A wildfire on the North Shore that burned more than 30 buildings is now more than 60 percent contained — with favorable weather conditions helping firefighting crews.
An evacuation order remained in place northeast of Two Harbors on Monday morning, and State Highway 61 remained closed between Two Harbors and Silver Bay.
The Stewart Trail Fire erupted Friday afternoon and quickly spread northeast along the highway, toward the Silver Creek Cliff tunnel.
Mike Hill, the incident commander with the Minnesota Incident Command System, described the situation on Sunday as smoldering. He said the fire — estimated at 355 acres in size — had not grown since Saturday.
It was 62 percent contained as of Sunday night — meaning that crews had created lines they believe will keep the flames from spreading, around 62 percent of the fire perimeter.
Hill said crews used aircraft to dowse flames and contain any flareups.
“Aircraft isn’t the sole answer, it’s not the only thing, but what it does is it buys us time and the ability to insert people on the ground safely to follow that action up of putting water on it,” Hill said, adding that crews had more ability to bulldoze and hand-dig a perimeter.
But Hill said despite the cooler weather, a shift in the winds and rain in the forecast, there's still a lot of work to do.
"There's mop-up, there's patrol, and now we were talking about the next phase of this incident, which is trying to get people back to normal to the degree possible,” Hill said.
Lake County Sheriff Nathan Stadler announced Saturday night that a damage assessment found the fire burned 34 structures — eight primary structures, such as homes, as well as 26 outbuildings.
County officials on Sunday reduced the size of the evacuation zone, allowing some residents to return home. But authorities said those residents needed to remain prepared to evacuate again, if conditions change.
