Fire investigators say a wildfire that destroyed 11 homes in Karlstad, Minn., last week appears to have been deliberately set.
The Department of Natural Resources says the fire is still being investigated, and a $6,000 reward is being offered for information that helps identify the person who set it.
Curt Cogan, DNR forestry program coordinator and manager of the investigation, said the suspicion is based on evidence found at the origin of what became known as the County 27 fire, rather than witnesses or calls from the public. Investigators have simply ruled out other causes, such as lightning, a passing train or working farm equipment, Kittson County Sheriff Kenny Hultgren said.
"When you have no known cause other than somebody lighting it, that's when you have arson," Hultgren said.
It was one of at least eight fires that blazed across the extremely dry, flat and grassy landscape of northwest Minnesota in high winds last week. Cogan said it's possible some of the other fires might also have been set; they're being investigated, as well.
On average, 29 percent of fires on Minnesota land in rural areas not protected by local fire departments are purposely set, according to DNR figures. In 2011, it was 30 percent of 143 fires.
Those numbers include fires that might have been originally set to control brush or for some other private purpose, as well as those set out of maliciousness, said Carson Berglund, a spokesman at the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center.
The County 27 fire started at 2 p.m. Sept. 30, a Sunday, at the intersection of Kittson County Hwy. 27 and 250th Avenue NW, about 5 miles southwest of Karlstad. A day later, it grew to 500 acres and ultimately burned 4,440 acres, forcing a partial evacuation of Karlstad.
