Gov. Walz Announces Recovery Efforts as Wildfires Dwindle in Northern Minnesota

ST. PAUL/BRIMSON, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials announced recovery efforts are now underway for areas affect by wildfires.

These efforts will be worked on simultaneously across the state like repairing infrastructure, roads, and telephone poles.

So far this fire season, Minnesota has seen nearly 1,100 fires that burned more than 48,ooo acres, which is well over the state’s annual average. This statistic includes the Munger Shaw, Camp House, Jenkins Creek, and Horse River fires.

“The recovery efforts is now what’s next,” said Gov. Walz. “And I know that’s on the minds and I’ll express what Commissioner Jacobson said was to the folks who lost everything. The state is going to be there. We’re going to be coordinating as we already have with our federal partners to make sure that the recovery effort, both on the personal side of the losses that were in this and to the public infrastructure that was damaged.”

“Now that we start taking that data, that information and start really working with the local communities and figuring out what is the true impact and then assessing the resources and the potential different types of recovery options that are going to be out there to support those that have been impacted by this,” said Allison Froley, the director of Minnesota Department of Public’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Since the fires first brought out on May 11, there have been no reports of any loss of human life or serious injury. But state officials are warning with upcoming dry weather and a lack of rainfall in the state’s north that fire season is far from over.

“There are going to be more of these over the summer,” said Walz. “The key here is to keep them as minimal as we can, to get on top of them as quickly as we can, and to make sure that we don’t exhaust all of our human and equipment resources over a long summer of firefights. I’m grateful to all of that, grateful that there’s no loss of life. Glad to report that the three big fires are pretty much getting contained and finalized, but they will not be the last of this summer.”

Good progress has been made with the massive firefighting efforts that has been roaring from St. Louis and parts of Lake County.

The Jenkins Creek fire is now 95% contained. Fire crews continuing to address hot spots and finish that last line of containment on the fire’s northeastern edge.

On Wednesday, a survey drone detected no heat or burning activity along the fire’s southern and eastern edges. The only active parts remain to be northeast of Skibo.

Since the fire’s start on May 12, the Jenkins Creek Fire has burned 16,089 acres of land. The fire was deemed human caused.

The Camp House Fire is now 98% contained. Today the Minnesota DNR resumed control over firefighting efforts from the Eastern Area Incident Management Team. The Minnesota DNR is continuing to monitor the fire for any potential flare-ups or lingering hot spots. The Camp House Fire has burned through 12,071 acres.

There has been no new updates on the Munger Shaw Fire since May, 20. At last report, the fire there was 90% contained with limital crews patrolling for flare-ups and hot spots. The Munger Shaw Fire is also being managed by the Minnesota DNR.

Finally the Horse River Fire that has been burning in the BWCAW is still at 0% containment and has burned an estimated 12 acres. The fire was started by a lightening strike in a remote part of the BWCAW, which has been making fire suppression efforts difficult as there no direct access by road or on foot.

A crew of rappelers have completed their on-the-ground assessment of the Horse River Fire. Today, two Wildland Fire Modules arrived to evaluate the best course of action to fighting that blaze.