Northern News Now 

By Madisan Green 

TWO HARBORS, Minn. (Northern News Now) - As three major wildfires blazed more than 30,000 acres in Northeastern Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and Congressman Pete Stauber came to the Northland to see the damage.

Walz, Klobuchar and Smith were joined by several local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and briefed on the Brimson Complex wildfires at the Incident Command Center in Two Harbors Friday.

“Both Tina and I have spoken with the head of the USDA, which runs a lot of this,” said Klobuchar. “Brooke Rollins, the Secretary, she has pledged to help in any way. I put her in touch with the Sheriff when he needed aerial maps and I believe they sent them personally.”

On top of the federal support Democratic Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar have pledged to the crisis, Gov. Walz says the state plans to use its Disaster Contingency Account if federal funding does not come quickly enough.

“That account sets that $50 million a year to help for flooding, tornadoes, instances like this,” said Walz. “So just to reassure folks on this, it’s hard and certainly know that it’s going to be traumatic over the coming months, but the commitment to rebuilding is there.”

Minnesota Senator Grant Hauschild and Representatives Roger Skraba and Natalie Zeleznikar were also along for the tour with the Governor and Senators.

Congressman Pete Stauber, a Republican, also surveyed the damage on the southeastern fringe of Brimson and is also confident the state will receive federal funds.

“I’m pushing to make sure that we get this funding right away and the initial request came earlier this week, and FEMA’s getting it out the door,” said Stauber.

Stauber said he is proud of the community he serves opening their doors to their neighbors in need.

“I can walk into Hugo’s there and you see the people, whatever the firefighters need, whatever the law enforcement personnel need,” said Stauber. “This is really important. I think that we share, when it comes to the human spirit, we have it, we have it.”