WASECA, Minn. — Crews spent most of Sunday fighting a large wildfire near Waseca as windy conditions and Minnesota's mostly snowless winter elevated wildfire dangers across parts of the state.
At a Monday press conference, officials with the DNR said around 40 people were out at the scene of Sunday’s fire. Crews were checking to make sure that the fire had not rekindled; searchers reported finding some smoke and hot spots that were quickly put down.
Some resources will monitor the area in the coming days to make sure the grass fire doesn’t spark back to life.
As of 8:45 p.m. Sunday, Waseca County sheriff's officials reported that the large grass fire near Waseca was "under control." Multiple agencies responded to the fire throughout the day and aircraft dropped water from above to extinguish the flames.
The fire started near the 15000 block of Snake Trail and quickly grew to nearly 2,000 acres based on observations from an aircraft, according to the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. The Waseca County Sheriff's Office says it started yesterday afternoon as a small brush fire that rekindled from a prior burn day.
Multiple residents were evacuated due to the advancing flames, but Waseca Fire Chief Forshee said no homes were damaged after 12 houses were evacuated on Sunday. One resident and two firefighters sustained injuries during the fire. The firefighters were treated and released from a local hospital while the condition of the resident is unknown.
Earlier in the day, the DNR issued a Red Flag Warning for a large section of southern and south central Minnesota due to warm temperatures, high winds and low humidity.
Fire activity wasn't limited to southern Minnesota — at least eight other significant wildfires were reported across Minnesota Sunday, including one near Fergus Falls and four in the Twin Cities metro. A DNR map listed the southern half of the state as experiencing "very high" fire danger on Sunday, and burning restrictions remain in place for southeastern Minnesota, where no open burning or campfires are allowed on Monday.
A resident living near the Waseca fire told KARE 11 that along with grassy areas, around 100 acres of cattails and a marsh had burned. He said some houses in the area were evacuated on Sunday afternoon.
"Just worried...you never know," he said. "Wind switch. With the way the wind is and how dry conditions are, fires can spread pretty quickly so keep an eye on everything just in case we had to get out of here."
Viewer Torey Brugger caught the fire on video and posted it on Facebook.
The fire was large enough that a large plume of smoke was spotted on satellite.
On Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PCA) shared information about smoke from the fire affecting air quality in the Twin Cities. Waseca, Faribault, Medford, Morristown, Elko New Market, Lakeville, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Bloomington, Richfield, Minneapolis and Eagan were listed as possible places that could be affected by smoke plumes.
An official with the Minnesota DNR told KARE 11 that crews from the Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and two aircraft assisted with containing the fire. The Waseca County Sheriff’s Office and the Waseca Fire Department are expected to release more information on Monday morning.
This was not the only Minnesota grass fire reported on Sunday, Fergus Falls Fire Department posted on their Facebook page that they helped fight and contain a "900+ acre fast-moving wildland fire in Western Township."
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