April 16 – Firefighters from nine Iron Range fire departments (Hibbing, Chisholm, Keewatin, Cherry, Clinton, French Township, Mountain Iron, Kinney-Great Scott, Nashwauk) along with the Minnesota DNR battled a huge wildland fire this afternoon near the Mitchell Bridge, along Minnesota Highway 169 in Hibbing. The fire was reported around 1:00 p.m. Dry conditions and high winds pushed the blaze into a salvage yard and threatened the nearby C&L Distributing (Sunny Hill Distributing) warehouse. Several tire piles became engulfed in flames, resulting in large plumes of black smoke filling the sky. Several explosions were also heard. Traffic along the southbound lanes of Highway 169 was reduced to one lane through the efforts of Hibbing Police, Minnesota State Patrol, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Hibbing Fire Chief Erik Jankila, who was Incident Commander, directed the firefighting operations into a couple of sectors to maximize resources. Incident command was terminated around 5:30 p.m. The cause of fire is under investigation, but may have started from a power line.
The National Weather Service, because of high winds and dry conditions, issued a Red Flag Warning for northeastern Minnesota including: St. Louis, Lake, Cook, and Itasca counties.
