Firefighters battled four separate grass fires Tuesday in Kittson County, Minn., according to authorities.
One 2-mile-wide fire in Pelan Township was reported at 7 p.m. and still was being fought two hours later, said Lori Bothum, a dispatcher for the Kittson County Sheriff's Office.
"It is a huge fire," she said. "With this wind, it makes it close to impossible to fight."
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory Tuesday for much of the Red River Valley. Wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour were recorded in North Dakota, according to the weather service. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour were forecast in northeast Minnesota.
The Greenbush, Lake Bronson and Karlstad fire departments and the Wannaska Forestry Service were called to the Pelan Township fire, according to Bothum.
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Firefighters also quelled fires in Poppleton and Caribou townships as well as a small grass fire in a ditch beside state Highway 11 about five miles west of Donaldson, Minn., she said.
The Lake Bronson Fire Deparment and Wannaska Forestry Service responded to both the Poppleton and Caribou fire, Bothum said. Hallock (Minn.)'s Fire Department also responded to the Poppleton fire. Lancaster and Karlstad also responded to the Caribou fire, and the Kennedy Fire Department responded to the fire near Donaldson.
The fire in Caribou had rekindled after firefighters put it out Monday. It had stretched to five miles wide and into Canada, requiring a Wannaska Forestry Service helicopter to respond, Bothum said.
