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MN wildfires: State leaders hold briefing
Gov. Walz and other top state officials held a briefing on Tuesday as firefighting efforts were underway in northern Minnesota.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - As wildfires burning north of Duluth intensified in size overnight, state leaders laid out their plans to take on the wildfires.
MN wildfires grow dramatically in size
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3 wildfires burn in northern Minnesota
Firefighters are battling three wildfires in northern Minnesota – which have burned a total of 20,000 acres and is 0% contained as of Tuesday morning. FOX 9’s Bill Keller has more on the story.
The backstory:
Three major fires are burning just north and northwest of Duluth, and just to the west of Silver Bay.
The two fires burning close to each other near Brimson, Minn. grew dramatically in estimated size overnight, with the Camp House fire growing about 10 times in size, going from a reported 1,250 acres on Monday afternoon to about 12,000 acres by Tuesday morning.
The Jenkins Creek fire had spread from about 1,500 acres on Monday afternoon to 6,800 acres as of Tuesday morning.
The sheriff's office is also tracking a third fire in Cotton Township, called the Munger Shaw fire, that is burning about 1,400 acres about 25 miles southwest of the Camp House fire.
Intense stretch of wildfires
Context:
Typically, Minnesota sees about 1,100 wildfires per year, which account for about 12,000 acres of damage on average. However, this year, there have been 970 fires that have burned 37,000 acres. On Sunday alone, officials said there were 40 fires, and another 40 on Monday. Many of those have been contained. But the three largest continue to grow without containment.
A Red Flag Warning has been in effect over the last few days due to weather conditions that make conditions ripe for fires to spread.
"With these conditions, none of the current fires across the state are easily suppressed, and they require considerable time and resources to extinguish," explained DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen.
Changing climate
Big picture view:
State officials say this wildfire season could be a sign of what's to come for Minnesota.
"In Minnesota, our typical fire season begins as soon as the snow melts," DNR Forestry Division Director Patty Thielen explained. "We've got a lot of dead dry fuels out there before things green up… In the first half of my career, generally there was snow through March and into April. Sometimes we had some fires in March, but the heavy season was April and May. Over the last several years, the fire seasons have started earlier. We've had fires in February, we've had fires in January, when normally there is snow cover."
"We are seeing part of the effects of climate change," added Strommen. "And so it is hard to compare what has been, historically, the normal fire season pattern in the state of Minnesota and what we are seeing now and going forward."
Who is responding to the fires?
Local perspective:
On Monday, Gov. Walz authorized the Minnesota National Guard to join the fire battle in northern Minnesota. The National Guard will assist crews from the Minnesota DNR, the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center and local firefighters who are trying to contain the blazes.
Increased response:
Additionally, the state has called in a larger incident management to take control of the Camp House and Jenkins Creek fire. They are expected to arrive on scene by Wednesday morning, which will allow current teams to focus on other fires.
Relief in sight?
Forecast:
While weather conditions make it difficult for firefighters to stop the fires, leaders hope rain in the forecast can provide some relief.
"We are hopeful that the forecast for lower temperatures and precipitation on Thursday will give us a little bit of a break," said Thielen.
FOX 9's forecast shows the potential for rain on both Thursday and Friday, but it could be hit and miss.
State leaders to the public: Don't burn!
What you can do:
As the Red Flag warnings remain in effect, state leaders are urging members of the public not to burn.
"Just don't burn," said Gov. Walz. "It is just too hot, too dry, too dangerous and our resources will get spread too thin."