Governor Dayton Recognizes the Juneberry Firefighting Effort

Governor Mark Dayton listens to the fire report.

By: Josh Peterson

Governor Mark Dayton made a last minute visit to the Greenbush fire hall today. He stopped on his way from Thief River Falls to hear how our community was fighting the wildfire that started last Wednesday (5 days ago). The officials from the Minnesota National Resources had an extremely well laid out plan to show to the governor. I learned a lot in the 20 minutes that they were reporting.

Firefighters detailing the fire spread.

There is a reported 31,216 acres that have been burned; areas that are burning include the Salol fire, Juneberry fire, and the Cannon fire. The Juneberry fire is the largest by far with 28,673 acres burned. The Cannon fire comes in second with 2,388 acres and Salol with only 155 acres. The Juneberry fire is the only one that has any cost damage. The cost to date is $532,000 dollars. Mostly all of the fires have been contained. The Salol fire is completely contained and 95% of the Juneberry fire is under control which is good news as it is the largest.

Local and out-of-state firefighters accept the governors compliments.

Firefighters and other officials say the fires will be under full control in the next two days, if not tomorrow, for sure and Governor Mark Dayton gave his phone number out freely to anyone who would like to contact him to update him on the fire. The number can be found in the Middle River ‘Honker’. No fatalities have occurred and only one injury (a broken arm) is reported. Surprisingly enough, the smell of the northwestern fires can be smelt all the way down to Grand Forks and the skies have been foggy and cloudy ever since last Wednesday. After everything was said, Mark Dayton stepped up to address the men who were fighting the fire. He thanked them dearly and recognized their hard work and commitment. He was very charming and intellectual.