MINNESOTA, USA — Despite a record-setting winter, we're now already smack in the middle of wildfire season.
Hundreds of fires have been burning across the northern part of the state in the last month alone and the latest forecast has experts paying attention.
"We've been on a drier pattern really since the snowpack melted," said Leanne Langeberg, a public information officer with the Interagency Fire Center.
Minnesota's wildfire season usually starts in April, but the wet winter pushed it back until May, already logging some 500 wildfires in less than a month.
That figure includes a fire near Hibbing that started on May 25 and burned nearly 30 acres. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation. There was also another fire near Ely two days later that burned just as many acres.
None of the fires, though, are nearly as big as the Greenwood Fire that broke out two years ago. It was sparked by lightning and burned nearly 27,000 acres largely within the Superior National Forest.
Langeberg said the 2021 wildfire season was extensive with extreme drought conditions. It has people wondering if Minnesotans will have to learn to live with more extreme wildfire seasons.
"Wildfire is a part of Minnesota," said Langeberg. "We have ecosystems that depend on wildfire."
In the forest, fire breaks open seeds so a tree or plant can start to grow. And on the prairie, it maintains an openness for species that need the sun to survive.
Langeberg said wildfire behavior is also changing. The flames are reaching higher into a forest's canopy and right now, fire danger is high or very high in some parts of the state.
She says that nine out of 10 wildfires in Minnesota are human-caused.
Despite the danger, Minnesota is well-equipped to fight fires. It draws on a unique partnership that allows the closes resources and equipment to respond first and includes national and international agencies called the Minnesota Incident Command System.
"It really takes all of us doing our part to be safe and be mindful," said Langeberg. 'It's a combined effort with state, federal, and tribal organizations."
Minnesota can rely on the interagency fire center and help from 20 states to the east, another network based out of Boise, and even into Canada, between Manitoba and Ontario. Other assistance can also come from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Homeland Security, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
"That's really where we have a safety net built-in", said Langeberg. "So where we can help one another out, help our neighbors in need, we do."
She also reminded people to respect red flag warnings and burning restrictions and to try and keep their campfires under three feet wide and three feet tall, while also having a shovel and bucket of water handy.
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