Grand Portage Emergency Manager talks recruiting fire fighters and hazard mitigation

Emergency managers spend a lot of time, as Ruth Vogel put it, “planning for those worst case scenarios.” Vogel has held the emergency manager position in Grand Portage for the past four months. She spoke with WTIP about several updates from Grand Portage, and her work in collaboration with Cook County.

The Grand Portage Volunteer Fire Department is hosting a recruitment event on Oct. 9 from noon to 3 p.m. at the log building in Grand Portage. Vogel said that recently the department has had a difficult time maintaining a full crew. The recruitment event is an effort to engage with the community and let prospective volunteers find out more about what joining the department would entail.

She said, “We’re looking for people who want to be able to help keep their community safe. Because at the end of the day right now, if we have a house fire or something in Grand Portage, we are going to be depending on some external communities to help support us. And we want to be able to support ourselves, of course.” She added, “We do have some volunteer firefighting members in Grand Portage right now that show up and do the best they can, but it would be ideal to be able to get enough volunteers to handle it ourselves.”

In addition to working on strengthening the volunteer fire department, Vogel also told WTIP about an ongoing effort between Grand Portage and Cook County to update the Hazard Mitigation Plan. The two governments craft the plan together with input from Minnesota Homeland Security and the University of Minnesota

Vogel said that at this point in the process, the focus is on collecting community feedback. Residents can submit their feedback through a survey that aims to identify what people see as the most important threats to the area. The survey asks respondents to consider the following questions:

• What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community?

• Are there specific populations or assets in your community that you feel are more vulnerable to future storm events?

• What concerns do you have, and what sorts of actions do you feel would help to reduce damages of future hazard events in your community or the county as a whole?

Vogel said that the process will take about one year, so if residents don’t submit feedback immediately, there will be more time. That said, she encouraged community members to complete the survey in the next month, if possible. She added that while they would prefer that people use the survey form, if they aren’t able to complete the survey, residents can submit their thoughts directly to her or to Cook Count Emergency Manager Mike Keyport.

Vogel can be reached by email at ruth.vogel@grandportage.com, or by phone at (218) 248-5849.

Keyport can be reached by email at mike.keyport@co.cook.mn.us, or by phone at (218) 387-3059.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Grand Portage Emergency Director Ruth Vogel about a fire department recruitment event, as well as the opportunity for the public to offer feedback on the Hazard Mitigation Plan being crafted for Grand Portage and Cook County. Audio of that interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski October 4, 2024