Authorities say Stewart Trail Fire near Two Harbors is fully contained; Highway 61 reopens
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Authorities say the destructive Stewart Trail wildfire northeast of Two Harbors is now fully contained, and State Highway 61 reopened to traffic Tuesday after a four-day closure.
Wildland firefighting crews on the North Shore — and also battling the large Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County — have been aided by cooler, more humid weather and light rain.
The Stewart Trail Fire was sparked by a downed power line amid windy, dry conditions on Friday — and quickly spread across more than 350 acres. It burned more than 30 buildings, including eight homes or cabins.
The fire is now reported as 100 percent contained — meaning that crews have created lines around the entire perimeter, that they believe will keep the flames from spreading.
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Lake County officials reported Tuesday that Highway 61 — which had been closed since Friday between Two Harbors and Silver Bay — has reopened, along with some county roads that also were closed due to the fire.
“Motorists are asked to use caution while traveling through the area and remain alert for firefighters, emergency personnel, heavy equipment, and crews that may still be working along roadways and within the fire area,” the county reported.
The county has also lifted all remaining evacuation orders.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz traveled to Two Harbors on Monday and thanked firefighters, first responders and local officials for their work combating the Stewart Trail fire and safely evacuating residents.
“These are days we don’t ever want to happen, but when they do, the response we’ve seen so far up here is one that we should all be very proud of,” Walz said at the incident command center at the Two Harbors fire station, where he made remarks and held a briefing with local, county and state officials and fire officials.
State incident commander Mike Hill said Monday that he anticipated turning the fire’s management over to local officials “sometime midweek.”
“There’s not much smoke left in the air, but the next phase is lifting evacuations, opening the highway, and trying to get people back to normal to the degree that we can,” Hill said Monday. “That’s our primary focus right now.”
On Monday afternoon, before the evacuation zone was lifted, county officials escorted 42 residents to their properties within the burn area.
We “gave them that time to see what they had, and then really sit back and and take it in at their own pace, and go through those feelings in their own private time,” said Tim Luoma, chief deputy for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
“A lot of people were shocked, a lot of people were a little bit relieved,” but all of them expressed concern about their neighbors, he said.
The fire ignited Friday just north of Betty’s Pies, a North Shore institution along Highway 61 outside Two Harbors. It burned for about two miles along the highway between the Stewart River and the Silver Creek Cliff tunnel.
Stretches of forest along the highway are now scorched black, the trees standing like charred toothpicks.
That stretch of highway is lined on both sides by cabins and homes. Some of those residences are now completely gone. On one property only the chimney remained Monday, with husks of burned-out vehicles surrounding what once was a house.
Down the road there were still concrete steps visible at another lot, but no house remained. A burned refrigerator was all that was left at another property.
But many homes were untouched by the blaze, even though in some cases the fire appeared to burn almost right up to them.
“Fire is kind of a mystery,” said Luoma. “There’s no rhyme or reason how it behaves the way it does, why stuff gets burned, why stuff doesn’t.”
Fire crews from Two Harbors and other neighboring departments saved countless structures from being destroyed in the fire, Two Harbors Fire Chief Mark Schlangen told Gov. Walz and other officials. He said it was “pretty personal” work for crews trying to keep the flames away from homes in their own community.
“You could see siding that was burning that was extinguished, could see eaves that were started that were extinguished,” Schlangen said. While the homes lost are a tragedy, he said, “I want all the crews to know that their efforts really mattered.”
Lake County Sheriff Nathan Stadler also thanked neighboring law enforcement agencies for their help in the stressful first hours after the fire ignited.
“A lot of people ask how many houses were evacuated,” Stadler said. “We did it so quickly, we have no idea. We weren’t able to take numbers, we just wanted to get people out safely.”
Walz thanked Stadler and other officials for their work. “No one died, no one’s injured at this point, and that is the ultimate responsibility,” he said.
“Evacuation is a tough thing,” Walz added. It “comes fast, can cause a lot of confusion, but by all of the reports coming in, (was) just done incredibly professionally.”
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen said more than 500 wildfires have ignited across the state so far this year, many of them in recent days. But the public doesn’t hear about most of them, because most are extinguished quickly.
“It starts with the training, it starts with fire prevention outreach and education,” said Strommen. “This is an ongoing year-round effort that folks at the local level, state levels, and federal levels are engaged in.”
In Two Harbors, Walz highlighted the role that first responders in a small, rural community played in keeping people safe.
“I appreciate listening to the stories and understanding what it takes for volunteer firefighters and a small sheriff's department to evacuate people in a very dangerous situation, and to do so with no injuries, no death. That’s an amazing story,” Walz said.
