Minnesota woman faces $150,000 bill for failing to report wildfire

Greg Stanley, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 19, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — A Morrison County woman has been fined $150,000 for failing to report a grass fire that began on her property and erupted into a 2,300-acre wildfire last spring.

The fine is one of the largest issued by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources over a wildfire violation, and far higher than any in recent years. The agency said in a lawsuit filed this week against Elizabeth Young that it is trying to recoup what it spent putting out the fire.

Phone calls to Young seeking comment were not returned.

While the blaze did not cause any injuries, it destroyed two outbuildings and spread into the carbon-rich peat of a dry swamp bed, where fire is incredibly difficult to contain.

Seventy firefighters spent five days stopping its spread, using 14 engines, two helicopters, four air tankers and a plane.

The fire was started on April 16 by someone burning garbage in a fire pit on the property of Young and her husband near Pierz, investigators found.

Young told officers she discovered the fire when she arrived home about 7:30 p.m. that day, according to the lawsuit.

Young said she and her stepson spent a couple hours trying to extinguish the blaze and keep it from spreading to her house. But with the fire still burning, they went back inside. They did not call 911.

Around that time, a passerby on a nearby road saw smoke from the blaze and notified authorities.

By then, the fire had spread into the swamp. As it continued to grow, the blaze threatened homes and businesses in Hillman Township near Partridge Road and 355th Avenue.

In the early morning hours of the following day, the flames were close enough to buildings that the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office issued a mass alert to all cellphones in the area, warning people at 3:20 a.m. to stay away from the “running swamp fire.”

The DNR ticketed Young that day for failing to report the blaze, and court records show she paid the $135 fine immediately.

Burning garbage in an open pit and failing to report a fire as it spread from your property are violations of the Minnesota Wildfire Act. Under the law, anyone who violates the act is responsible for paying the state for all expenses incurred fighting the resulting wildfire.

The DNR sent Young a $150,000 bill in August, according to court records.

In its lawsuit, the agency asks a district judge to enforce the fine. A hearing is scheduled for May 21.

The size of the damages sought by the DNR is an outlier.

Over the past five years, the agency has sued 82 other people to recoup the costs of fighting wildfires caused by illegal burns or negligence. In the majority of those cases, the DNR sought a few hundred dollars — the cost of sending a firetruck out to douse the flames.

The next highest fine over that span was for $15,000. It was issued to a Wadena County man in 2023 over a grass fire that began with the sparks from his flat tire.

Minnesota’s wildfire season is just beginning. The vast majority of wildfires caused by humans in recent years started between March and May.