Ely Area Emergency Preparedness Meeting June 9th 2025
Hi Folks,
The next meeting of the Ely Climate Group will be on Monday June 9th at 4pm at the Ely Senior Center. This month we are all thinking about wildfire and smoky air. We have assembled an impressive list of local speakers to tell us about how we should prepare for emergencies should they occur in our area. This is related to climate change! The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred during the last 10 years. The hottest was 2024, the second hottest was 2023. What are your predictions for 2025? Of course these are global averages and this does not mean that Minnesota will have an especially hot summer. But we should be paying attention, the trend is clear. We need to become a more resilient community.
As usual this meeting will be in person and by zoom. Here is the zoom link:
Topic: Ely Area Emergency Prep
Time: Jun 9, 2025 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84762869113?pwd=lmM3qmiGIXFjwh26Oa0q9FE3tCF444.1
Meeting ID: 847 6286 9113
Passcode: 102467
Our speakers are:
Aaron Kania USFS Ranger Kawishiwi District
Brad Roy Ely Emergency Management Director and Police Sergeant
Gloria Erickson Firewise
Mike Ostlund Eagles Nest Director of Emergency Management
There will be a lot of useful information on preparations we can and should all make to be ready, just in case. We will cover the systems that have been put in place by the USFS, the City of Ely, and St Louis Co to help us stay safe. Many of us are familiar with the advice and help including community grants from Firewise. In addition to handouts at the meeting we plan to post materials to our website elyminnesota.com/elyclimate and to our “Ely Climate Group” YouTube channel.
All are welcome, bring your questions.
Barb
Useful links:
Air Quality (wildfire smoke):
How bad is the smoke, where is it coming from? What can I do about it?
Search for “airnow.gov” https://fire.airnow.gov/ skip “geolocate”
This is a map of color coded readings from air quality monitors and covers USA and Canada. It shows fire incidents and fire perimeters. There is a data point from Ely (Treehouse at Chapman and Central). Product of EPA, USFS, Airnow, Purple Air and others. See also map.purpleair.com
More resources at https://www.wildlandfiresmoke.net/ In particular see the flyer “Are You Smoke Ready” with instructions for a DIY indoor air filter.
Information Specific to Ely:
Search for “Ely MN Emergency” to find Ely’s site https://www.ely.mn.us/emergency
Create an account in Northland Alert “Get notified about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for our regional emergency alert program”
Within Ely know your evacuation zone (A through G). Outside of Ely see the St Louis Co info.
Ely’s website also links to the St Louis Co site, the Red Cross, the National Fire Protection Association and Firewise. Sgt Bradley Roy is Ely’s Emergency Manager.
Information from St Louis County:
Search for “St Louis Co Emergency Services Hub”
https://sheriff-slcgis.hub.arcgis.com/
On their home page, at the top, click on “wildfire” for the evacuation map and READY/SET/GO information. This gives fire locations and perimeters. If you click “returning to your property after a fire” you arrive at this page https://www.stlouiscountymn.gov/residents/emergencies/2025-spring-wildfires This site includes info on planning, making a “go bag” and more.
For Lake County Search for “Lake county MN wildfire”. Their webpage closely resembles the St L Co page.
US Forest Service
Search for “Ely Forest Service” or similar to get to the Kawishiwi Ranger District page. Look at the “Alerts and Fire Danger Status” for local info, and “inciweb” pages. Then scroll down to get to “Fire Mitigation and Prevention” https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/superior/fire/prevention Sections on Planning and Funding, Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Presscribed Fire, Good Forest Management, and an excellent page on Wildfire Crisis Strategy including this 9 page document https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fs_media/fs_document/WCS-making-difference.pdf
Firewise
The Minnesota DNR Firewise program is funded by Federal funding, https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/firewise/index.html . The objective is to work with homeowners and communities to be more wildfire resilient, specifically focusing on the 0 – 100 feet around structures and the structures themselves. Gloria Erickson is the contracted St. Louis County Firewise Coordinator and lives in the Ely area. The contracted St. Louis County Firewise position is under the St. Louis County Sheriff’s office under Emergency Management. This position is partially funded by the Secure Rural Schools Act Title III. The amount allocated per year varies and is determined by the Board of County Commissioners. Additional funding is variable depending on Federal grant funded awards applied for by the County.
Firewise best practices is one tool private property landowners can do to help their properties be more wildfire resilient. It also increases the safety and efficiency of firefighters and emergency responders in a wildfire event.
A Fire Adapted Community involves many entities that work together to identify the wildfire risk and works collectively on actionable steps to reduce the risk of loss in the event of a wildfire. This FEMA website describes the basic steps in this process: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/wui/communities/
A Minnesota Arrowhead Fire Adapted Communities website: https://minnesotafac.org is a one stop shop for all wildfire related information in the area.
Eagles Nest Community:
This is a recognized Firewise Community USA with 10 years of planning. Google “Minnpost Eagles Nest” to reach a July 2024 Minnpost article on their project. Here is the link: https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2024/07/northern-minnesota-ely-community-works-together-to-prepare-for-wildfires/
Wildfire Protection Systems (and others) sell roof top sprinkler systems https://wildfiresprinkler.com/exterior-wildfire-sprinkler-systems-grand-marais/
Ely Fire Department: https://www.ely.mn.us/fire
WELY 1450 AM, 94.5 FM Their AM station will have local news as soon as they resume operation.
Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS) https://mnics.org/wpress/header-menu/about-mnics/
The Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS) is an interagency group of state and federal partners that cooperate to manage wildfire and all risk incidents while developing standard procedures, practices and guidelines to support incidents and resource mobilization.
Superior National Forest Sea Plane Base: (Shagawa Lake) During fire season, which generally runs from April through October in northern Minnesota, the pilots focus on wildland fire support. Prescribed burns undertaken by Forest Service firefighters lower the potential for high-intensity wildland fire by reducing hazardous fuels.
Information on Canadian Fires: You can find statistics, maps and more at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center https://ciffc.net/
General Info at Tuesday Group: Visit https://www.neminnesotansforwilderness.org/tuesday-group or YouTube and look for talks by Lee Frehlich “Forest Fire Behaviour and Tree Mortality” also Henny Jungemann on “USFS Beaver Plane Program”
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