The wildfire situation in northern Minnesota continues to become more dire, with Gov. Tim Walz saying that rescue crews were working to extract two groups of Minnesota YMCA campers stranded north of the Canadian border.
Walz has spoken with Ontario Premier Doug Ford about the situation.
"Premier Ford said it looks like nighttime in Toronto this morning the smoke was so heavy," Walz said. "But I am pleased to report that the first group will be out in the next hour. They have been spotted, and the Canadian Air Force is assisting in the extraction. The second group of campers is on a sandbar in the middle, and they are safe at this time. It's going to take a little more, because they're remote, to get to them."
Walz and the Emergency Executive Council are getting brief on the wildfire situation this Wednesday morning, and will vote on whether or not to extend peacetime emergency he declared at the start of the week. That emergency mobilized the National Guard.
If approved, the emergency for an additional 30-days, past August 11.
A State of Local Emergency and State of Local Disaster has also declared by the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners, with numerous wildfires burning in St. Louis and Lake counties. Overnight, the estimate was 20 in Minnesota but many of those combined, according to the DNR.
"Shout out, of course, to the responders whether federal, state, or local responders," Board Chair Mike Jugovich said. "All hands on deck, and we continue to monitor the situation."
A temporary evacuation point has been set up at the Babbitt Municipal Center to serve people from both Lake and St. Louis Counties impacted by the Camp and Sioux fires. The declaration enables the county to apply for state and federal reimbursement if certain damage thresholds are met.
"If we don't need to tap into this, that's great," Jugovich explained. "That means there's been less damage and less resources dedicated to this, but we have all hands on deck, so to speak."
Even more eyewitnesses are recounting their escape from these Boundary Waters-area wildfires as evacuations continue across the region.
During an evacuation from her family's Burnside Lake island property, local food media personality Stephanie Hansen tells The WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar that she watched in real time as winds quickly whipped the smoldering campfire into a fast-moving, thousand-acre blaze.
"There were float planes coming and they were trying to extinguish the fire, and it was 20 mile an hour winds," Hansen explained.
After fleeing her island property by boat, Hansen said she witnessed local businesses scrambling to supply meals for emergency crews working in 95-degree heat.
"There are people collecting water, Gatorade," she says. "Weirdly, the Domino's ran out of food last night. The Subway has been sending extra people into other towns to get rations and supplies to be able to make sandwiches. People are trying to feed these firefighters."
She says she is monitoring the conditions near her property and is happy to have evacuated safely, saying thick ash fell on local towns, and that there will be a major cleanup awaiting her and other residents once it is safe to return.
Smoke triggers Air Quality Alerts
That wildfire smoke is triggering a rare hazardous air quality warning in addition to the issues with people stranded in the BWCA and other parts of northeastern Minnesota.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an unprecedented "maroon" level air quality alert for the state's northeastern region as heavy smoke from the Boundary Waters wildfires drifts south.
State meteorologist Matt Taraldsen warns that the hazardous air will continue moving toward the Twin Cities, where residents can expect to see and smell the smoke by late tonight.
"The Twin Cities here will have enough distance to go or it'll disperse some, so it'll be at that red or unhealthy for everyone," Taraldsen said. "But the maroon level is likely to remain in the arrowhead for the next several days."
He says they will continue to monitor the weather to determine if the health alert needs to be extended.
Gov. Tim Walz says one group of campers north of the Canadian border were rescued while another was waiting extraction
Gov. Tim Walz says one group of campers north of the Canadian border were rescued while another was waiting extraction
