Midwest grapples with wildfires amid record heat and dry conditions

The National Weather Service placed most of the Upper Midwest and part of the Northern Plains on high alert Monday as temperatures approached 100 degrees and extremely dry conditions created an elevated risk for wildfires in the region.

The unseasonably high temperatures and relative humidity levels at or below 20% were already fueling wildfires in several states, where temperatures approached or broke records.

In Minnesota, all but seven of the state’s 87 counties were under the red flag warning, the term used for high alert for wildfires, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

On Sunday, the temperature in the Twin Cities reached 90 degrees, breaking the previous record of 88 degrees that had been set in 1900. The heat was expected to continue at least through Wednesday, the weather service said.

The conditions had already wrought havoc near Brimson, Minnesota, an unincorporated community in the northeastern part of the state. There, the Camp House fire had consumed at least 750 acres since Sunday, the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center said.

The fire destroyed several cabins and forced dozens of people to evacuate, the sheriff’s department in St. Louis County, Minnesota, said. No injuries were reported, according to the department, which added Monday that a second wildfire was burning in the county.

The fires were among roughly 20 burning in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains, according to the website fireweatheravalanche.org.

In North Dakota, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians reminded people on Sunday that the tribe had declared a fire emergency this month and that outdoor grilling was prohibited. At the time of the emergency declaration, the tribe said that 13 fires were burning on the reservation.

An area of “critical” wildfire risk — the second level of severity on a three-level scale — was in place from northern Nebraska to northwestern Minnesota on Monday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. An area of lower-level risk was across a wider swath of the Northern Plains, the center added.

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