Bemidji fire chief warns of wildfire risk, staffing changes

Bemidji Fire Chief Justin Sherwood said the city’s fire department is facing two pressures at once: more calls since last summer’s destructive storm and a growing wildfire threat in a landscape still full of dry, downed timber. Sherwood’s June 9 update also marked a personnel shift inside the department, with Deputy Chief Mike Yavarow retiring, veteran Chris Loebs stepping into the deputy chief role, and additional staff hired to cover other positions.

The warning comes as Beltrami County and the Bemidji area continue to live with the fallout from the June 20-21, 2025 storm, which the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources later described as the strongest measured winds in Minnesota since 2012. Beltrami County declared a state of emergency on June 21, 2025, after the storm left millions of trees on the ground and created a long-term fuel load across forests, roadsides and private property.

That debris remains a public-safety concern heading into summer. The DNR has said escaped debris fires are the number one cause of wildfires in Minnesota, and it updates its statewide fire danger map daily using weather, fuel types and live and dead fuel moisture. The agency also said salvage timber harvests near Bemidji are being used on state-managed land to reduce wildfire risk, improve safety and promote forest recovery.

Sherwood’s update tied those statewide concerns directly to local operations. As the department has absorbed a rise in calls since the storm, it has also had to adjust to leadership turnover after Yavarow’s retirement. Loebs’ promotion keeps a longtime Bemidji Fire Department veteran in a top command role, while the hiring of additional staff is meant to shore up daily coverage.

The staffing changes matter because the Bemidji Fire Department protects not only the city but 15 townships in its fire protection area. Sherwood, who became fire chief in February 2021, is now steering the department through the long tail of the blowdown and into another fire season shaped by dry conditions, lingering storm debris and heightened concern over how quickly a debris fire could escape control.