As many as 21 different agencies have had a hand in battling a huge grass fire in northwest Minnesota’s Polk County. The wildfire has consumed upwards of 15-thousand acres of grassland. The fire has been burning in and around the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge area. Much of the attention on Tuesday was to keep the flames away from Mentor (MN). Leanne Langeberg of the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center says the lack of snow cover this year resulted in an earlier fire season.
Heavy smoke from the fire may be to blame for an accident between a pick-up and a fire truck on Monday. The driver of the pickup was a 47 year old man from Mentor (MN). There were no injuries. The Erskine fire truck sustained heavy damage.
Strong winds and drought conditions fueled a wildfire in western North Dakota, injuring a firefighter and some livestock and damaging utility infrastructure. Officials say the fire has burned about 1 square mile north of Richardton in Stark County. Richardton Fire Chief Jason Kostelecky says smoke reduced visibility in the area to near zero at times Monday, leading to the crash of a fire truck and minor injuries to a firefighter. He says some calves in the area were injured in the fire, but the extent of those injuries aren’t known. An abandoned building burned in the blaze, as did fences, power lines and utility poles. Montana-Dakota Utilities spokesman Mark Hanson says the fire damaged five of the company’s structures, causing one to collapse.
A grass fire on Sunday burned hundreds of acres northwest of the Grand Forks Airport. No structures were lost. A burn ban remains in place for Grand Forks County until at least April 6th.
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
