St. Louis County officials seeking disaster aid for destructive wildfires

Additional aid soon could be on the way to assist with northeastern Minnesota s wildfires as St Louis County Board chair Annie Harala declared a state of local crisis and catastrophe Monday She signed the declaration eight days after the Camp House Fire began and one week after the Jenkins Creek and Munger Shaw fires ignited The three wildfires have combined to scorch more than acres of land in St Louis County destroying more than structures including houses and cabins in their wake A county news release described the declaration as a procedural step toward requesting state populace calamity assistance for wildfire response and recovery programs Harala s declaration will remain valid for up to three days or until the County Board has an opportunity to gather and vote on a declaration Commissioners plan to hold an urgency meeting at a m Tuesday in the county board room of the St Louis County Courthouse in Duluth Sheriff Gordon Ramsay is slated to update commissioners on wildfire sessions and response at that meeting The St Louis County Sheriff s Emergency Management Division is working with affected municipalities to document and assess damages which will then be disclosed to the Minnesota Homeland Prevention and Exigency Management to determine eligibility for state general tragedy assistance Meanwhile even as crews continued to make progress controlling the three wildfires the weather threatened to make their work more demanding The return of near-critical fire weather conditions Monday included gusting northeast winds bringing cool dry air north of U S Gusting winds and lower relative humidity in the to range are expected in the same areas Tuesday the National Weather Operation declared in Duluth While rain was overspreading southern Minnesota late Monday not much of it was expected to reach the Arrowhead On Monday morning administration commented the Munger Shaw Fire southeast of Cotton had charred acres and was contained The perimeter of the Jenkins Creek Fire southeast of Hoyt Lakes was absolutely partially contained Monday morning after scorching acres The U S Forest Utility s Eastern Area Affair Management Group communicated that the fire perimeter was contained Great progress was made over the weekend as personnel took advantage of the cooler wetter conditions the fire update read However gusty dry weather elevated the vulnerability to the unincorporated area of Skibo and the city of Hoyt Lakes The Camp House Fire near Brimson was contained Monday morning after burning acres No evacuation orders had changed Monday Officers say the causes of the fires remain under research