Extreme fire danger continued to grip northern Minnesota Tuesday, with the National Weather Service issuing a red flag warning for Cook, Koochiching, Lake and St. Louis counties from noon to 9 p.m.
The Tuesday warning came a day after a broader red flag warning covered 13 counties across northern Minnesota on Monday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to a Minnesota DNR news release. That warning included Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Clearwater, Cook, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, Marshall, Lake, Lake of the Woods, Roseau and St. Louis counties.
A red flag warning means fires can spread quickly and grow out of control under conditions that include high temperatures, strong wind gusts and low relative humidity, the DNR said. Residents in warned counties should not burn and should check any recent burning to ensure fires are completely out. The DNR will not issue or activate open burning permits for large vegetative debris burning and is discouraging campfires while the warnings remain active.
The agency also urged caution around everyday activities that can throw sparks, including securing trailer chains, parking ATVs on gravel or pavement, and running chainsaws or other equipment outside red flag warning hours.
“Any spark could become a wildfire” under the current conditions, DNR wildfire prevention specialist Karen Harrison said, adding that embers can travel more than a mile in high winds.
The renewed warnings follow a rapidly escalating fire season across the region. Walz declared a peacetime emergency Sunday and mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to help battle wildfires burning in northeastern Minnesota, according to CBS Minnesota. The U.S. Forest Service closed all entry points to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for overnight permit holders through Friday as part of the response.
“Wildfires have broken out in northeastern Minnesota and are putting local communities at risk,” Walz said in a statement.
As of Sunday, 17 wildfires were threatening communities in northern Minnesota, and the Forest Service had closed roughly 225,000 acres of the Boundary Waters over the weekend because of the fire activity. The fires have burned more than 800 acres over five days and remained uncontained as of Sunday.
Two of the larger blazes, the Steward Trail Fire near Two Harbors and the Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County, have been burning since mid-May, fueled by drought conditions across much of northern Minnesota, according to weather.com. Nearly all of northern Minnesota is classified as abnormally dry or in drought, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor data.
The fire danger has coincided with an extreme heat warning across northern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro, with the heat index expected to reach as high as 110 degrees through Tuesday. Temperatures in the metro were expected to reach the mid-90s Monday, with parts of northern Minnesota possibly hitting triple digits.
Smoke from those fires is now expected to push air quality to dangerous levels across much of the state. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert Tuesday for northeast Minnesota, including Two Harbors, Hibbing, Ely and the Tribal Nation of Grand Portage, running from 7 a.m. Tuesday until 11 a.m. Thursday. Fine particle levels in that area are expected to reach the purple category on the air quality index, meaning the air will be very unhealthy for everyone, not just sensitive groups.
The agency later expanded the alert to cover much of the rest of the state, including the Twin Cities metro, Duluth, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Alexandria, Moorhead and Winona, through 11 a.m. Friday, according to CBS Minnesota. Officials said very heavy smoke from fires in the Arrowhead, the Boundary Waters and southern Canada would move south behind a frontal boundary, reaching northern and central Minnesota by early Wednesday and the metro by Wednesday evening. Air quality in Hibbing, Ely, Duluth and Hinckley is forecast to hit the very unhealthy category, while the Twin Cities and the rest of the alert area are expected to see unhealthy, or red-level, conditions.
MPCA meteorologist Matt Taraldsen said shifting winds are driving the smoke south. “The winds will turn from the northwest” as a cooler front moves through, pushing smoke into the Arrowhead and beyond, Taraldsen told KFGO.
Health officials warned that the combination of heat and smoke raises the risk of serious harm even for short exposures. The mix can aggravate asthma, acute bronchitis and other lung disease, and it can increase the risk of respiratory infections, according to the MPCA. Officials are urging residents in affected areas to avoid prolonged or vigorous outdoor activity, stay indoors when possible, keep windows closed, run air purifiers and consider moving outdoor sports and events inside. Those with chest pain, trouble breathing or symptoms of a heart attack or stroke should call 911 immediately.
The DNR noted that the vast majority of Minnesota wildfires are human-caused, and officials have stressed that lawn mowers, chainsaws and farm equipment striking rocks can also spark blazes even outside designated warning hours.
Beyond the fire warnings, enhanced burning restrictions remain in place in Cook, Lake and northern St. Louis counties. Campfires are barred for dispersed, remote, backpacking or backcountry camping on state-managed, private and local lands regardless of whether a fire ring is present, and fireworks are prohibited outside city limits. The U.S. Forest Service has also restricted campfires across the Boundary Waters and Superior National Forest, and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Voyageurs National Park have implemented similar restrictions.
Red flag warnings and air quality alerts remain an evolving situation, and the DNR is updating its statewide fire danger and burning restrictions map, which refreshes every five minutes. Residents can text “FIRE” to 66468 to receive text updates on current fire risk and burning restrictions.
