By Teri Knight, News Director
Just before midnight last night, the Faribault Fire Department, Rice County Sheriff’s Office, State Patrol and North Memorial Ambulance responded to a structure fire at 18476 Eiler Ave. in Faribault. Heavy black smoke was coming out of the overhead door on arrival. Fire Chief Dustin Dienst said no one was inside the building at the time. Crews attacked the fire from the exterior of the structure initially, and then entered it. Very little fire was found inside. Ventilating the heat and smoke proved to be difficult as there are only two doors, one overhead door and one main door and they are both on the same side of the building. The building and its contents suffered extensive heat and smoke damage. Crews were on scene for 3 hours. Faribault Fire and the Fire Marshal investigated, those results
aren’t yet available. Dienst commented, “I am thankful that neither the homeowner or any first responders were injured at this large fire.” Structure Fire at 18476 Eiler Ave
“This won’t be over in 2 weeks” – RC Pub Health Dir.
Rice County Public Health Director, Deb Purfeerst, updated KYMN listeners on the Covid-19 situation. She said the social distancing and staying at home appears to be working, “and it’s probably one of our best defenses”. Without those mitigation efforts, Purfeerst said the hospital ICU’s would be overwhelmed as we’ve seen. She added, “I do want to emphasize, this is not going to be over in 2 weeks. This is going to be with us for a while. Again we don’t have no vaccine”. The CDC is now recommending that everyone wear masks as they go to the store, wherever there is a chance to meet people. This protects others from YOU. The virus is spread person to person by respiratory droplets and those in close contact. Governor Walz all but said yesterday that the Stay At Home order will remain till the end of April but there will be more defined changes. He’ll likely make that announcement this afternoon at 2pm in his daily briefing, which we plan to carry live. In the meantime, wash your hands for 20 seconds, cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze, don’t touch your face and, for those of you who are still working, if you’re sick, stay home! Her full interview is HERE.
Nfld Council meets via video, gets a jump on 2021 street projects
Last night the Northfield City Council met via video-conferencing and it was streamed live on the City’s website.While there were a few glitches, it went pretty smoothly as the City IT department got them all up and running. The public CAN conference call into meetings to make comments. Council approved the easements for Premier Bank construction and started the discussion of the 2021 street projects. Engineering Manager Sean Simonson said they wanted to get a jump on next years project after learning from the last 2 years that a late start costs money. There are 2 areas in the City. The Mayflower Hill area on the northeast side of town will be a reclamation project while there will be a mill and overlay, Simonson said, “on the east and west Frontage Road along Hwy 3. On the east side from Woodley to Jefferson and on the west side from Woodley St. to Riverview Dr.”. They had quite a discussion regarding additional work suggested including taking out the outdoor ice rink at the Arena and creating a parking lot, C. DeLong commented, “it would be my personal preference if we didn’t include the Arena and the Arena parking issues in a mill and overlay project at all. I think it just muddies the water”. Engineer Bennett explained that that was a thought toward “economy of scale” as businesses in the area complain about the overflow parking with events at the Arena. That was not included as council agreed that the area should be a separate issue. Mayor Pownell added this morning, “the council gave some direction last night to include also the E. Cannon River Trail connection on Honeylocust Dr. and that passed”. As this is a feasibility study, nothing is written in stone. Chief Nelson gave a covid-19 update. His presentation is here, it starts on the second page: City Council Supplemental Agenda Background Memo for April 7, 2020The Northfield Compost site opens today. They decided to open it a week earlier than planned. This information is on our Community News page .
