‘Oh my God, this is really bad!’ New details reveal origins of destructive Camp House Fire
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On May 11, Parker John Wilson woke up, stepped out of his camper and lit a small fire to cook breakfast on a 12-acre patch of land outside the tiny town of Brimson, about an hour north of Duluth.
It’s something he had done many times since he bought the property a couple of months before, in March. He told authorities he would come up on weekends to clear brush, according to new details of how the fire erupted that are included in an incident report filed by conservation officers with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Around 10 a.m., Wilson, 27, poured some water from a 5-gallon jug over the fire. He and a friend left to drive to Hugo’s, a nearby bar, restaurant and community gathering place, to buy some fishing supplies.
But the hot coals of the fire were still smoldering. And the ashes and embers were not contained in a fire ring or pit.
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When they returned around 1 p.m., the fire had spread. It was burning through mulch that Wilson had spread out in a clearing.
“It was smoking like a son of a bitch,” he later told DNR conservation officer Branden Broughten.
The friend who was with Wilson started moving downed trees out of the way while Wilson called 911.
At 1:13 p.m., Wilson told the dispatcher the fire was about “50 by 50” feet across. “I mulched this area so it’s going pretty good,” he said. He estimated it was about 15 feet away from the edge of the woods. “If it gets to the tree line, it’ll be really bad,” he said.
Seven minutes later Wilson called 911 again.
“It’s going to burn the whole (expletive) woods down if we don’t get somebody here right now,” he said.
“Oh (expletive). The tree line’s going, we need … holy (expletive), we need somebody.”
“Oh my god, oh my god, this is really bad, this is really, really bad,” he continued.
When the dispatcher asked how big the fire was, he answered, “Ginormous. Eighty feet tall right now, through the (expletive) woods. It’s — oh my god, it’s taking off, we need people here right now.”
But by the time firefighters arrived, it was too late. On an unseasonably hot, dry and windy day, the blaze erupted and took off, burning through a parched forest choked with dead evergreen trees.
It took hundreds of firefighters a month to fully contain the fire, and by that time, it had scorched more than 12,000 acres of forest, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. The blaze destroyed 63 homes and 142 cabins and other structures, according to figures from St. Louis County, which estimates private property losses of at least $2.3 million and another $2.8 million in damages to public property and infrastructure.
The Minnesota DNR — in consultation with the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office — eventually determined that the most serious charge they could cite Wilson with was “Failure to Extinguish a Fire,” a petty misdemeanor.
Wilson pleaded guilty on Nov. 4 and paid a $175 fine. He didn’t serve any jail time.
Many people in the area believe that the punishment did not match the crime, said DFL State Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown, who represents the area.
“You know, hundreds of properties, massive damage, disruptions to our communities and the state and local costs that went into the response — and the fact that this was essentially a speeding ticket payment — is really, I think, a miscalculation on how these things should go,” said Hauschild.
Meanwhile, some of the people whose homes were destroyed are still displaced, waiting and hoping to return.
Linda Lilley lived in an old log home on 40 acres in the woods outside of Brimson for 47 years. The fire advanced so quickly in May that she only had time to grab a few articles of clothing when she evacuated.
When she returned to her home a few days later, all that remained was the chimney. She lost her home, a barn, vehicles and all kinds of personal treasures: photos, her son’s childhood memories, antiques, her late husband's art collection.
“I’m still remembering things that I had that are gone,” Linney said.
After the fire, the 77-year-old anguished over what to do next. In the fall, she bought a travel trailer and stayed on her property for a month.
“And while I was there, I just realized that this is where I wanted to build, that this is where I wanted to live,” Linney said. “It's very emotional, because it's where I lived for so long. I just don't feel at home anywhere else."
Lilley is living with her son in Seattle this winter. She hopes to start building a small home on her 40 acres next spring.
She estimates her property and all the personal belongings were worth $500,000. She said her insurance policy covered about $200,000.
She owns a smaller piece of property in the area she plans to sell to help build the new house.
It’s likely that many others who lost homes or cabins in the fire may not be able to afford to rebuild. The $2.3 million in damages reported by St. Louis County is a figure based on the original assessed values of the structures. The replacement costs will likely be many times that.
County officials say, so far, they have issued 11 building permits for replacement dwellings and accessory structures.
Angie Ridgley is also planning to rebuild. The 62-year-old lost the home where she was raising her two young grandchildren, ages two and six.
Since the fire, Ridgley has been staying with Darlene Haedrich, a relative in Duluth.
Ridgley was reluctant to speak about her situation. But she gave permission to Haedrich to share her story.
“She’s a strong woman. She doesn’t want people feeling sorry for her. She doesn’t even like to ask her family for help,” said Haedrich.
Haedrich says Ridgley lost virtually everything she owned. And she had minimal insurance coverage.
She recently bought a modular home, but she is still waiting for it to be connected to utilities. And she still needs beds, a couch and other basic furnishings, but she may not be able to afford it all. “I’m not sure how she’s going to do it,” Haedrich said.
Meanwhile, her grandchildren are desperate to go back.
"They asked Santa for their home to be done,” said Haedrich. “They want to be in their house. The little one cries. He's only two, but he cries, ‘I want to go to Brimson.’ Every morning I can hear him crying."
Headerich is hopeful they can move in soon, so she can put up a Christmas tree for the children in their new home.
Haedrich said Ridgley does not blame Wilson for her predicament. Neither does Lilley. She said she doesn't hold any hard feelings toward him. But that doesn't mean she's not angry.
"I do think he should be held more accountable. I think there should be some avenue for people to get some kind of compensation for it,” Lilley said.
Wilson did not respond to requests for an interview.
In the DNR’s incident report, Brimson Assistant Fire Chief Diane Dickey said she believed Wilson was “on the verge of tears” when she arrived at his property.
She asked him if he realized what he had just done to this community.
According to the report, he had told her that he “just wanted to go fishing.”
Hauschild said he’s exploring introducing legislation next session to stiffen penalties and provide more charging options to better hold accountable people who unintentionally start a fire that leads to such destruction.
Many of the homes destroyed were passed down through multiple generations of families, said St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay. Residents of the area have deep roots to the land and to the community.
“I think everybody's having to dig deep into their heart and find peace somehow,” Ramsay said. “But I don't think they're getting peace through the justice system.”
