Wildfires threaten northern Minnesota, Beltrami County faces elevated risk

Beltrami County remains in an elevated wildfire-risk zone as northern Minnesota battles multiple fires and state officials race to limit the damage from dry, windy conditions and storm-felled debris. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says the Bemidji area will stay at higher risk for the next three to five years because cleanup from last year’s storm damage is still incomplete.

Governor Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency on May 17 and authorized additional state assistance for wildfire response across northern Minnesota. He traveled to Two Harbors on May 18 to survey wildfire damage and meet with crews, local officials, first responders and residents affected by the fires. The Minnesota National Guard has been mobilized to help, while the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center continues coordinating multiple fire incidents with local, state and federal agencies.

The concern in Beltrami County traces back to a June 2025 windstorm that damaged nearly 24,000 acres of forest statewide, with nearly half of that damage tied to the Bemidji-area derecho. State foresters have said that the heavy load of downed timber left behind by the storm, combined with dry weather, creates the kind of fuel that can turn a spark into a fast-moving fire. Ben Lang, a DNR forester, said the area is still an elevated-risk zone, though not catastrophic, because cleanup efforts have been underway.

That cleanup has also become part of the prevention strategy. In April, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar toured Bemidji wildfire prevention work where crews were burning piles of storm-felled trees to reduce future fire danger. The goal is straightforward: remove fuel before it can feed another fire season like the one now unfolding in northern Minnesota.

For Beltrami County residents, the immediate reality is that wildfire danger is no longer limited to distant forest land. With the region still drying out and more fallen trees still on the landscape, state officials are treating the risk as ongoing, not temporary. The next few years will depend on how quickly those fuels are removed and how closely local and state agencies can keep pace with the threat.