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From YouTube: Dec. 26, 2019 Drake Hotel Fire Press Conference
Description
City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County and non-profit partners gave an update Dec. 26, 2019 to the response efforts to the Francis Drake Hotel fire.
A
A
There
were
250
people
that
were
housed
at
the
Drake
Hotel
all
250
people
that
are
no
longer
there
are
safe.
There
were
no
serious
injuries
and
thankfully,
due
to
the
wonderful
work
of
our
firefighters
and
our
fire
department,
they're
all
safe.
That
in
and
of
itself,
is
something
that
we
should
take
solace
in.
However,
those
250
lives,
they're,
forever
changed,
I'm
thankful
for
the
collaboration
that
we've
had
with
our
with
Hennepin
County
and
chair
Marion,
green
with
the
state
of
Minnesota
and
our
governor
and,
of
course,
with
our
nonprofit
partners.
A
The
Red
Cross
was
there
from
the
very
first
minute.
These
are
never
the
calls
that
you
want
to
get
at
4:45
in
the
morning,
but
when
you
do
get
those
calls,
it's
comforting
to
know
that
you've
got
a
team
around
you.
That
is
what
willing
to
step
up
and
address
these
really
serious
issues.
Very
important
player
on
that
team
is
our
residents
the
residents
in
the
city
of
Minneapolis,
in
Hennepin
County
in
the
state
of
Minnesota.
They
stepped
up
in
a
big
way
and
we're
so
proud
to
have
worked
with
them
as
well.
A
A
They
stepped
up
and
we're
continuing
to
ask
for
that
assistance
to
the
extent
that
you're
able
to
please
donate
by
texting,
Drake
fire,
all
one
word
to
two
43725
or
you
can
get
the
Minneapolis
foundation
link
through
my
Twitter
profile
and
I'm
sure
that
someone
from
the
Minneapolis
foundation
can
also
give
the
specific
address
where
they
can
go.
These
are
issues
that
require
everyone
coming
together.
A
It's
heartbreaking,
it's
tough,
but
we
have
a
whole
lot
of
people
that
are
galvanized
around
a
common
concept
and
and
that
common
concept
is
making
sure
that
every
single
person
is
safe
and
is
warm
and
we're
going
to
be
doing
everything
possible
to
make
sure
that
that
is
the
case.
As
I
mentioned
earlier,
we've
got
a
really
excellent
partnership
between
the
city
of
Minneapolis
and
Hennepin
County,
chair
Marian
Greene
has
been
obviously
at
the
forefront
as
well
as
Commissioner,
Connolly
and
I
just
want
to
thank
Commissioner
green
who
I'm
about
to
introduce
for
her
work.
A
B
Thank
You,
mayor,
Frey
and
I
do
want
to
just
thank
the
city
from
Minneapolis.
That's
really
stepped
up
in
the
last
couple
days
in
response
to
this
tragedy.
I
want
to
thank
everybody,
who's
been
interested,
who
you
know
it's
it's
a
common
moment
where
we've
come
together
to
care
about
our
fellow
neighbor
and
I,
want
to
thank
everybody,
who's
been
concerned
and
shared
either
worldly
goods
or
financial
goods,
and
thank
them
their
further
continued
support
and
interest.
B
And,
of
course,
the
people
who
are
experiencing
this
hardship
are
in
our
thoughts
and
prayers
on
an
ongoing
basis.
I
want
to
just
ground
everybody
in
kind
of
a
you
know,
very
high
level
of
emergency
response.
Emergency
responses
tend
to
come
in
in
three
stages.
The
first
stage
is
emergency.
It's
about
basic
needs
and
safety.
The
second
stage
is
about
temporary
housing
and
making
sure
that
people
have
the
paperwork
that
they
need.
B
The
documents
that
help
us
all
in
our
lives
and
then
the
third
stage
is
about
permanent
housing
and
helping
people
rebuild
and
get
back
to
life
as
normal
I
want
to.
Thank
everybody.
Who's
been
a
part
of
the
response.
So
far
we
have
firefighters,
paramedics,
police,
all
the
first
responders
have
just
been
incredible,
and
the
city
of
Minneapolis
and
Hennepin
County,
obviously
there's
a
close
partnership
there
and,
of
course,
an
American
Red
Cross,
who
are
a
go-to
organization
and
times
like
this,
so
I
want
to
say
thank
you.
