On Monday, May 19, residents packed the Mesabi East High School auditorium for a public briefing on the Brimson Complex—comprised of the Camp House and Jenkins Creek fires. Local, state, and federal officials gave updates on firefighting efforts, evacuations, road closures, and safety plans.
Micah Bell, public information officer with the Eastern Area Incident Management Team, opened the meeting by acknowledging the strong attendance.
“This is a great turnout— way more than we expected,” Bell said. “That means a lot of the community really wants to know what’s going on, and we thank you for coming to find out.”
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay addressed the crowd with a candid account of the past week’s challenges for his department.
“Obviously, the last week has been taxing and challenging for many of us. I just want you to know the sheriff’s office has been doing our best to meet everybody’s needs and communicate everything we need to around evacuations and road closures,” he said.
He described how the “Ready, Set, Go” evacuation system was first applied in Brimson on Sunday for the Camp House Fire. Evacuation zones and road closures are reviewed and updated daily on the St. Louis County website, and residents can call the sheriff’s office for the latest information.
“The one thing I want you to keep in mind with this is, any one of these fires is a major fire that takes up an immense amount of resources. The fact that we had three large fires was really challenging for all of us—personnel-wise and managing these scenes,” Ramsay said.
Progress has been made: Highway 16 reopened Monday, while Highway 44 and several side roads remain closed. Forest Road 11 is still a key firefighting route and remains off-limits to the public.
“We’ve got hundreds of firefighters here and a lot of firetrucks and rigs, so it’s not just possible to open these up given the amount of equipment we have—never mind the 18-wheelers with large caterpillars, bulldozers, and everything else that has taken up many of these roads,” Ramsay explained.
Matt Wappler, assistant regional manager for the Minnesota DNR’s Division of Forestry and agency administrator for the Camp House Fire, emphasized the coordinated response across jurisdictions.
“Between the two incidents, Camp House and Jenkins Creek fires, the DNR is the lead responding agency on the Camp House Fire,” he said. “We’re working together in a unified way to move forward on these incidents to get them fully contained and fully put out.”
Wappler also expressed admiration for local firefighters.
“These fires are in your backyards. In some cases you’re protecting the homes, the property of your friends, your neighbors, even your own property. That can be incredibly tough. I do want to encourage you, as time goes on, with the emotions of these incidents make sure you reach out to someone—to anyone—and just share your feelings if it starts to bring you down,” Wappler advised.
Forest Supervisor Tom Hall of the Superior National Forest thanked local law enforcement and fire departments, emphasizing that the team’s strategy is “full suppression.”
“We do know that this is early in the fire season and the potential for these to continue to grow. We want this team to help us get fully around this,” Hall said.
The Laurentian District Ranger, based in Aurora, shared his personal connection to the fires.
“I know the impact this has on everybody as a community,” he said. “I have staff in my office who are currently still displaced with the closure. Plenty of people are hurting and are impacted and are stressed out. We feel that impact with you.”
Mike Locke, fire behavior analyst with the incident team, shed light on the conditions that fueled the fires.
“It was kind of nasty when these fires burned. We all know that was crazy unusual weather,” he said, pointing to high winds and low humidity. “We expect some drying weather to come.”
The Operations Section Chief detailed the firefighting strategy. For the Camp House Fire, Division A is staffed with hotshot crews and bulldozers.
“It’s slow going. It’s hard work but they’re making really good progress,” he said.
In other divisions, firefighters are using chainsaws and drones with infrared capabilities to assess hotspots in wet areas. The Section Chief reported, “Camp House Fire is looking really good.”
At Jenkins Creek, crews work to grid out rugged terrain, using equipment in Division JJ to create a shaded fuel break protecting nearby communities.
Incident Commander Brian Jenkins praised both the scope and effectiveness of the response.
“We got a lot of work going on out there. A lot of moving parts that are out there. A lot of heartbeats that are on the line,” he said, noting that 600 personnel are working on the Brimson Complex.
Jenkins added, “These last few days, this weather has really been a help for us. With the colder temperatures coming in, some precipitation really gave us an opportunity to make a lot of good progress on the fires and we’re continuing to make that good progress.”
He said Monday’s wind tested their containment lines, and they held strong.
“I think we’re sitting in a really good spot,” he said. “When we leave after our time here on the incident we want to have the community having a good taste in your mouth about what we did and how we responded to your community.”
He emphasized the importance of early response efforts from local crews, stating, “The work that they did those first couple days was really good work, and they set us up for success. And we’re just continuing to build off of that.”
The Eastern Area Incident Management Team is expected to remain on the fire for another eight days. Their goal: bring the fires to a manageable level and leave the region safer, and stronger.
Bell encouraged residents with questions to contact the incident team directly at 2025.camphouse@ firenet.gov. Daily updates on both fires are also available on InciWeb.
As of Monday evening, the Jenkins Creek Fire covers 16,693 acres and is 6% contained. The Camp House Fire, at 12,117 acres, is 40% contained. The Munger Shaw Fire is 95% contained, and evacuation zones have been lifted.
As a resident of this community, I extend my deepest gratitude to the crews and volunteers for their unwavering dedication and hard work. This has been a deeply frightening experience, and having consistent updates has provided much-needed reassurance and awareness.
My neighbors and I are fortunate to be safe, and my thoughts are with those who have suffered significant losses due to these fires.
