2026 Lake County, Minnesota Wildfires

United States › Minnesota › Lake County

0 Active Fires
0 Acres Burning
5 2026 Season Fires ▲ +4 (+400%) vs same period last year
76,839 2026 Season Acres ▲ +76,826 (+590969%) vs same period last year

Newest wildfires in Lake County

Jul 15 Started 4,815 acres About the size of JFK Airport 4.0x the size of Lincoln Park Little Knife Fire
Jul 9 Started 71,675 acres 4.9x the size of Manhattan 85.0x the size of Central Park July 2026 Superior NF Wildfires
Jul 8 Started 1 acres 1 football fields Newton Fire
Jul 8 Started 2 acres 2 football fields Camp Fire
May 15 Started 356 acres 274 football fields Stewart Trail

Largest wildfires in Lake County this season

71,675 Acres 4.9x the size of Manhattan 85.0x the size of Central Park July 2026 Superior NF Wildfires Ely
4,815 Acres About the size of JFK Airport 4.0x the size of Lincoln Park Little Knife Fire
356 Acres 274 football fields Stewart Trail Two Harbors
2 Acres 2 football fields Camp Fire Ely
1 Acres 1 football fields Newton Fire Ely

All 2026 Lake County Fires · 5 fires

A fire is listed here when it is located in Lake County. Each complex is counted once, through its parent: the parent carries the complex's acres, and its member fires are listed beneath it without being counted again. A fire that crossed a county line is listed with the acres that burned in Lake County, not its whole reported size. A fire located elsewhere that burned into Lake County is listed too, at its Lake County acres, and is not added to the Lake County fire counts. County lines come from a different boundary dataset than state lines, so Lake County's acres are counted along county lines and can differ a little at the edges from the figures on the state page.

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Fire Start date Containment Status Acres Center Ignition point
July 2026 Superior NF Wildfires Jul 9, 2026 100% Inactive 71,675 48.0090, -91.7940 —
Little Knife Fire Jul 15, 2026 100% Inactive 4,805 of 4,815 48.1275, -91.1352 48.1611, -91.1048
Stewart Trail May 15, 2026 100% Inactive 356 47.0574, -91.6199 47.0544, -91.6366
Camp Fire Jul 8, 2026 0% Inactive 2 48.0104, -91.7338 48.0074, -91.7064
Newton Fire Jul 8, 2026 0% Inactive 1 47.9910, -91.7260 —
Also burned into Lake County
Bear Trap Fire from St. Louis County Jul 8, 2026 0% Inactive 0 of 1 48.1693, -91.9079 —
Totals 2026 Season Fires 5 Active Fires 0 Acres Burning 0 2026 Season Acres 76,839

Land cover · Lake County 2026

Burned acres in Lake County for the 2026 season, split by the kind of land that burned. Each figure counts the LANDFIRE 30 m cells inside a fire's latest mapped perimeter. The Fires tab carries the reported season acreage.

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Acres by cover type Acres in Lake County % of burned % of Lake County
Forest 8,310 94.0% 86.6%
Range (shrubland) 88 1.0% 1.2%
Grassland 177 2.0% 3.6%
Other 269 3.0% 8.6%
Burned in from another county 252 — —
Measured acres in Lake County 8,844 — —
Measured fires
Fire Reported acres Acres in Lake County Forest Range (shrubland) Grassland Other Unclassified
Camp Fire 2 4,358 4,026 78 130 123 0
Little Knife Fire 4,815 4,154 (of 4,162) 4,010 7 26 111 0
Stewart Trail 356 332 (of 358) 274 3 20 35 0
Bear Trap Fire burned in from St. Louis County 1 252 (of 30,812) 230 0 2 19 0
Fires awaiting measurement
Fire Reported acres Whole perimeter acres Reason
July 2026 Superior NF Wildfires 71,675 — Awaiting a perimeter
Newton Fire 1 — Awaiting a perimeter
Reconciliation
Line Fires Acres
Counted fires 5 76,849
Offered to measurement 5 76,849
Complex roll-up residue — 0
Fires with cells 3 5,173
Awaiting a perimeter 2 71,676
Awaiting measurement 0 0
Measurement errors 0 0
Smaller than one cell 0 0
Every cell outside Lake County 0 0
Measured acres in Lake County 3 8,844
Measured acres outside Lake County — 33
Whole perimeter acres — 8,877
Reported minus measured — -3,704
Burned in from another county 1 252

Forest ownership · Lake County 2026

Burned forest acres in Lake County for the 2026 season, split by who owns the land. Owners are mapped for forestland, so every figure here counts burned cells whose LANDFIRE lifeform is Tree. The Fires tab carries the season acreage this site reports.

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Burned forest by owner Forest acres in Lake County % of burned forest % of Lake County's forestland
Public 7,660 92.2% 88.0%
Federal 7,660 92.2% 48.0%
State 0 0.0% 30.0%
Local (county, city) 0 0.0% 9.9%
Tribal 0 0.0% 0.0%
Tribal 0 0.0% 0.0%
Private 243 2.9% 12.0%
Family 18 0.2% 6.9%
Corporate 0 0.0% 3.5%
TIMO/REIT 0 0.0% 0.4%
Other private 226 2.7% 1.2%
Ownership not modeled 406 4.9% —
Burned in from another county 230 — —
Burned forest in Lake County 8,310 — —
Fires by owner
Fire Forest acres in Lake County Federal State Local Tribal Private Not modeled
Camp Fire 4,026 3,808 0 0 0 18 201
Little Knife Fire 4,010 3,853 0 0 0 0 157
Stewart Trail 274 0 0 0 0 226 48
Bear Trap Fire burned in from St. Louis County 230 214 0 0 0 0 16

0 measured fires burned zero forest cells.

Reconciliation
Owner cells 37,366 8,310
Land cover Forest cells 37,366 8,310
Equal 37,366

Search Fires

🔥 Little Knife Fire 2026
Started: Jul 15 4,815 acre 100% contained
Lake County, Minnesota
🔥 July 2026 Superior NF Wildfires 2026
Started: Jul 9 71,675 acre 100% contained
Near Ely · Lake County, Minnesota
🔥 Newton Fire 2026
Started: Jul 8 1 acre 0% contained
Near Ely · Lake County, Minnesota
🔥 Camp Fire 2026
Started: Jul 8 2 acre 0% contained
Near Ely · Lake County, Minnesota
🔥 Stewart Trail 2026
Started: May 15 356 acre 100% contained
Near Two Harbors · Lake County, Minnesota