B
It's
an
amazing
effort
and
represents
incredible
collaboration
and
has
a
particular
poignancy.
Since
yesterday
many
people
were
celebrating
Christmas
and
I.
Think
that
takes
particular
acknowledgement.
We're
here
to
answer
all
the
questions
that
we
can.
We
want
to
be
transparent
and
helpful
to
the
best
of
our
ability.
We
want
to
keep
you
informed.
C
Absolutely
so
Phil
Hansen
pH
ILH,
a
NECN
Regional,
Executive,
American,
Red,
Cross
Minnesota.
So
clearly
we
had
a
very
tragic
day
yesterday
for
many
families.
We
were
doing
all
weekend
with
a
great
group
of
partners
to
help
provide
assistance
to
these
families.
Right
now,
our
focus
truly
with
the
Red
Cross
has
been
on
emergency
shelters,
so
we've
got
a
shelter
open
and
we're
so
thankful
to
Bethlehem
Baptist,
who
has
been
the
shelter
location
for
us.
They
have
done
they've
been
amazing
there
to
help
support
and
work
with
us
to
help
support
these
families.
C
I'm
so
thankful
to
the
Bethlehem
Baptist
Church
to
emergency
management,
to
Hennepin
County
to
all
of
our
team
members.
We've
been
working
so
closely
with
Public
Health
coming
together
yesterday
last
night
and
today
to
make
sure
that
these
families
are
getting
all
Orton
help
that
they
need.
It's
a
good
amazing
turnout
and
our
community,
not
just
on
Christmas
Day,
but
every
day
turns
out
this
way
to
help
one
another
and
we're
so
thankful
for
the
good
support
that
we
get.
C
D
D
The
structure
of
the
building
is
such
that
the
roof
now
gone
and
the
third
floor.
Now
gone
are
what
was
holding
the
walls
of
the
building
in
place,
so
between
that
those
structures,
pieces
of
the
structure
no
longer
being
present
and
the
water
and
other
loads
trying
to
push
out
the
walls
of
the
building.
We
observed
that
some
of
the
tie
backs
that
were
installed
some
time
ago
to
hold
the
wall.
The
walls
to
the
floors
of
the
building
were
bowing
we're
giving
way.
D
We
also
observed
some
loose
bricks
and
those
were
signs
to
us
that
the
structure
was
not
safe
for
the
general
public,
and
so
we
have
directed
a
contractor
to
mobilize
and
to
proceed
with
the
demolition
of
the
East
portion
of
the
building
and
to
evaluate
what
they
find
as
they
complete
that
work.
So
this
is
an
ongoing
process.
I'm
sure
you
will
have
questions
and
we
will
know
a
lot
more
as
the
contractor
gets
started.
D
The
contractor
is
working
with
our
fantastic
city
teams
in
Public,
Works
and
other
places
to
make
sure
that
traffic
plans
are
taken
into
account,
that
utilities
are
disconnected
and
we
will
have
much
more
information
on
the
schedule
as
the
contractor
gets
mobilized,
so
they'll
be
mobilizing
and
then
they
will
be
proceeding
to
demolish
the
east
portion
of
the
building,
and
you
will
see
all
that
in
the
next
day
to
two
days.
Thank
you.
E
E
We
have
had
staff
that
have
gone
out
there
today
to
begin
to
assess
for
needs
for
people
to
offer
financial
assistance
where
needed,
and
to
look
at
some
housing
navigation
and
some
other
options
for
families
and
individuals
that
were
previously
at
the
Drake
moving
forward
over
the
next
three
to
five
days.
We
really
are
going
to
be
working
on,
particularly
in
our
family
shelter
system,
the
Drake
served
as
the
overflow
for
our
family
shelter
system.
E
So,
as
our
family
shelters
filled
up,
the
Drake
was
there
to
accept
people
who
had
no
other
places
to
go
so
over
the
next
few
days,
we
will
be
running
a
simultaneous
system
whereby
we'll
be
assisting
new
families
that
are
coming
into
the
system
to
get
shelter
that
otherwise
might
have
had
to
go
to
the
Drake
and
we'll
be
helping
move
people
from
the
current
shelter
sites.
That
people
move
to
in
order
to
get
them
to
some
more
secure
setting
in
the
long
term,
we're
gonna
continue
to
assess
needs
of
people.
