The Crookston Fire Department held a meeting Tuesday night for their Ward Captains and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members to go over the preparations that are underway in case of a high-water event in Crookston said Crookston Fire Chief and Emergency Manager Tim Froeber. “We had our Ward Captains and our CERT members meet down at the Fire Department to discuss some flood preparation activities we would be requesting them to do,” said Frober. “Our Ward Captains are identified people from each ward that has helped us run the command post over the years in high water events. Our CERT members are people that we have trained to help us out in several other types of emergencies. They all went through a 40-hour course.”
After discussing the plans that have already been set in motion, the members went to each of their command posts reviewing equipment and forms and creating lists of additional supplies that would be needed. “In all, we probably had 35-40 people here and talked about stuff the City is doing. And also stuff we would have them help us with – working in sandbag lines, command posts, EOC, registration if we have an evacuation. They are very well versed in all these programs and at the conclusion, they all went to their ward command posts to go through the equipment – lifejackets, ropes, radios – and familiarize themselves with that and all the paperwork in there.”
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Ward Command Posts and the CERT teams would not only be activated during a potential high-water event but are also prepared for any other large scale natural disaster. Each Ward has a firefighter representative assigned to their command post. “Each of the wards has a firefighter representative,” said Froeber. “Ward 1 is Justin Johnson, Ward 2 is Shane Heldstab, Ward 3 is Brian Hanson, Ward 4 is Bob Magsam, Ward 5 is Kent Ellingson and Ward 6 is Chris Klawitter. If anyone out there would like to assist with any of this, you can call the fire department and we’ll get you on the list to help out at the ward command posts.”
If the EOC and Ward Command Posts are open the Crookston Fire Department and the City of Crookston will share information on their locations and resources via KROX and other media outlets, social media and through the Everbridge Emergency Alerts. Residents can sign up for emergency alerts by going to www.co.polk.mn.us and following the prompts near the middle of the page to register for the Polk County Emergency Alert Program.
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