Fierce winds test containment lines in wildfires north of Duluth

DULUTH – More than half of northeast Minnesota’s destructive Camp House fire was contained Tuesday, with more roads and evacuation areas opened to residents.

But most of the nearby Jenkins Creek fire is still uncontained, with strong winds gusting through the region, fire officials said Tuesday morning. With more than 600 working the two fires, many will be redirected to the western side of the Jenkins Creek fire to slow the spread if wind pushes it toward the communities of Skibo and Hoyt Lakes. It grew slightly on Monday, now encompassing 26 square miles.

Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency Tuesday, directing state agencies to continue to respond and aid in wildfire recovery efforts.

“I’m grateful for the tireless work and coordinated response from emergency management officials, first responders, wildland firefighters, and law enforcement to keep Minnesotans safe,” he said in a news release. “We will continue working alongside these frontline responders as they protect life and property.”

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the region, with gusts up to 45 mph inland and up to 50 mph closer to Lake Superior. It has also issued another red-flag warning for extreme fire risk for counties including St. Louis, Itasca, Cook and Lake. Both expire late tonight.

At a special St. Louis County Board meeting Tuesday morning, Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said the three northeast Minnesota fires “will go down as some of the most historic fires, not only in our county, but the state.”

“There wasn’t a lot that could be done to stop it,” he said of the Camp House fire, when it first began raging.

Of the more than 150 structures that have burned, at least 30 of them were year-round homes, he said, and not everyone had insurance.

The County Board approved measures to declare states of emergency and disaster, so it can apply for state aid.

County Administrator Kevin Gray said the 30,000 acres that burned collectively account for three times what is typically burned in Minnesota on a seasonal basis.

At a community meeting in Aurora on Monday night, fire officials met with residents and explained their work building breaks in the land to stop fire, feeling for hot spots and fighting blazes directly where they can in the most remote sections of the Jenkins Creek fire.

“That is some tough country,” said Joe Hollier, who is overseeing suppression for the Eastern Area Complex Incident Management Team. “There’s a lot of blowdown in there,” and it’s difficult to get crews in and out.

Incident Cmdr. Brian Jenkins said the windy conditions Monday helped crews test the strength of the lines built to stop fire from moving.

The team has worked fires in Southern California and Oregon in the past couple of years. It expects to work on the two Brimson-area fires for another week, Jenkins said.