E
F
Hello,
I'm
Brian
Tyner,
the
assistant
chief
of
administration
for
the
Minneapolis
Fire
Department
I'm,
here
to
talk
about
a
little
bit
about
the
fire
department's
involvement
in
this
fire.
Yesterday
we
responded
to
a
call
for
fire
at
this
building
at
about
3:00
a.m.
yesterday
morning,
fire
crews
were
able
to
respond
and
work
quickly
on
getting
residents
evacuated
from
the
building
crews,
put
up
ladders
to
help
residents
out
from
the
upper
floors,
and
that
was
all
successful.
F
We
were
able
to
get
everyone
out
of
the
building
successfully
and
thankfully
alive
after
that
we
worked
on
trying
to
suppress
the
fire
which,
when
we
got
there,
we
found
to
be
in
four
units.
On
the
second
floor,
we
were
able
to
knock
that
fire
down
the
bulk
of
that
fire
down
relatively
quickly,
but
when
we
were
doing
overhaul,
we
were
found
that
the
fire
had
already
extended
into
the
into
the
attic
area
below
the
roof
the
fire
spread
through
there.
F
We
found
after
a
little
while
that
it
was
getting
to
the
point
where
we
were
not
able
to
going
to
be
able
to
fight
that
fire
from
within
the
building.
So
we
changed
strategies
came
outside
to
what
we
call
a
defensive
strategy
where
we
set
up
our
water
monitors
and
started
pouring
water
on
the
building
from
the
outside.
F
We
continue
to
do
that
for
approximately
the
next
32
hours
and
we
finally
finished
up
at
about
12
o'clock
this
afternoon,
once
we
finally
got
to
the
fire
put
out,
the
building
official
came
and
did
his
assessment
and
and
you've
already
talked
to
him,
but
basically
that's
where
we
are
at.
We
are
very
thankful
that
everybody
was
able
to
get
out
of
this
building
alive,
especially
considering
the
time
of
the
morning
that
the
fire
occurred
in
the
amount
of
people
that
were
in
the
building.
F
Secondly,
I'd
like
to
take
this
time
to
thank
on
behalf
of
the
Minneapolis
Fire
Department,
that
many
people
who
have
been
generous
and
making
donations
to
the
victims
of
this
tragic
event.
People
have
really
come
out
with
an
outpouring
of
support
and
we
are
very
thankful
for
that.
We
have
also
put
on
the
fire
department's
Twitter
page,
the
Minneapolis
Foundation
link.
If
anybody
would
like
to
make
monetary
donations,
they
can
find
that
there
finally
I'd
like
to
take
the
opportunity
to
thank
the
firefighters
that
have
been
working
at
this
for
the
last.
F
G
Good
afternoon
I'm
Joanne
stately
Jo
capital,
a
and
n
e
s,
ta
te
ly
I'm
the
director
of
impact
strategy
for
the
Minneapolis
Foundation,
on
behalf
of
our
president
and
CEO
RT
Rybak
and
our
senior
vice
president
Shonda
Smith
Baker.
We
wish
to
express
our
our
thanks
to
the
first
responders
who
are
dealing
with
these
families
who've
experienced
from
the
most
tragic
impact
in
their
lives
of
the
yesterday.
As
a
Minneapolis
foundation
at
times
and
areas
of
crisis,
we've
had
the
opportunity
to
to
launch
our
Minnesota
helps
fund.
G
This
isn't
the
first
time
that
we've
created
this
fund.
We've
done
it
in
the
past
when
we
had
the
bridge
collapse
and,
most
recently
when
we
had
the
tornado
impact
in
North
Minneapolis
as
a
foundation,
we
have
a
unique
role
to
play
when
we
work
in
partnership
with
the
city
of
Minneapolis
and
with
Hennepin
County
and
yesterday
afternoon,
in
conversations
with
the
city
in
particular,
and
also
with
the
county
we
launched
this
fund.
G
It
is
our
goal
to
raise
over
a
million
dollars
to
support
the
individuals,
families
and
the
service
organizations
that
are
attempting
to
help
people
put
their
lives
back
together
under
this
most
difficult
time.
As
of
2:00
o'clock
p.m.
today,
we've
raised
over
90
million
dot.
Ninety
thousand
dollars,
which
it
was
90
million.
Ninety
thousand
dollars
with
a
thousand
donors-
and
this
just
goes
to
demonstrate
the
generosity
of
this
community
and
individuals
who
want
to
help.
