11 Homes Destroyed in NW Minnesota Wildfire

State officials now say 11 homes and 24 other structures were destroyed by the wildfire that threatened the northwestern Minnesota city town of Karlstad.

Jean Goad, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center, said that updated figures show the fire destroyed seven mobile homes, four regular homes, two garages and 22 other structures in the Karlstad area on Oct. 2.

There were no injuries.

The weather has turned considerably colder. The local forecast called for rain, changing over to snow early on Oct. 4 with accumulations of up to 7 inches.

Goad says that will give firefighters a reprieve, but it won’t add up to much moisture to recharge the soils in northwestern Minnesota, which she says is 12 to 15 inches behind on precipitation.