00:00So they know. Good morning, everyone.
00:09Really nice event down there in Stillwater.
00:11It was wonderful.
00:12It was over the top of the track.
00:16Well, true professionals.
00:18Appreciate it.
00:22Anybody get any sleep?
00:25We're doing all right.
00:26We're getting a little bit of sleep with the local fire departments.
00:29They're the ones that really...
00:35Yeah, you're right.
00:37It's fire season.
00:38No, that's right.
00:39You're exactly right.
00:40We've talked about, I think, people think of late summer as fire season,
00:44and we know that's not true.
00:45Yep.
00:46Typical here.
00:47Yeah.
00:48Well, appreciate it.
00:49First of all, a huge thank you to all of the local responders
00:54who responded to their neighbors.
00:56Thanks for keeping everybody safe,
00:58and evacuation's a tough thing.
00:59Comes fast.
01:00It can cause a lot of confusion.
01:03But by all of the reports coming in,
01:05just done incredibly professionally,
01:06which means we don't have any deaths or injuries in this.
01:10I know there have been some houses and some buildings lost,
01:13which is always tragic,
01:15but we can rebuild and the help will be there.
01:17Thanks to the sheriff, all the folks here.
01:19Again, in the midst of all this, keeping things going,
01:21and then the coordination that always happens.
01:24And whether it comes to flooding or wildfires,
01:26Minnesota is familiar with this.
01:28So there's systems in place, which we really appreciate.
01:31I just got off contacting with Senator Klobuchar,
01:34mentioning our federal partners, as we see here,
01:36the folks who are with us always are there to do that.
01:39And then just understanding that this is a coordinated event across the state.
01:43And I think about, you know, a few years ago,
01:45the folks in this room and others who do this work said,
01:48look, we need to invest and upgrade some of our equipment at Hibbing
01:51and at Brainerd, some of those airports and all that.
01:54So I'm just really grateful that folks thought ahead.
01:57These are days we don't ever want to happen.
01:58But when they do, the response we've seen so far up here
02:01is one that we should all be very proud of, grateful for that.
02:04We also know these situations are incredibly fluid.
02:07People want to hear on the TV how much is contained,
02:09and they don't really quite know what contained means
02:12and what it means when the weather changes and can change so quickly.
02:16And just to be clear, we've had many counties in red flag laws for weeks now
02:21that this is not that surprising.
02:22And I think for many of us in here know,
02:25this is going to be a bit more of a reoccurring occurrence this summer.
02:30But coming out of the chute like this, just really grateful.
02:32Appreciate spending a little time on the updating us.
02:35More importantly, just to make sure you're getting everything you need in the support.
02:38And that's done, as I said, through a very well-practiced,
02:42very clear chain of command and coordination that's been done
02:46through our agencies and through the local folks
02:49who are always at the lead on this.
02:51We're in there to support them.
02:53So grateful for that.
02:54We know there's some more work to be done.
02:55Looks like we got a little bit of break with the weather,
02:57which is always helpful, a little more moisture in the air,
02:59but more work to be done.
03:01And again, I would say the longer these go on,
03:04the danger of just accidents happening.
03:06Folks are tired, but I know that there's good plans in place
03:09for sleep rotations, getting people in and out of that.
03:11But I do really worry, especially with the local folks
03:14who are out there, volunteer and doing everything,
03:16and they've got to manage their own houses and everything else.
03:18So again, just keep an eye on that and truly appreciative.
03:23This one seems like a textbook response to a situation
03:27that developed very quickly and can get very dangerous.
03:29We're affected, but we are also here to continue
03:32to support a strong system long into the future.
03:35Thanks, Commissioner.
03:36If I could just say we've got the legislators here too.
03:38As I know now, it's protection of life and property,
03:40protection of the folks that are fighting this.
03:43And then when it's done, though, the thing that's of deep concern,
03:45especially for the local elected officials in the community here,
03:48is what rebuilding looks like,
03:49what reconstituting all of the resources you're expending on this.
03:52And that's why I touted it many, many times
03:55when I'm touring these emergencies,
03:58the disaster contingency account that the legislators
04:00in a bipartisan manner built up.
04:02Make sure we're there to help you.
04:03And I know we always say this,
04:04especially around flooding and these types of things,
04:06but keeping track of all your expenditures,
04:09these are statewide incidents.
04:10By declaring this an emergency,
04:11it opens up other opportunities for us to be able to use that.
04:14And whether folks are in Two Harbors or they're in Worthington,
04:18they care what's happening to their neighbors.
04:20And I just remind you that somebody has to start thinking about this now,
04:24city managers and other folks,
04:26about what it's going to look like to get back to whole on this.
04:28I assure you, because of the work that was done done,
04:30that has been thought about.
04:31And what I've seen over the last few years,
04:33that disaster contingency account changes everything in the recovery mode.
04:37So keep that in mind.
04:38And again, you've got great folks here who are responsive to help with that.
04:41And we want to make sure that the recovery piece,
04:43when we get there, we know we're not there.
04:44But when we get there, this thing has to be seen all the way through
04:47until we make folks as whole as we can.
04:50Mayor, good to see you.
04:51Good to see you.
04:52Yeah, and know that we're there on the recovery for the dollars.
04:56Yeah.
04:57Hey, Commissioner.
04:59Nice to see you again.
05:01We hear you on the recovery.
05:02These guys get a good job with that.
05:03No, it's an amazing work.
05:05You still had to wear a rain jacket for last year.
05:07It was raining like...
05:10I've been saying I want to bring the rain every time we come to a fire.
05:14If that's what it takes, we'll take it.
05:19So I'll give you a quick rundown of the incident kind of status.
05:23So the origin of the fires on the south end of the fire,
05:26on Friday we had a southwest wind.
05:30And it rapidly can see by the topo maps there.
05:34We don't deal with a lot of topography in Minnesota,
05:36but the topo lines are tight, which that's about as steep as it gets for us here in Minnesota,
05:40and it's rocky and difficult.
05:41That's it in a nutshell for this incident.
05:44The big deal here, of course, is the next phase.
05:48There's not much smoke left.
05:50The aircraft, I'm sure you've seen all the pictures.
05:53That stuff's not cheap.
05:55The short answer is those measures of prevention are more valuable than dollars.
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