Battle continues against northern Minnesota wildfires as Gov. Walz and Sens. Klobuchar and Smith visit the area Friday

Officials say only one of three fires - the Jenkins Creek fire - continues to grow
Fire trucks stage along a county highway in northern Minnesota for the Camp House Fire.
Fire trucks stage along a county highway in northern Minnesota for the Camp House Fire. Photo credit (National Interagency Fire Center)

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are expected to visit the Incident Command Center in Two Harbors on Friday to get a first hand look at that area's wildfires and the devastation left behind.

Meanwhile the fire fight continues, with one of the blazes - the Jenkins Creek fire -continuing to grow.

Three gigantic bull dozers were just delivered to the Indictment Command Center where public information officer Micah Bell says they will be put to good use.

"So we use those to make fire breaks," Bell describes, adding there's a strategy when fighting wildfires using both direct and indirect attacks.

"f if we had some areas of control line that were completely full yesterday, and we had a percentage, that containment number would change as the fire grows," Bell said.

He adds containment is a tricky thing - when they make progress in some places, but the fire continues to grow, it makes it tough for firefighters to get ahead of.

"And some people will be like, 'well, why aren't they putting the fire out? Why isn't there containment?' Well, you know, there's direct line and then there's indirect line and a lot of what we will do is indirect line because that's the safest thing. The most important resource we have in wildland firefighting is wildland firefighters."

Officials say only one of three fires, the Jenkins Creek fire, continues to grow. Over 30,000 acres have burned now, destroying many structures in the fire's path.

The weather is somewhat cooperating. While winds are still high, which can help push a fire to spread quickly, there is some rain in the area which is expected to continue through the day Friday which will help dampen things.

Featured Image Photo Credit: (National Interagency Fire Center)