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Live updates: Wildfires in Minnesota
Molly Castle Work

Red Cross opens temporary evacuation center near Ely

Babbitt Municipal Center
A vehicle is asked to turn around due to a road closure blocking access points to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness along Fernberg Road Thursday, near Ely. Multiple wildfires are burning in northeastern Minnesota causing the U.S. Forest Service to temporarily close the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Erica Dischino for MPR News

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As the wildfires up north continue to rage, and authorities expand evacuation orders, a temporary evacuation center has opened at the Babbitt Municipal building, about 20 minutes south of Ely.

The air conditioned center is open from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m., but those hours could change as needs evolve. It’s staffed with Red Cross volunteers and public health employees. Cots are available as well as a gym.

Dan Williams, executive director for the Red Cross of Northern and Central Minnesota, said it’s a great place to go and figure out what to do next and how to proceed after being evacuated from homes, cabins or campgrounds. And volunteers there can provide information to help make that decision.

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Babbitt Municipal Center
Red Cross volunteer Elaine Johnson of International Falls, Minn. helps at an evacuation shelter set up Thursday, at the Babbitt Municipal Building in Babbitt. Multiple wildfires are burning in northeastern Minnesota causing the U.S. Forest Service to temporarily close the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Erica Dischino for MPR News
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Babbitt Municipal Center
An evacuation shelter for those impacted by the wildfires is available Thursday, at the Babbitt Municipal Building in Babbitt, Minn. Multiple wildfires are burning in northeastern Minnesota causing the U.S. Forest Service to temporarily close the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Erica Dischino for MPR News
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Babbitt Municipal Center
Red Cross volunteer Elaine Johnson of International Falls, Minn. helps at an evacuation shelter set up Thursday, at the Babbitt Municipal Building in Babbitt. Multiple wildfires are burning in northeastern Minnesota causing the U.S. Forest Service to temporarily close the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Erica Dischino for MPR News

"People can go there — they can clean up, they can get information and even just figure out like, ‘what are we going to do? Are we going to go to our aunt's house in the cities? Are we going to get a hotel? Are we going to wait it out? What are they going to do?’ So it's giving people a safe place to decide what their next step is,” Williams told MPR News.

Williams said, at this time, the center does not need any more donations. If that changes, the information will be updated either on the United Way of Northeastern Minnesota or St. Louis County’s social media pages.

While relatively few year-round residents have been impacted by the evacuations so far, Williams said everyone is still very much feeling the impacts of the fires at large.

“This is a hugely anxious time for people,” Williams said. “It's important to give a little grace and give a little patience to people that are impacted by this because it's something that has so much uncertainty… people are going to be absorbing this differently.”