work to contain 70-acre wildfire in Carlton County
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Crews continued battling a wildfire Wednesday in Carlton County that prompted the evacuation of a half-dozen homes.
The Minnesota Interagency Fire Center said the County Road 11 Fire — burning in swamp and marshland near the intersection of county roads 8 and 11 in Barnum Township, east of Interstate 35 — had grown to 70 acres, up from 40 acres on Tuesday.
The fire, first spotted late Monday, was about 10 percent contained as of Wednesday morning.
Crews on Tuesday battled the flames on the ground and from the air, and storms late in the day brought more than a half-inch of rain to the fire area.
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“The precipitation helped calm fire activity, but it was not enough to put the fire out,” the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center reported Wednesday. Crews planned “to construct a dozer control line around the fire perimeter. From that control line, crews will begin mopping up — clearing flammable vegetation and debris down to bare soil — to secure the line and hold the fire within the interior.”
More than 60 personnel were working at the fire scene.
After an earlier report that there were no evacuations due to the fire, authorities reported Wednesday that six residences had been evacuated by the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office after the fire was first discovered Monday night.
The Minnesota Interagency Fire Center reported Wednesday morning that three homes remained evacuated, and two county roads in the area were closed.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.