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Live updates: Wildfires in Minnesota
Anna Haecherl and Andrew Krueger

Some property owners affected by the BWCA wildfires are being allowed to check on their homes

A makeshift sign thanking firefighters
A makeshift sign expressing thanks for firefighters is attached to the street sign, with a police car and a road closed blockade restricting access to a road leading toward wildfires in Ely, Minn, on Monday, July 20, 2026.
Jon Stegenga for MPR News

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Some home and cabin owners displaced by the wildfires burning in northeastern Minnesota will be allowed to check on their properties Thursday.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office will be escorting property owners to and from their residences within the evacuation zones along and near the Fernberg Trail east of Ely.

The sheriff’s office said affected property owners can check in at the Fall Lake Township Hall on Thursday, and will be allowed access until 2 p.m. Property owners will need to present proof of residency, such as their driver’s license, voter registration card, utility bill or property tax statement.

But they won’t be able to stay at their properties, because evacuation orders remain in place for that area.

Closures and evacuations

The entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness remains closed through at least Friday, July 24.

State and federal officials say they are working on a plan to reduce that closure. They say the ability to conduct search and rescue operations is a key consideration as they look at corridors of the BWCA to open up.

Authorities in northeast Minnesota are scaling back some evacuation alerts as wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters have remained relatively in check the past few days.

Counties use a “ready, set, go” series of escalating alerts. As of Wednesday night, some St. Louis County “ready” and “set” evacuation zones had been lifted in the Crane Lake and Buyck areas, at the west end of the Echo Trail. Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said that’s due to diminished fire activity

But “go” evacuation orders remain in place for most of the Echo Trail.

On the other side of the Boundary Waters, officials in Cook County also lifted some alerts south of the BWCA. But “ready” and “set” alerts remain in place for much of the upper part of the Gunflint Trail.

Evacuation alert maps: