There are many people that read this blog that don’t live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Some that don’t live in the Minnesota. This morning the only news in the Twin Cities is the collapse of the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. It is a terrible, terrible tragedy. I’ll defer to this morning’s Star Tribune newspaper for details. You can click this link to read this morning’s report: Star Tribune.com
We did not send our Police and Fire to the scene last night. Instead, we backfilled for public safety agencies in Edina, Minnetonka and Bloomington that did report to the scene. There’s always an urge for people in the public safety disciplines to rush to the scene. Their hearts tell them to help, and to get there fast. But sometimes the right thing to do is to stay back and be ready to help when asked. As it turns out, that was the right thing to do last night. This morning, we were requested by the Minneapolis Police Department to assist them with perimeter security around the bridge area. We currently have twelve Eden Prairie police officers assisting with that task today.
For those of us who drive in the Twin Cities, this bridge is a major facet of life. Until yesterday, it was one of those facets of life that most of us probably didn’t think much about. It was just there. It’s always been there. And it always worked. I’ve driven over it hundreds of times in my life. My wife and youngest son drove over it yesterday about 20 minutes before the collapse. I’m sure there are lots of stories like that being shared in work places and homes all over the Twin Cities today.
My prayers go out to the victims of the accident, and also to their families and friends.
