An early morning fire at the Windigo Lodge in northern Minnesota left seven people dead and six injured. The fire started in the early morning hours of July 12, 1991, as occupants of the lodge lay sleeping. The fire was reported to the Cook County Sheriff’s Department from a phone inside the lodge, located at the facility’s only enclosed stairway, at 4:21 a.m. There was no organized fire department in the area to respond. Therefore, the Sheriff’s Department notified other lodge owners in the area of the fire. The area lodge owners responded to the fire and were able to save two nearby buildings exposed to the fire with hoses and portable pumps. No attempts were made to suppress the lodge fire, since it was fully involved when the area lodge owners arrived. All that was left of the lodge following the fire was ash and metal debris.