St. Louis County activates evacuation alert for northern wildfire danger

St. Louis County officials activated the sheriff’s office Ready, Set, Go evacuation process for a small area in the northern part of the county as wildfire conditions worsened. Numerous active wildfires were burning in northern St. Louis County, and the county’s emergency hub urged residents to check back frequently for evacuation updates. On the county’s wildfire evacuation map, Ready is marked in yellow, Set in orange and Go in red.

If they felt threatened, residents should not wait for a final notice. Ready means stay alert, Set means be ready to leave quickly and Go means evacuate immediately. Residents should keep vehicles ready, know a safe destination and follow local media and social media outlets for changing instructions.

The county’s evacuation step came as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources put burning restrictions in place at 8 a.m. Sunday, July 12, in Cook, Lake and northern St. Louis counties. Under those restrictions, campfires were not allowed in backcountry, dispersed or remote campsites, fireworks were restricted outside city limits and no burning permits were being issued or activated. By July 13, the National Weather Service had issued a Red Flag Warning for 13 counties in northern Minnesota from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. because of extreme fire danger.

On July 13, the Superior National Forest had 20 active wildfires, including five inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and the Sioux Fire grew from 59 acres to 288 acres amid Sunday heat and wind. St. Louis County, the largest county east of the Mississippi River, uses a Firewise and Community Wildfire Protection Plan framework to reduce hazardous fuels and lower the risk to structures in wildland-urban interface areas.