North Dakota wildfire victim was about to return home to South Africa for the birth of his daughter

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A South African man who died due to a North Dakota wildfire over the weekend was planning to return to his wife within weeks in time for the birth of their first child.

Nicolaas van Eeden, 26, died Saturday due to smoke inhalation after he was driving home to Tioga when the smoke became too much, based on a state trooper's report, his wife, Anke, told The Associated Press. It's unclear exactly what happened, but the trooper found him alive and able to walk. However, he died soon after arriving in Williston by ambulance, she said.

Van Eeden was one of two people who died due to the weekend wildfires, blazes in scattered areas of western North Dakota that injured several other people and led to evacuations of more than 100 others.

“He was just an amazing person,” Anke van Eeden said of her husband. “And he absolutely adored everyone around him and cared for everyone, and I think the only thing keeping him going is the fact that he was so excited to meet his little girl.”

The couple’s daughter is due in November. Anke learned of Nicolaas’s death soon after her baby shower. They were married in February and had been together for three and a half years. They met through mutual friends.

They came to North Dakota together in late April. Nicolaas was doing general farm work on a Tioga-area ranch under an agricultural worker visa program “to just give us a financial boost so we can start our lives,” Anke said.

He was set to come home in three weeks for their baby’s birth. Anke, 31, quit her job earlier this year to go to North Dakota with Nicolaas, who was the family's provider. She returned to George, South Africa, in early August.

The couple's last conversation was a routine phone call letting her know he was driving home, she said.

Messages, prayers and condolences from North Dakota have reached her on the other side of the world, she said — a response that has been “more than I ever thought possible." The Bank of Tioga has an account for donations for the van Eeden family.

Nicolaas was an amazing worker who had a lot of heart for everything he did, said Brittany Wolla, whose family he worked for on their farm and ranch for two summers, doing everything from driving combine harvester to spreading manure to working cows, Wolla said.

“Anything we asked of him, he would do it, and if he didn't know how to do it, he was very willing to learn” — even watching YouTube videos if he couldn't figure out a task by himself, she said.

North Dakota's snow and cold weather were a shock for him — and so was driving on the right side of the road — but Wolla said her family has never had farm hands with an outstanding work ethic as the South Africans they have employed, who became part of their family.

The van Eeden family is holding a ceremony for Nicolaas in the coming days. His ashes won't arrive home until after his daughter is born.

Authorities on Tuesday confirmed the death of a second person, 47-year-old Edgar Coppersmith, of Tioga, in connection with the Williams County fires.

Detective Dan Ward said Coppersmith was taken to Denver due to his injuries. He died there, but Ward said he did not know when or how he was injured.

Coppersmith and van Eeden were injured in separate incidents, Ward said. Six other people were injured as a result of the fires in the county.

The fires were some of six major wildfires from over the weekend in scattered areas of western North Dakota, where dry conditions and wind gusts up to nearly 80 mph (129 kph)spurred the flames. Officials believe downed power lines caused at least some of the fires.

Firefighters on Tuesday had a better handle on two other large wildfires burning in western North Dakota.

As of 3:52 p.m. Tuesday, the 28,434-acre (11,507-hectare) Elkhorn Fire near Grassy Butte was 50% contained, and the 11,746-acre (4,753-hectare) Bear Den Fire near Mandaree was 30% contained, according to the state Department of Emergency Services.

No injuries have been reported in connection with the two fires. Two homes and numerous outbuildings have been lost. Both fires are burning in rugged Badlands terrain in North Dakota’s oilfield.

The North Dakota Forest Service logged 33 reported fires over the weekend, amounting to 49,180 acres (19,902 hectares).

That figure does not include the large Ray-, Tioga- and Alamo-area fires that merged into one. That fire’s burn perimeter is estimated at 88,934 acres (35,990 hectares), but there could be patches within that area that didn’t burn, a department spokesperson said. That fire is 99% contained. Flareups are still an issue.

More than 100 people evacuated from their homes in the Arnegard and Keene areas Saturday due to fires.

Livestock losses from the fires were not immediately clear. Hundreds of power poles were damaged. Segments of two highways temporarily closed.

Officials expect the fire danger conditions to continue this fall.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Army National Guard, North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airmen work with the Department of Emergency Services to build a handline and conduct a controlled burn to prevent the further spread of a wildfire in Mandaree, N.D., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Samuel J. Kroll/U.S. Army National Guard via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Army National Guard, North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airmen work with the Department of Emergency Services to build a handline and conduct a controlled burn to prevent the further spread of a wildfire in Mandaree, N.D., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Samuel J. Kroll/U.S. Army National Guard via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Army National Guard, North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airmen work with the Department of Emergency Services to build a handline and conduct a controlled burn to prevent the further spread of a wildfire in Mandaree, N.D., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Samuel J. Kroll/U.S. Army National Guard via AP)

This undated photo provided by Anke van Eeden shows Nicolaas and Anke van Eeden in a tractor on a ranch near Tioga, N.D. Nicolaas van Eeden, 26, died Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in connection with a large wildfire burning near Ray, N.D. (Anke van Eeden via AP)

This 2024 image provided by Anke van Eeden shows Nicolaas and Anke van Eeden during their first week in America. (Anke van Eeden via AP)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsaid Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he's repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project Trump has criticized as excessive.

Here's the latest:

Stocks are falling on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 384 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.

Powell characterized the threat of criminal charges as pretexts to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates, its main tool for fighting inflation. The threat is the latest escalation in President Trump’s feud with the Fed.

▶ Read more about the financial markets

She says she had “a very good conversation” with Trump on Monday morning about topics including “security with respect to our sovereignties.”

Last week, Sheinbaum had said she was seeking a conversation with Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. president made comments in an interview that he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.

Trump’s offers of using U.S. forces against Mexican cartels took on a new weight after the Trump administration deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Sheinbaum was expected to share more about their conversation later Monday.

A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country’s fractured relations with the world’s second-largest economy — and reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies.

The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.

Carney aims to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade in the face of President Trump’s tariffs and the American leader’s musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”

▶ Read more about relations between Canada and China

The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. President Trump has said he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.

Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.

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Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.

“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”

During a meeting Friday with oil executives, Trump tried to assuage the concerns of the companies and said they would be dealing directly with the U.S., rather than the Venezuelan government.

Some, however, weren’t convinced.

“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on ExxonMobil

Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

▶ Read more about the “suspicious object”

Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.

▶ Read more about the possible negotiations and follow live updates

Fed Chair Powell said Sunday the DOJ has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

▶ Read more about the subpoenas

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)