Cause Of Stewart Trail Fire Near Two Harbors Revealed

Crews continue to make progress on the Stewart Trail Fire just north of Two Harbors on Minnesota's North Shore.

In an update shared Monday morning (May 18), Minnesota Incident Command shared that the 355-acre blaze is now 62% contained as firefighters made considerable progress in securing a perimeter around the fire while also tending to flare-ups within the fire zone from shifting winds on Sunday.

Containment and evacuation updates

The increased containment has allowed officials to shrink the evacuation area to a smaller footprint, which spans from near Highway 3 on the southwestern end to just past the Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel on the northeastern end.

Lake County

Areas that had previously been under the red "go" evacuation status have been downgraded to the orange "set" category, which means people in this area still need to be ready to evacuate if needed, but it is no longer an active evacuation area.

MN Highway 61 detour updates

Despite the good news about the smaller evacuation footprint and increased containment, Minnesota Highway 61 still remains closed between Two Harbors and Silver Bay, with a detour route still in place.

That recommended detour route (seen below) is County Road 2 north out of Two Harbors to County Road 15 in Silver Bay.

Detour Map | MNDOT - 511 MN

Cause of the Stewart Trail Fire

Minnesota Incident Command also shared the believed cause of the Stewart Trail Fire in their Monday morning update, revealing that the believed cause is a power line.

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Windy and dry conditions on Friday and Saturday led to a number of trees/branches interacting with power lines across Northern Minnesota, with a few different fires being attributed to power lines over the weekend.

Damage caused by the Stewart Trail Fire

Assessment of the area has shown a total of 34 structures lost in the fire. Of those 34 buildings, 8 of them are primary structures, and the other 26 of them are outbuildings.

One of the many agencies responding to the fire was the Rice Lake Volunteer Fire Department, which shared some photos on Sunday of some of the property damage left behind by the fire via social media.

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The Largest Minnesota Wildfires In Modern History

While Minnesota has experienced even larger, more devastating fires like the 350,00-acre Hinckley Fire in 1884 of the 250,000-acre Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire in 1918, fires have thankfully been relatively smaller in more modern times.

Even though these more modern fires have been smaller, largely due to better firefighting capabilities, many have still been devastating and destructive. Here's a look at Minnesota's largest wildfires since 2007 based on information from the Minnesota Incident Command System.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper