MN wildfires: Sheriff reveals potential causes for fires

St. Louis Co. sheriff on potential wildfires causes

St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay joins FOX 9’s All Day with the latest information and potential causes of the three uncontained wildfires burning in northern Minnesota.

(FOX 9) - A northern Minnesota sheriff says a discarded cigarette and an unattended camp fire might have sparked two of the massive wildfires that have burned thousands of acres in northern Minnesota this week.

What caused the fires?

What they're saying:

On FOX 9 All Day, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said potential causes had been identified for the three largest fires burning just north of Duluth.

• Camp House fire: The sheriff says this fire appears to have started with a camp fire that was left unattended. He adds that the DNR has identified the person who started the fire.
• Jenkins Creek fire: According to the sheriff, this fire might have started with a discarded cigarette along Highway 16, as it began near a roadway.
• Munger Shaw fire: This fire appears to have started with a bale of hay that caught fire and quickly spread. The homeowner called 911 immediately, but it was already too late when authorities got there.

It's important to note the investigation into the fires is ongoing.

How big are the Minnesota wildfires?

Local perspective:

The fires collectively intensified in size in the Superior National Forest overnight, with the Camp House fire nearly growing by 10 times in size, from 1,250 acres on Monday afternoon to nearly 12,000 acres as of Tuesday morning.

The Jenkins Creek fire also grew several times in size, going from 1,500 acres to 6.800 acres.

The Munger Shaw fire is estimated at about 1,300 acres as of Tuesday morning.

Intense stretch of wildfires

Dig deeper:

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.