Residents ordered to evacuate as 3 fires in St. Louis County reach hundreds of acres in size
Officials say three wildfires fed by dry conditions and strong winds in St. Louis County now encompass hundreds of acres each, forcing evacuations.
“It was in the 80s [Monday], with some pretty strong winds, so that caused the fire to grow pretty rapidly. We do have aerial fire crews dropping water. We have ground firefighters working to, you know, just try and contain anything they can and put out the fire,” said Jen Longaecker with the Minnesota Incident Command Center.
The Camp House Fire near Brimson, Minnesota, was first reported around 1 p.m. Sunday. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said that as of 10 p.m. Monday, the fire had grown to 1250 acres. It had been 750 acres earlier in the day, and was 0% contained as of Monday evening.
Residents near the Camp House Fire were ordered to evacuate Sunday evening in an area bounded by Little Creek Road to the north, County Road 151 to the east, Camp House Road to the south, and Highway 44 to the west. The evacuation order was still in effect Monday night, and would be reevaluated Tuesday, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said.
So far, that fire has destroyed at least 40 structures, the sheriff’s office said.
Governor Tim Walz on Monday authorized the National Guard to help fight the Camp House Fire.
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On Monday, the Jenkins Creek Fire emerged about 14 miles southeast of Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, the USFS said. The fire is now 800 acres large and growing, and the Forest Service Cadotte Lake Campground to the east was evacuated as a precaution.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office has a map of active evacuation zones online.
Jeff Conklin was out running errands Sunday when the Camp House Fire started heading toward his home. First responders let him get his two dogs, Queenie and Thor, out, but that’s about all he was able to grab.
“I’ve got to get them out of there,” he said. “They said, ‘Make it quick.'”
The dogs are OK but are “really stressed out,” Conklin said.
Authorities say around 50 properties were in the evacuation area, and several were destroyed.
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Mikala Schliepp, an evacuee, recalls the blaze bearing down on her family’s home Monday afternoon.
“[We were] barely able to get out of our driveway,” she said. “It was like, ‘Holy smokes, there’s like 20-foot flames.’ His car started on fire.”
Now she fears there’s nothing left.
“It’s just so sad,” Schliepp said. “We put every nail in that house, painted every wall from the ground up. To know it might be gone? It’s just so scary.”
Hugo’s Bar in Ault Township is where those who have escaped or are battling the fire have come to plan what’s next.
“We’re kind of here for everybody who is evacuating,” bar owner Jessica Willemarck said. “We were here last night, stayed open all night.”
Willemarck says it’s crucial to be there for their neighbors and friends in their time of need.
“It’s hard to see people so concerned about their cabins and houses, just trying to get things together,” she said. “This is a very close-knit community.”
Locals like Conklin are now hoping firefighters can get a handle on the wildfire and save their homes.
“Just hoping the house is there when the fire passes,” Conklin said.
Monday evening, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay posted that a third fire ignited on both sides of Munger Shaw Road south of Three Lakes Road and was moving north. He added that residents in the eastern half of Cotton Township, including Morley Beach Road, Elde Road and surrounding areas, should evacuate.
The sheriff’s office said that as of Monday night, no one had been injured or killed in the fires.