California fires serve as reminder that Minnesota has seen its share of big blazes

As seen in southern California, just a single spark can set off a fire that in tinder-dry conditions can expand rapidly and burn anything and everything in its path.

The fires, which broke out last week near Los Angeles, have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses while leaving behind a charred landscape as far as the eye can see. Minnesota does not have the strong terrain-driven winds like California, but the state is not immune to intense fires, said Karen Harrison, a wildfire prevention specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“There is always potential for wildfires,” said Harrison, who added that Minnesota sees an average of 1,200 wildfires a year. Last year, the DNR recorded 890, she said.

A map on the DNR website shows pockets of the state where there could be “extreme” impacts should a wildfire break out. The data is based on available fuel like trees or grasses that could burn quickly combined with the probability of occurrence or where fires have popped up in the past, Harrison said.

With a healthy crop of balsam fir pines growing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, northeast Minnesota is highly susceptible to a large fire, the map shows. Some of the state’s largest and most destructive fires have happened in the area. In 2007, the Ham Lake fire torched more than 36,000 acres on the Minnesota side of the Canadian border. Four years later, more than 93,000 acres in the BWCAW burned in the Pagami Creek blaze.

A spark from a passing train touched off the 1918 Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire that wiped out 10 towns and left 452 people dead, historical records show. The blaze scorched 250,000 acres and caused more than $73 million in property damage, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth.

The 1894 Great Hinckley Fire burned more than 350,000 acres, destroyed 12 homes and left 418 people dead, according to DNR records. Stacked up timber and brush growing on the landscape set up conditions similar to those in California, allowing the blaze to hop from wooden building to wooden building eventually wiping out the town. The Minneapolis Tribune described the fire in one headline as “A Cyclone of Wind and Fire.” The infamous blaze is now chronicled in a museum.

In 1887, another fire left little standing on 4th Street in Cannon Falls, according to Minnesota Historical Society records.

Even without the California mountains, “we do have some flammable vegetation. We can get big intensity fires in Minnesota,” said Lee Frelich, a University of Minnesota professor who teaches courses on fire behavior.

It’s not just heavily wooded areas where the fire danger lies. A pocket stretching from roughly Wyoming, Minn., south through the wetlands of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area has been the site of several fires, including one in 2000 that burned down four homes. There also have been fires in southern Minnesota and even some close to the metro area, Harrison said.

“If you live in the outer suburbs or near a big regional park or wildlife management area, on a windy day there’s always a chance of a significant fire,” Frelich said.

Prolonged drought, dried-out vegetation, high temperatures, gusty winds and low humidity can set up a flammable situation, Frelich said. And once the blaze starts, it’s nearly impossible to stop. Winds can push embers miles away, helping the fires grow.

Frelich said Minnesota likely would not see devastating losses like California because the most likely places for fire don’t have as many high-end buildings. But that does not mean there won’t be losses. The DNR spent $23 million on wildfires in 2023, including costs for prevention.

“It’s one spark and roaring a few minutes later,” Frelich said. “The way they blow up in intensity is amazing, and it’s going to go where it’s going to go. Then it is time to work to get people out of the way.”