Star Tribune
Fire crews stand ready in parched Minnesota
Just past Prior Lake, the earth was on fire.
Flames burrowed into the dry, peaty soil of Springfield Township and smoldered for days, as fire crews hacked and dug, trying to stop the flames before they threatened lives and property.
Peat has been a source of warmth and fuel for thousands of years. But usually it has to be cut out of the earth and dried before it can burn. Minnesota’s summer drought had turned the ground beneath our feet to kindling.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates that 98% of the wildfires in this state are started by humans. A cigarette flicked out a car window. A pile of burning yard waste left unattended.
Small wildfires burned outside Prior Lake and Arlington in the Twin Cities metro this week. One was sparked by burning debris. The other fire’s cause has not been determined, but the odds are that one of us started it.
The temperatures are dropping. October is turning cold and clammy. As tempting as it might be to light an autumn bonfire, state fire officials are hoping you will not.
“Because of how dry things were, the peat moss in these wetlands, the roots and things, were burning literally underground,” said Prior Lake City Manager Jason Wedel. Fire crews battled the subterranean blaze with thermal imaging, digging toward hotspots before they could spread.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for large swaths of southwestern Minnesota, as high winds whipped across tinder-dry farmland and prairie.
Now is not the time, state fire officials remind us, to burn leaves or gather around a bonfire or shoot off incendiaries at a gender reveal party. Not without checking to make sure your community still is issuing burn permits, at least.
On the dry days, when high winds whip across drought-stressed fields and forests, “pretty much any spark or ignition out of doors could cause a fire to ignite,” said William Glesener, wildfire operations supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR has responded to more than 550 wildfires so far this year – well below the 2,000-plus fires it battled in 2021, thanks to this year’s late, soggy spring. But on Wednesday, fire officials were keeping a wary eye on counties like Cottonwood, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock, where there wasn’t enough rain in the forecast to make up for months of drought.
In the counties under red flag warnings, the state is asking residents to keep their properties clear of debris, and keep a hose handy, just in case.
“Just to make sure that if something were to happen, they could wet down the area around their house or their property,” Glesener said. “But the biggest thing is to just make sure that folks are not going outside and doing any debris burning – that’s still fairly common in the state of Minnesota. People like to pile up and burn leaves and brush when they’re cleaning up their property in the fall.”
The smell of burning leaves is one of the signature scents of autumn, but it’s not a smell anyone would welcome around Prior Lake right now.
Fire crews had just smothered the peat fire in Springfield Township when word came that a barn was on fire. The humans and animals were safe, Wedel said, but Prior Lake won’t be issuing burn permits for a bit.
His advice for the time being: “Don’t burn things.”
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings