Wildfire is officially contained

With the help of wetter and colder weather, the County Road 11 fire in Barnum Township was declared 100-percent contained on Tuesday, eight days after smoke was observed in the area on Labor Day. On Wednesday, command of the fire was handed off to local firefighters to monitor hot spots, mostly in areas of shallow peat among the 82 acres of mostly swampland that burned.

The fire spread quickly after a hot and windy Labor Day weekend but was mostly contained a day after the fire was reported. It was being monitored from the air using infrared technology.

Carlton County has been in severe drought for most of the summer. As the fire started, the county was deemed to be in "extreme drought." By the end of last week, a portion of the county, in the southeast where the fire occurred, was declared to be in the highest level of drought, "exceptional." The cooler weather, and rain, will likely change those determinations again when a drought report is released by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources this week.

About a half-inch of rain fell on the area overnight Monday, helping ease the decision to call the fire contained. That rain system dumped several inches over pockets of Duluth, which has also been in the area determined as in "extreme" drought.

Crews from several local fire departments, along with county emergency personnel, worked with staff from the Minnesota Incident Command System to monitor and douse the fire. Water was dropped from airplanes and crews bulldozed firebreaks as part of the effort.

People in six residences near the fire were told to leave. All of them were allowed to return by the announcement of containment on Tuesday. Road closures have also been lifted.

The peat areas caused the biggest concern in the final days. Peat can burn for a long time and runs of it can potentially increase a fire area's size, often underground, an incident command report said. Peat is "tedious to fully extinguish," the command reported on Monday. Those areas were tackled by ground equipment to mix the peat with regular soil or were doused heavily with water.

Fire managers and county foresters are developing a rehabilitation plan for the burned area. Local crews are also checking the fire perimeter for any damaged trees that could pose a danger in falling over.

Work on the fire included crews from the DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and firefighters from Barnum, Moose Lake, Blackhoof, and Carlton. Carlton County Emergency Management and the sheriff's office also assisted.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.