Minnesotans who helped in Florida's Hurricane Ian cleanup: "It's so important to serve others"

MINNEAPOLIS -- An incident management team from Minnesota played a major role in helping Floridians during the days that followed Hurricane Ian.

The "Minnesota All-Hazards Incident Management Team," a group of professionals from across the state, spent nearly three weeks away from home, performing a variety of tasks.

"When we arrived there, things were very high stress and very long days," said Zach Lundberg of the Isanti Fire District.

Long days and long missions. That's how a team of health care, fire and public safety professionals describe their time in DeSoto County, Florida. They set up a base camp, cleared debris, helped with food and water and offered support to locals dealing with wind and flood damage.

"They reached levels that were historic 500-year levels. Places that had never seen flooding before were well under water," said Chief Scott Gerber of the Eden Prairie Fire Department.

"This was the water line up there - right above the door," said Frank Mannella of Fort Meyers Beach. "There's no electricity, there's no water."

The Mannella family, who is from Anoka, said teams like this one helped them in the days following Hurricane Ian.

"We are so grateful for all the stuff and the people, it's been incredible to see how many people are here helping," said Christine Mannella.

While in Florida, the incident management team worked 12- to 15-hour days and when they were able to sleep they slept in bunk beds inside a trailer.

One of their jobs was to make sure police and other responders had their own place to sleep and were safe in the field. Kyra Crepin of Allina Health Emergency Management was touched by how grateful the locals were.

"There was a note left on my cot -- 'we are so grateful you are here, so grateful for your expertise.' And then offering to do our laundry," said Crepin.

It was the first emergency deployment for some team members. But they agree that it was a life-changing experience for all of them.

"I would definitely go on another deployment with this. It's so important to serve others," said Ryan Kelzenberg of Anoka County Emergency Management

The team said they served about 500 people with police services, the National Guard, and support staff, while also providing equipment and resources to locals.