The Danger Zone We’re in Right Now in Minnesota

A popular Minnesota tourist attraction had to evacuate visitors earlier this week after a fire started near their location. 

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 The Split Rock Lighthouse posted on their Facebook page that the fire started Tuesday afternoon and was able to be extinguished in about two hours.  

Just to be cautious, the lighthouse evacuated the visitors and closed for the afternoon around 2:30 on Tuesday. The fire was put out around 4:30 or so, and the lighthouse was not damaged in the blaze.  

This should serve as a good reminder that most of Minnesota is under some sort of drought conditions. I spoke with Pete Boulay, a Climatologist with the State of Minnesota earlier this week and he expressed to me that we really need rain.  

If you’re taking advantage of the warmer weather by grilling, or if you smoke and toss your cigarettes out, you need to make sure that there’s not a risk of it staying lit and catching something on fire.  

This graphic from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shows each section of the state and the level of drought conditions they face right now.  

As you can see, only a small section in Northern Minnesota has no pressing danger. But that’s also an area of the state that did get some snowfall during the winter and experienced a closer to normal seasonal output of cold and precipitation.  

Most of the state is in the position where a fire could start and spread relatively easily. There are moderate ratings and high ratings, which speaks to how easily a fire could start and then begin to affect areas in its path.  

Minnesota residents must get a permit to burn anything now, and we’re far from being out of the woods from what Pete told me earlier in the week.  

We were discussing the danger and aggravation that mosquitos bring during the summer months, and they’re more likely to be heavier after rainfall. We don’t want the mosquitoes, but we sure don’t want the landscape around our beautiful state to be in danger because someone was careless and started a fire.  

Please keep the drought conditions in mind when smoking, grilling or doing anything else that could create havoc if sparks fly.