Elevated fire conditions return to northeastern Minnesota

Firefighters made progress battling three wildfires in northeastern Minnesota over the weekend thanks to a bout of cool, wet weather, but now windy and dry conditions are expected to return to the Arrowhead region.

A red flag warning is posted for northeastern Minnesota from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Forecasts call for strong east winds of 15-20 mph with gusts as high as 40 mph. Relative humidity may drop as low as 15-20 percent.

Any fires that ignite could spread rapidly and become difficult to control, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.

Wind advisories are posted for areas east and southeast of the red flag warning and along the North Shore.

Battle continues on Jenkins Creek, Camp House fires

At a community meeting in Aurora Monday evening, public information officer Micah Bell stressed to the crowd that crews are doing everything they can to suppress the fires, which have consumed about 45 square miles of forest.

“We are not letting these fires burn for any reason at all,” Bell said. “The goal is to put them out where they sit. If you see acreage increases on our daily updates, it's because sometimes we have to let the fire come to us, just because we have to catch in the right spot. It's not because we're letting it burn intentionally in your woods. We're trying to put it out exactly where it is."

The windy conditions Monday were actually a good thing for the 600 firefighters battling the blazes, said Brian Jenkins, incident commander of the team managing the Camp House and Jenkins Creek fires.

“It helps us test our lines that we’ve put in, so if we start seeing things come up and start smoking up again, we know we have to go back and do more work in that area,” Jenkins explained.

The Jenkins Creek fire has burned northward and sits about six miles east of the community of Hoyt Lakes. Jenkins said crews have made good progress during the recent stretch of cool, wet weather. He said on Monday he didn’t see any smoke coming up off the fire.

“So I think we’re sitting in a really good spot” before the winds pick up, he told the crowd.

On Tuesday, crews plan to continue to monitor the fires and put in more containment lines. They’re flying drones over the fire to pinpoint hot spots to extinguish.

Munger Shaw Fire nears 100 percent containment

Firefighting crews have contained 95 percent of the Munger Shaw Fire, according to a Monday update from the Minnesota Incident Command System. The size of the fire also decreased from 1,600 acres Sunday to 1,259 acres Monday.

“Over the weekend, firefighters made great progress with improved weather conditions toward containing the Munger Shaw Fire,” MICS said. Going forward, the management of the fire will be transitioned to the DNR, which will continue to monitor and patrol the fire area.

All evacuation zones for the Munger Shaw Fire were lifted Monday night, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department. But evacuation orders remain in place around the Jenkins Creek and Camp House fires.

Brimson Road and Highway 44 south of Brimson Road is reopen to through traffic near the Camp House Fire zone, but Highway 44 north of Brimson Road remains closed to Town Line Road.

Camp House Fire near Brimson

• 12,106 acres as of midday Tuesday

• 59 percent containment

• About 150 structures destroyed, including homes and cabins

Jenkins Creek Fire southeast of Hoyt Lakes

• 16,694 acres as of Monday morning

• 6 percent containment

• At least one structure destroyed

Munger Shaw Fire southeast of Cotton

• 1,259 acres as of midday Monday

• 95 percent containment

• All evacuation orders lifted Monday night

• At least one structure destroyed

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