How Bemidji & Beltrami Co. Emergency Management Teams Handled Destructive Storm

It has now been a little over a week since the destructive wind storm struck the greater Bemidji area. City, county, and state officials came together almost instantly to gather resources and assist the community in recovery efforts.

After the winds, reported at speeds of 120 mph, finally died down around 2 a.m. on Saturday in Beltrami County, emergency responders didn’t have to wait long for calls to start rolling in.

“When we talk about the initial period from the time the storm hit until the following morning, Bemidji Fire Department members responded to over 100 calls for service,” said Bemidji fire chief Justin Sherwood, who was recently appointed Bemidji’s emergency manager. “They varied from power lines down to gas line breaks, fires, car accidents, and so on and so forth.”

The volume of calls became too much for the fire department to handle all at once.

“We actually had to set up a secondary operation center, or a dispatch center here and had to prioritize the calls as we were strapped,” he explained.

Once Beltrami County’s emergency management director Chris Muller saw the magnitude of the storm rise quickly, he sounded the sirens and sent the CodeRED alerts.

“I think those were effective because we did not have a single injury or death with this storm,” Muller said.

Mike Mastin, Bemidji’s police chief and the city’s former emergency manager, praised Sherwood for how he handled what he says was a very difficult situation.

“It is a heavy weight and a big thing to carry to have all of this at once,” Mastin told the Bemidji City Council during a recent meeting. “You know, there’s multiple phones and radios and everything going off. The fact that he was aware enough to recognize immediately that this is going to grow and this is big, especially at 2 a.m. when there wasn’t a light on in the city and you couldn’t see anything anyway, but it was nice to be able to use some experience and help mentor Justin through this, and he did a fantastic job.”

The Bemidji Fire Department received help from all over the state, with several firefighters volunteering their time to help with the initial volume of calls. Chief Sherwood expressed his thanks to those who volunteered, not only for their assistance but also for the bonds that were made.

“One of the things I will never forget is when I walked into the station, right up against our fire engine was a gentleman’s cot,” said Sherwood. “It made me super proud that he was happy to be here on a cot, snuggling with our fire engine, if you will. And they were all smiles. I mean, there were stories of calls they get to go on, fellowship, staying up most the night talking and visiting with members that they’ve never met, and they were happy to do it.”

Despite suffering heavy damage to his own home, Muller continued to gather information and kept the public informed as much as possible about available resources. As everything now switches from emergency response to recovery, Muller wanted to highlight those in the community who helped a neighbor in need.

“We always say that we don’t want that dark day,” Muller said to the Beltrami County Board last week. “It was a dark morning, but then the sun came up, the clouds cleared, and we came together, and we are going to continue to move together.”

The demolition landfill and the Target tree debris disposal site will remain open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through July 6th, except for a one-day closure on July 4th. The Target site is not accepting commercial haulers, which must go to the demolition landfill.