Brimson Strong: How a plucky chicken named Reba inspired hope after a devastating fire

A northern Minnesota woman is starting out the new year with an unexpected windfall for charity, all thanks to one lucky chicken.

Reba the hen’s unlikely story of survival amid the roaring flames of last spring’s devastating Camp House Fire went viral all around the country, and her fame has helped raise thousands of dollars for families who are still struggling to recover and rebuild from the disastrous wildfire.

The tale begins last May, when the blaze swept through the tinder-dry forest surrounding Mikala Schliep's home tucked in the woods in the tiny town of Brimson, about an hour’s drive north of Duluth.

Schliep, 29, barely had time to grab a few personal belongings, much less open the gate to her chicken pen.

"We got in our cars and we started heading out, and it was nothing but flames around us on every side,” Schliep remembers. “We barely got out of here. My boyfriend's front end caught on fire, like we were driving through the flames. It was so scary.”

They passed a house at the end of their road engulfed in fire. There was smoke everywhere. Schliep was convinced that was the last she would see of her home and her 12 chickens.

“And that’s pretty emotional,” Schliep told me later that day when I first met her at Hugo’s, the restaurant, bar and bait shop that served as an unofficial community hub and gathering place during the fire, where she works part-time as a bartender.

“I know they’re just chickens, but it’s like, man, those are part of the family,” she said.

But a couple days later, Schliep got word that firefighters had saved her home. And even though all her outbuildings were destroyed, including the chicken coop, crews also rescued one chicken. The bird had somehow escaped the pen before it burned and took refuge under a fire truck when crews arrived to extinguish the flames before they consumed Schliep’s home.

The chicken — named Reba — was burned, her tail feathers were singed, but she was alive.

The Camp House Fire scorched more than 12,000 acres of forest and damaged or destroyed 200 homes, cabins and other buildings before it was finally contained a month later, at a cost of more than $8 million.

But Reba’s story of resilience offered a ray of hope amid the ashes and anguish. After MPR News told her story, it was then on TV news in the Twin Cities and spread, like wildfire, around the country.

"It's just like, wow, I got a famous chicken out of 2025,” Schliep muses. “It's crazy. I type [Reba’s] name in [to search engines], and she's the first thing that comes up. It's just bizarre."

Seven months later, Reba is alive and well, though her tail feathers are still growing back. And she now lives alongside 14 other chickens that a fellow community member gave to Schliep shortly after the fire.

The flock lives in a new chicken coop Schliep and her boyfriend built with money raised from a Reba t-shirt they designed and sold.

With money left over from t-shirts sales, Schliep started a nonprofit called Brimson Strong Community Support and Recovery, to help neighbors still rebuilding their properties — and their lives — out of the ruins of the fire.

In November, they held a kick-off community fundraiser at Hugo's that raised about $10,000. All told, the new charity has raised more than $20,000 that it has distributed in grants ranging from $500 to $5,000, with larger amounts for people who live year-round in the area.

Much of the funding has been used to help clear the dead, charred trees that are still standing and that surround many homes. Many people have had to replace septic tanks. Schliep says they've also held donation drives to focus on smaller needs.

"[We’re] trying to get everything else that makes a house feel like a home,” she explained. “Because you're starting over from scratch.”

There’s still a lot of work to be done and many glaring community needs to be met, as rebuilding has only just begun. Schliep says Reba continues to inspire her.

"She kind of pushed me to do better for my community, because my community showed up for me. So it's the least I can do.”

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