Reinforcements arrive in northeastern Minnesota to help battle growing wildfires
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About 150 structures, including many homes and cabins have been destroyed by fires in northern Minnesota as of Wednesday evening.
The Camp House fire is burning near Brimson, about 40 miles northeast of Duluth. The Jenkins Creek fire is burning east of Hoyt Lakes, and south of Babbitt. The two fires are just a few miles apart and are now being managed as the “Brimson complex” fires.
About 25 miles away, the Munger Shaw fire is burning east of Canyon, and southeast of Cotton.
All together, the three fires have now consumed about 58 square miles of forest — an area larger than the city of Minneapolis. Authorities have issued evacuation advisories to the residents of more than 100 homes in the area, and some of those evacuation advisories have been extended.
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St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay told MPR News that the Camp House fire near appears to have started with a campfire that grew out of control last weekend. The Munger Shaw fire near Canyon was sparked by a hay bale that caught fire and spread and the cause of the Jenkins Creek fire southeast of Hoyt Lakes isn’t yet known.
“We have investigations going on those, we have a partnership with the DNR and other law enforcement. We are working to find the safety of people … there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes,” he said.
There have been no arrests yet. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is leading the investigation.
The Minnesota National Guard is one of several entities assisting in firefighting efforts.
“We’ll continue to coordinate closely with local authorities and do everything we can to protect lives and property,” said Shawn Manke, Minnesota National Guard’s Adjutant General.
On Monday, Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order activating the Guard, providing soldiers and Blackhawk helicopters to aid in fire relief efforts. Further supports have been added since then, including additional soldiers.
Camp House Fire near Brimson
14,979 acres as of Wednesday afternoon
Zero-percent containment
At least 140 structures destroyed, including homes and cabins
Evacuation orders remain in place, extending east into Lake County
Jenkins Creek Fire southeast of Hoyt Lakes
20,593 acres as of Wednesday afternoon
Zero-percent containment
At least one structure destroyed
Evacuation orders remain in place
Munger Shaw / Three Lakes Road Fire east of Canyon
1,700 acres as of Wednesday afternoon
Zero-percent containment
Evacuation orders were reinstated Tuesday as the fire continued moving north
St. Louis County has posted its wildfire evacuation maps online.
The Superior National Forest has closed sections of the federal lands around the fires, and several roads and highways are closed as well. That includes County Highway 16 / Town Line Road, which is used by people traveling between the Iron Range and the North Shore.
The fires are burning in remote areas without a lot of homes, but they’ve been extremely difficult for firefighting crews to battle in the very hot, dry and windy conditions over the last several days.
“The biggest issue we are experiencing is spot fires,” said Ryan Williams, incident commander trainee for Camp House Fire on Tuesday evening. He says the area is full of a lot of heavy, dead trees that have been killed off by an infestation of the spruce budworm, a native caterpillar, turning more than a million balsam fir trees into giant matchsticks.
“There’s a lot of receptive fuels everywhere,” said Williams. “Couple that with the challenging winds, that’s causing issue to firefighters with containment as they do their best to suppress the fire.”
Jeremy Olson lives on a homestead outside Brimson with his mom. He evacuated Sunday, but returned on Monday to pack up some of their things.
“I got our sprinkler system running. I got the generators out but it was so hot,” Olson said, adding that sheriff's deputies were telling him to leave. “I went to the end of our driveway, and the flames were like 300 yards away in the treetops coming towards us.”
Olson left, but said he forgot to turn off the propane connected to his home. He spent the night at his boss’s place. He still hasn’t gotten official word about his house. But his brother sent him an infrared map online showing the forest had burned hot all around his home.
“I’m hoping for a miracle, but I’m 98 percent sure that we lost, like, almost all of it, except for whatever we could grab,” Olson said. “But I’m hoping for, you know, maybe that one picture we forgot and didn’t know, was saved. Or, you know, maybe there’s some kind of treasure, family treasure that we forgot about, that didn’t melt, or something like that.”
Hugo’s is the watering hole in Brimson just a couple miles down from Olson’s place, and the bar and restaurant has become the main gathering place for the community during the fire. Owner Jesse Willemarck and his wife have slept in four-hour shifts so they can keep the business open and feed people around the clock.
“Lot of emotions, lot of happy people that haven’t lost places, a lot of crying people that have lost everything they owned,” Willemarck said. “It’s been a roller coaster.”
He was able to drive up Highway 44 earlier Tuesday with a DNR officer into the heart of an area near Brimson where the fire burned through homes and cabins.
“There’s places, as far as you can see, it’s just smoldering ash, and still, there’s trees and stumps and stuff on fire and smoke,” he said. “It looks like something out of a war movie.”
One of the Willemarcks’ employees, Mikala Schliep, drove through what she describes as walls of fire burning on both sides of the road when she evacuated Monday. But on Tuesday she was told that her home, somehow, was still standing.
“That was really good news. I have no idea how it managed to go around us,” Schliep said. “I don’t know. It’s emotional. We’re really fortunate, but just to hear about neighbors too, losing their places, oh man, it’s just devastating.”
And while Schliep was told that her house is still there, everything around it — kayaks, outbuildings, her chickens — is all gone.
Some Minnesotans are refusing to evacuate their homes, but sheriff Ramsay says even though people may be worried, that is their right.
“There was one elderly woman we were particularly concerned about, and fortunately, we found her today, alive and well in Superior, but that's a concern. There’s a lot of people. We had one gentleman over on a lake that’s still safe, but we talked to him about evacuation. He said, ‘The only way I’m leaving this place is toes up.’ And, you know, that adds to the challenges. It's discouraging, but that's the right.”
He emphasized that it is not safe for people to return to their homes, or unfortunately, in some cases, what's left of them. They are asking residents not to enter closed off areas.
Two chapters of the United Way are establishing funds to help people recover from the fires. The nonprofit organizations say monetary donations are what's most needed, not food or material items.
Donations can be made online to either the United Way of Northeastern Minnesota or Head of the Lakes United Way. All proceeds collected will go to help affected residents.
