Munger Shaw Fire: Crews Work to Keep Flames Extinguished

CANYON, Minn. – Crews watch over burnt lowlands to ensure hotspots from the Munger Shaw wildfire stay extinguished.

According to St. Louis County data, the Munger Shaw wildfire is around 50% contained as of Saturday morning. The fire, first reported on Wednesday, has burned around 1,600 acres near the Town of Canyon. 

Residents living on Munger Shaw Road and Three Lakes Road were allowed to return to their properties, as the end of this week saw some evacuation orders lifted. Scorched trees and grass show that the fires came within feet of some homes, animal enclosures, and a communications tower. 

Crews with the Minnesota DNR Fire Task Force combed through burnt areas on Friday and looked to stamp out any remaining ‘hotspots’ that could linger inside trees or under dense brush. 

FOX21 spoke with workers preparing to fully extinguish a charred tree trunk that continued to emmet smoke. 

As he pointed across a small marsh off of Three Lakes Road, DNR Fire Task Force Leader Bennet Nelson said, “We have a tree smoking in the kind of interior area here… Since it’s a taller tree, it can shoot some embers off, with the wind.” 

Nelson said the crew uses a vehicle known as a “marsh master” to navigate rough terrain and even float across the water. The marsh master can also bring up to 200 gallons of water into areas where most firetrucks can’t access.

Workers bring along chainsaws and other forestry tools ” to cut the tree down and…put out any remaining hot[spot], smoke or anything in the tree,” Nelson said.