Wildfire smoke blankets Minnesota as Boundary Waters evacuations continue

Hot, dry and windy conditions have fueled an explosion of wildfires across northeastern Minnesota and parts of southern Canada, prompting the complete closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and evacuations across the Superior National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service closed all BWCA entry points on Tuesday, citing 17 wildfires that ignited in and around the wilderness area in the past week following a lightning storm on July 6. Officials estimate that between 6,000 and 10,000 people had to be evacuated from the Boundary Waters, according to MPR News. The closure is only the third in the wilderness area’s history and is not expected to be lifted before the end of summer.

Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency and mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to assist with suppression and evacuation efforts. State officials voted Wednesday to extend that emergency declaration into the fall, signaling the fires could take months to bring under control. The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners also issued a disaster declaration, a step toward eventual state and federal reimbursement.

A wildland firefighter follows a bulldozer as crews cut a containment line through the forest near an active wildfire in northeastern Minnesota. (Courtesy of the Minnesota DNR)

Among the largest blazes are the Sioux Fire, burning north of the Echo Trail near Jeanette Campground, and the Wolfpack and Echo 2 fires nearby, all of which carry active evacuation orders, per the St. Louis County Sheriff’s wildfire evacuation map. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an immediate evacuation order for the Fernberg Road corridor Tuesday morning, and deputies conducted door-to-door notifications throughout the zone.

Some visitors described an unsettling scene as they made their way out. “It’s pretty deserted here in the Boundary Waters, a little eerie,” Shane Hoefer, whose family of 11 has made an annual BWCA trip for nearly eight years, told CBS Minnesota while paddling out from Lake Insula.

A Minnesota Pollution Control Agency map shows air quality alert severity levels across the state, issued July 14, 2026, and valid through Friday at 11 a.m. Hazardous conditions were forecast for the Arrowhead region, with very unhealthy and unhealthy levels extending into central and southern Minnesota. (Courtesy of the Minnesota DNR)

Karen Harrison, public information officer for the Minnesota Incident Command System and a wildfire prevention specialist with the Department of Natural Resources, said the agency doesn’t take burning restrictions lightly. “We don’t issue burning restrictions lightly,” Harrison said. She noted that persistent drought and above-average temperatures mean fire danger will likely remain high until the region sees significant rainfall.

The smoke from these fires has since spread far beyond the Arrowhead. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency expanded its air quality alert Tuesday to cover east central, central, west central, southeast, north central, northwest and northeast Minnesota, running through 11 a.m. Friday. The affected area includes Hibbing, the Daily Planet’s founding home in the heart of the Mesabi Iron Range, along with Two Harbors, Ely, Duluth, Hinckley, the Twin Cities metro and several tribal nations.

Fine particle pollution reached the purple, or “very unhealthy,” category across much of northeastern Minnesota, with some areas forecast to hit the maroon, or hazardous, level. The east-central corridor, including the stretch between Rush City and Harris, fell under the red category Tuesday, meaning conditions were considered unhealthy for the general public and especially dangerous for sensitive groups.

Smoke rises from a wildfire burning near a wetland in the Superior National Forest, seen from a fixed-wing aircraft during aerial reconnaissance. (Courtesy of the Minnesota DNR)

Ryan Lueck of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said the combination of heat and smoke poses a compounded health risk. “It’s hot out there, it’s gonna stay hot,” Lueck told CBS Minnesota, adding that the added smoke makes an already difficult stretch of weather more dangerous for the body. Health officials warned that the smoke can aggravate asthma, bronchitis and heart conditions, and urged residents, particularly children, older adults and pregnant people, to limit time outdoors.

Meteorologists say the smoke plume could travel well beyond Minnesota’s borders. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast cited by Scientific American suggests the smoke, currently sitting high in the atmosphere, could be pushed to ground level and carried toward the southeast in the coming days, threatening air quality in cities including Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York.

Haze surrounds a farm along the corridor between Rush City and Harris, Minnesota, as wildfire smoke from the Boundary Waters blanketed much of the state this week. (Photo by Jenn Wilkerson)

Fires in Minnesota this time of year are unusual. Fire season typically arrives in spring or fall, but drought conditions and an extended stretch of hot, dry weather left vegetation primed to burn. The last time wildfires forced a full BWCA closure was in August 2021 during the Greenwood Fire.

As of Wednesday, fire crews continued working to contain more than a dozen active blazes across the Superior National Forest, with outfitters and towboats assisting the Forest Service in extracting remaining paddlers from deeper in the wilderness. The town of Ely has filled with evacuees as the effort continues.

This is a developing story.