University of Minnesota, St Louis County Extension held a free emergency preparedness workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Freya Thurmer, Extension Educator for St Louis County, and Seth Spencer, educator with UMD’s Climate Adaptation Partnership.
The workshop opened with an exercise based on the derecho that blew through the Boundary Waters on July 4th, 1999. A line of thunderstorms wielding wind-power of up to 100mph flattened over 750 miles of forest. The natural disaster was personally experienced by many in attendance to the workshop, and led to reflection on the intense emotions emergencies can evoke.
“Often, a county or a city has a really good plan…for making it to the hospital quickly, or to keep the major roads open,” said Spencer, “but your neighborhood is often very far down the line of priorities, so that’s where individual preparedness is really important.”
Climate projections for Ely are contributing to a changing disaster preparedness mindset. Since 1895, Ely’s winters have warmed about seven degrees on average, and Ely accrues 2.8 inches more precipitation annually.
“We’re getting more winter precipitation as rain, we’re getting more freeze-thaw cycles,” said Spencer, which impacts road wear, wildlife activity, and things like tick populations and spruce budworm in the region. The severity of thunderstorms is also rising, with more rain accumulation and higher flash flood risk. Evidence of this was seen in 2024, when Ely’s Echo Trail was washed out and stranded campers at Camp du Nord and Widjiwagen.
Wildfires are another disaster on the rise within Northern Minnesota, specifically having drastic affects on the air quality index.
“Unfortunately, all of the projections are that it’s probably not gonna get better, it’s gonna get worse; not so much from local fires, but from fires in Canada,” said Spencer.
Thurmer covered what emergency preparedness looks like in a small-town community.
“Preparedness starts with our communities…it’s the relationships you’ve built and who you feel comfortable with asking for help,” said Thurmer. This practice is community mapping, or a way to think thorough who is affected by the emergency, how they are affected such as elderly or immuno-compromised individuals, what these individuals need, what support systems exist already, and where the gaps are in the system.
“Thinking outward from there…who are your neighbors? Who do you trust? Who would check on you, and who are you checking on?” Thurmer broke it down into People, Physical and Communication Resources. People-based resources include neighbors with chainsaws, tractors; those with medical knowledge such as EMTs or nurses, and farmer/ homesteader folks who have experience growing food. Physical resources include water, food, back-up heating, and community meet-up locations in the event of an evacuation emergency. In a prolonged emergency, communication networks may be unavailable, and Thurmer encourages families to look at how they will get ahold of each other. Pre-established meet-up locations, phone trees with neighbors, social media groups, and alert systems such as Northland Alerts are great starting points. An excellent way to connect with neighbors, build community, and establish relationships prior to an emergency situation is to host a block party this summer.
An essential for any emergency preparedness is the go-bag, which Thurmer says should be tailored to each individual’s need.
Some ubiquitously useful items include matches, water bottles, a mask for smoke filtration, a first aid kit, and a NOAA weather radio that can be picked up from Merhar’s here in town.
For more emergency preparedness tips, Ely’s Emergency Plan can be found here: https://www.ely.mn.us/ emergency. Thurmer and Spencer will answer questions at [email protected] and [email protected].
