Crow Wing County officials track Flanders Fire Mn at 600 acres near Crosslake

The flanders fire mn was reported just before 1 p.m. Saturday near Flanders Lake, about 5 miles southeast of Crosslake, and grew to an estimated 600 acres. Crow Wing County moved evacuees into the Crosslake Community Center as an overnight shelter while crews worked under red flag warning conditions.

Crosslake Community Center

Tim Southmayd said the evacuation happened fast. “Every one of us grabbed our vehicle,” he said inside the Crosslake Community Center on Saturday night. “We had packed up our overnight bag and grabbed our meds and all that, because we didn't know what we were doing.”

The shelter had shifted from a temporary evacuation point to an overnight stop by Saturday night. American Red Cross and Crow Wing County Community Services personnel served dinner, snacks and water to about a dozen people there, and county officials said they were working to accommodate pets.

Eric Klang and the alert map

Sheriff Eric Klang said there was some “bleed over” in the polygon used on the map to send alerts to residents, and deputies were going door to door to tell people it was time to leave. Jacklin Steege, who was overseeing the evacuation point for Crow Wing County Public Health, said the situation was still moving quickly.

“It's so early right now and things are so fluid, so people are wanting more information than we have, but as soon as we get the evening briefing done, we'll share it with them,” she said. She also said, “The Nimrod dozer got pulled over there [to the Flanders Fire].”

No homes damaged

Klang later told evacuees that no homes were known to have sustained damage, though some outbuildings likely burned. The Minnesota Incident Command System was scheduled to begin leading the response on Sunday morning, with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources staging firefighters in Nimrod and readying the dozer for the fire.

Susan Hobbs, driving home Saturday afternoon, said she first noticed the smoke against a clear sky. “I said, 'Look at that big cloud,' because I had a passenger with me, and the rest of the sky was all blue,” she said. “that's not a cloud.”