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Fire was an example of a critical public sector success

While a number of questions remain to be addressed in the aftermath of the fire at Earth Recycling, some are more valid than others.

Valid questions remain about the oversight of the property, potential changes to regulation to prevent a worse fire in similar facilities in the future, and such technical things as the exact source of the fire. These things are likely to be addressed or answered in the future.

However, concerns circulating widely online and in conversation around town that there were errors or mismanagement in suppressing the fire appear to have little basis in fact. Misconceptions are probably driven by optics and by chatter over the airwaves by firefighting teams, which is generally going to be out of context. So far, though, these do appear to be misconceptions.

Since the fire, Minot Daily News has inquired and found departments and individuals entirely open and willing to talk, rightly offering complete transparency. The response times in different phases from Minot rural fire were very good. Communications appears to have been very good. Agreements in place with other area departments worked as drawn up. For those who ask, yes, City of Minot fire was part of the team and remained available should the other responding departments have needed it. Contrary to what some might believe, even in the event of a large fire such as this one, all departments and crews within range do not immediately rush to the site. That would lead to chaos. There are systems in place.

All signs as of now point to those systems working. Able fire crews subsequently did a very good job preventing the fire from being worse. Here we have an example of a critical public sector success.

Thanks are due to all of the firefighting personnel for a job well done. Criticism is a constant, but it appears unwarranted in this case.

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