Wildfire — Central St. Louis, Minnesota

2025-05-12 to 2025-05-31 · Central St. Louis, Minnesota

Event narrative

The Munger Shaw wildfire, located approximately ten miles southeast of Cotton, Minnesota, was detected late in the afternoon on Monday, May 12. Minnesota DNR, along with local fire departments, responded. Multiple aircraft were brought in to help slow down the active flame fronts, supporting the ground firefighting efforts. The fire was active in pine and lowland fuels, but favorable weather conditions led to slow growth of the fire. The fire was believed to have started with the spontaneous combustion of a hay bale. The fire was 95% contained by Monday, May 19th, but was not fully contained until June 13th. At one point during the early days of the fire, the mainline of the Canadian National Railroad was shut down as the fire spread to both sides of the tracks. The maximum size of the fire was 1,259 acres.

Wider weather episode

The month of May began with overall dry conditions across the county. Green up had not occurred yet following the winter allowing fire weather conditions to increase during the first two weeks of the month. By the 11th and 12th, very warm, dry and breezy southerly winds were in place and three large fires started over those two days, the Camp House fire, the Jenkins Creek fire and the Munger Shaw fire. The fires spread quickly in those conditions and outside resources were called in to fight the fires. The Munger Shaw fire reached 1,259 acres in size and was contained on the afternoon of June 13th. The Camp House and Jenkins Creek fires were in fairly close proximity and were managed as one as the Brimson Complex. Containment for these two fires was not achieved until mid June with the Camp House reaching 12,071 acres in size and Jenkins Creek 16,490 acres. Around 150 structures were affected by the fires with most of them in the Camp House fire.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1264667. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.