Residents of northern Crow Wing County who were forced to leave their homes due to a wildfire this past weekend were allowed to briefly return to their properties Monday, as crews made progress containing the fire.
The Flanders Fire started early Saturday afternoon southeast of Crosslake, and about 10 miles east of Breezy Point. It quickly erupted due to dry, windy conditions and grew to more than 1,600 acres.
Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and lighter winds are helping the firefighting efforts, officials said.
“The fire is really not actively burning along the edge,” said Tim Engrav, public information officer for the Minnesota Incident Command System team managing the fire response. “So it's allowing fire crews to really work directly along that fire edge … to cool that edge and work towards containment.”
As of Monday evening, authorities said the fire is 60 percent contained. That means firefighters had created lines they believe will keep the flames from spreading around 60 percent of the fire perimeter.
“Crews are working very hard and diligently at mopping up hot spots, which means anything that is smoking, any flames, any embers, to make sure that we don't have a flare up or a reoccurrence of a fire restarting,” Crosslake Mayor Jackson Purfeerst told MPR News Monday afternoon.
Residents within the evacuation area were allowed back to their properties on Monday for the day, Engrav said, but authorities prefer that they don’t stay.
“Obviously, each property owner will make their their own choice on that,” he said. “But there are just hazards that still exist, particularly within the burned fire area and the evacuation zone.”
County Road 11 also reopened to traffic from Crosslake to Minnesota State Highway 6. Officials asked the public to avoid the area for their own safety and to allow fire crews to work.
“It's important that folks aren't just going there to go look at things,” Engrav said. “There'll be time later to see the effects of the fire. The effects will be there for a while, unfortunately, so (we) just ask that people refrain from doing that if they don't have a reason to be in there.”
The fire is burning in an area that is mostly rural forest and not heavily populated. But it’s dotted with homes and cabins.
As of Monday, the fire hadn’t destroyed any homes or other primary structures, and there were no injuries. A few sheds and outbuildings burned, Purfeerst said.
“We did have one old-school, hand-built cabin that did get hit by the fire,” he said. “But other than that, we are very thankful, because this fire could have been way worse.”
The cause of the Flanders Fire is still under investigation. Engrav said a drought spanning multiple years has left trees and fallen logs tinder dry.
“It’s just not a time to do any outdoor burning,” he said. “With the winds and these low relative humidity levels, fire can get away really fast.”
Residents who live near the fire were told Saturday to evacuate the area. Others were put on alert to be ready to leave if necessary.
A shelter was set up at the Crosslake Community Center to house people who had to leave their homes. On Monday, the location was moved to the Log Church in Crosslake.
Kara Terry, director of community services for Crow Wing County, said several local businesses have donated food or offered other help.
“Crosslake is a pretty amazing community, and Crow Wing County overall,” she said. “We have a lot of great folks here.”
Crews are also working to contain a second large wildfire in northern Minnesota — the Stewart Trail Fire near Two Harbors.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday declared a peacetime emergency and authorized additional state help for the wildfire response in the northern part of the state — including, potentially, personnel and equipment from the Minnesota National Guard.