G
G
We
are
fully
aware
of
the
work
of
addressing
homelessness
in
this
community,
and
this
is
a
long-term
need
that
we
have
so
while
our
goal
is
to
raise
dollars
in
this
short
term,
to
help
the
individuals
and
families
in
those
organizations,
it's
also
a
goal
to
raise
dollars
for
the
long
term
that
people
need
to
have
permanent,
stable
housing.
So
this
isn't
just
more
shelter.
This
is
actually
helping
to
stabilize
our
families.
G
This
is
a
long-term
effort,
one
that
we've
all
been
in
for
a
number
of
years.
We
hope
that
we
could
really
conquer
this
issue
of
homelessness,
particularly
for
our
most
disadvantaged
individuals
and
families
in
our
community
and
again,
we
want
to
extend
our
condolences
to
them
personally,
on
behalf
of
our
foundation
and
our
board
of
directors.
I
also
just
want
to
re-emphasize
the
need
for
cash
donations
and
I
also
say
to
the
Red
Cross
as
well,
but
we
have
set
up
the
fund.
G
You
can
either
go
directly
to
our
website
and
hit
the
donate
button
or,
as
the
mayor
pointed
out,
we
have
a
special
hashtag,
for
you
can
do
it
on
your
phone
Drake
fire
all
capital,
letters,
Drake,
fire,
two,
four,
three,
seven,
two.
Five
and
again,
we
appreciate
all
the
work.
That's
been
done
again
with
the
first
responders
and
we
look
forward
to
this
partnership
as
we
move
through
this
all
together.
Thank
you.
C
Yes,
so
we
have
an
addition
actually
to
additional
locations
that
have
stepped
forward
to
say
that
we
can
have
higher
shelter
there,
and
so
it's
very
likely
that
we're
going
to
move
people
on
at
some
point
to
those
locations
after
Saturday
or
on
Saturday.
So
we
will
be
open
till
the
sheltering
people
come
after
the
Saturday
time
frame
in
a
different
location,
though.
C
E
C
G
C
Yeah,
it's
a
great
question.
Our
partners
at
dot
on
council
and
di
D
are
helping
us
to
go
through
those
items
and
determine
an
equitable
way
to
get
those
out
to
the
families.
So
they've
been
they're
being
gone
through
right
now,
and
we're
gonna
find
out
final
way
to
make
sure
we
match
them.
If
the
family's
needs
and
then
get
those
into
the
hands
of
both.
D
Let's
see
so,
the
question
is
I
think
I
heard
was:
where
are
we
on
the
discussion
about
retrofitting
older
buildings
for
sprinklers?
My
understanding
is,
it
is
state
law
that
what
the
building
code
was
at
the
time
that
a
building
was
constructed
is
what
is
required
and
that
there
have
been
attempts
in
the
past
to
get
the
legislature
and
the
governor
to
agree
to
modify
that
and
those
attempts
have
not
been
successful.
D
We've
obviously
had
two
recent
tragedies
that
have
made
your
question,
one
that
a
lot
of
people
are
asking,
so
we
are
talking
to
within
the
city
enterprise
and
with
partners
and
to
some
legislators,
I
think
to
sound
out
the
possibility
of
that
law
changing.
But
in
the
meantime,
it's
a
discussion
and
nothing
more.
D
Again,
my
understanding
is:
it
is
state
law
that,
if
we
wanted
to
and
I'll
speak
for
the
city,
if
we
wanted
to,
we
could
not
require
older
buildings
that
were
built
under
a
different
Building
Code
and
complied
with
the
code
they
were
built
under.
We
could
not
require
them
to
install
sprinklers
if,
unless
the
state
law
changed.
E
B
E
B
Think
that
so
our
county
staff
inspect
everywhere
that
we
contract
with,
and
so
that
will
continue
to
be
a
part
of
our
process
and
I
think
we'll
start
to
we'll
begin
to
look
at
what
makes
sense
in
terms
of
features
like
this.
If
we
I
mean,
as
we've
alluded
to
to
recent
tragedies,
so
it's
very
much
on
our
minds.
D
I
can
tell
you
that
we
have
reached
out
to
the
owners
of
the
building
to
let
them
know
about
our
decision
to
demolish
the
East
part
of
the
building,
and
we
will
be
working
with
them
to
coordinate
right
after
after
the
demolition
and
after
the
public
safety
is
guaranteed,
we
will
be
taking
a
big
step
back
and
it
is
private
property
with
all
the
regular
rules
and
requirements,
and
it
will
be
up
to
the
owner
about
what
happens
next.
