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A 27-year-old Duluth resident has been charged with starting a massive wildfire in May that destroyed more than 150 structures — including many homes and cabins — by allegedly leaving a campfire unattended.
John Parker Wilson was charged with a misdemeanor by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office for allegedly failing to extinguish a fire on May 11.
That fire quickly spread and grew out of control. As it burned, authorities named it the Camp House Fire after a road near where it started. The blaze eventually scorched more than 12,000 acres near Brimson, Minn., destroying dozens of residences and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of area residents.
Details in the citation are scarce. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which investigated the case, said in a statement that the fire’s cause “is believed to be an unattended campfire.”
According to the DNR, under Minnesota law, “any person who starts and fails to control or extinguish … [a] fire, whether on owned property or on the property of another, before the fire endangers or causes damage to the property of another person or the state is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
The Camp House fire ignited during an unusually hot, dry and windy period in northern Minnesota that caused red-flag conditions.
The fire grew quickly through a forest choked with dried trees and timber killed by a pest known as spruce budworm. It jumped across a two-lane highway, forcing people to flee with little time to retrieve belongings from their homes.
Hundreds of firefighters from around the region and the country helped battle the fire, along with the Jenkins Creek Fire, which burned nearby in the Superior National Forest.
More than 90 percent of wildfires in Minnesota are human-caused, according to the DNR, which reminded people to pay attention to fire danger, burning restrictions and recommendations and to follow wildfire prevention best practices.
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