After
that.
F
So
no
it
wasn't
the
same
firefighters
out
there
for
32
hours.
We
rotate
crews
through,
so
that
no
one
crew
has
to
do
too
much
work
or
is
out
there
for
too
long.
But
with
that
being
said,
fire
like
this
really
does
take
an
emotional
toll
on
firefighters,
I'm
sure
it's
one
of
those
fires
that
that
everyone
who
was
involved
with
it
will
remember
probably
for
the
rest
of
their
careers,
if
not
for
the
rest
of
their
lives,
and
so,
and
so
it
does
take
a
toll
in
that
way.
I.
F
Think
you're
burned
that
long,
because,
first
of
all,
the
the
age
of
the
building,
the
way
it
was
constructed
and
once
the
fire
gets
into
that
chimney
area
and
the
roof
starts
to
collapse.
Those
collapse
pieces
tend
to
cover
up
areas
of
fire
that
makes
it
hard
for
us
to
get
to
because
of
the
collapse
hazard.
We
weren't
able
to
go
in
there
and
make
a
really
targeted
attack
at
the
fire
and
get
at
the
seat
of
the
fire.
F
F
E
Sure
this
is
a
tremendous
strain
on
our
community.
That's
already
facing
a
real,
affordable
housing
crunch,
so
it
will
be
tough
to
overcome.
We
have
a
lot
of
good
things
coming
on
board
many
of
you've
heard
about
the
exodus
2.0
project,
that
is
another
affordable
housing
project,
but
that
is
a
bit
down
the
road,
and
so
this
is
a
real
challenge
for
us.
We
do
have
a
supportive
housing
strategy
in
place
to
try
to
develop
more
programs,
but
that
will
take
time.
E
Well,
what
we
contract
for
with
the
Drake
is
overflow
for
family
shelter,
so
what
we
know
is
that
there
were
probably
between
30
and
33.
We
think
around
32
families
that
were
there
as
part
of
our
family,
shelter,
overflow,
the
remaining
individuals
that
were
there,
the
single
adults
or
other
families
would
have
been
there
on
their
own
private
pay.
Some
of
those
certainly
may
have
been
involved
with
our
homeless
system
from
time
to
time.
We
are
assessing
that
as
we
meet
with
people,
but
whether
they
were
or
weren't
a
part
of
our
homeless
system.
C
E
G
Ninety
thousand,
as
of
too
late
yesterday
afternoon,
but
we
really
pushed
it
out
this
morning,
yeah
yeah
I'm,
moving
there
about
twenty
four
hours,
that's
a
pretty
good
response,
and
also
I'd
like
just
to
add
to
that
that
we've
already
made
a
grant
to
one
of
the
service
organizations
to
harbor
lights,
and
we
hope
to
me
make
another
one.
This
afternoon
we
want
to
get
the
dollars
out
as
rapidly
as
we
can
and
there's
no
fees
or
whatever
the
contributions
are.
It's
a
hundred
percent
of
the
donation
that
goes
out.
G
So
right
now
we're
looking
at
kind
of
the
the
organizations
that
have
been
doing
this
business
and
first
responders
the
people
that
know
what
to
do.
That's
right
on
the
ground
and
right
now
we're
targeting
the
dollar
specifically
for
the
services
and
for
direct
support
for
the
families,
as
we
make
this
request
to
other
funders
that
they
may
have
some
other
ideas
and
might
want
to
provide
some
other
guidelines
again
for
the
long
term.
But
those
haven't
been
developed.
Yet.
B
So
for
many
folks
who
are
living
at
the
Drake,
their
lives
were
in
their
hotel
rooms,
and
so
they
are
working
to
rebuild
their
lives
and
and
oftentimes
to
engage
with
the
state
or
the
county.
You're
asked
for
documentation
of
who
you
are
or
so
on,
and
so
some
of
that
is
is
having
that
first
certificate
or
that
driver's
license.
Additionally,
folks
had
EBT
cards
that
presumably
are
lost
now,
and
so
we
want
to
replace
those
kind
of
as
quickly
as
possible
without
having
people
jump
through
hoops
again
to
get
those
cards.