When Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack heard a call being dispatched shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, he had no idea of the magnitude.
"I thought maybe it's a guardrail or a piece," Clack said, recalling his initial reaction to the dispatcher announcing a bridge collapse on I-35.
In a calm voice, the first commander on the scene advised: "the 35 west is in the river."
The chief said he still couldn't fathom. "He was so calm and deliberate in what he was saying. I had no idea the scope of the disaster."
He was stunned what he saw from an adjoining span. "Surreal. It was surreal. It was like being on a movie set. I thought: 'Has this really happened?' "
The fire chief said a unified command system was initiated. "We've had a lot of training since 9-11. Other city officials have been involved. When you practice for a large scale incident, the stress is there. It (the exercises) sure paid off the other night. We have a great relationship with other agencies."
The command center was established in the parking lot of the Twin Cities Red Cross about two blocks away from the collapsed bridge.
"In the past six years, we've been involved in exercises. In addition to the fire department, the police, health department, public works and EMS have participated. We all know each other and our capabilities. And, they were all there where they needed to be."
NIMS was initiated, and the chief said having everyone on the same sheet of music made things work the way they'd planned.
"We had no radio problems. We were able to communicate with one another, even mutual aid companies who came in to help out."
Cell phone service was jammed for a while in the Twin Cities. "That's something that happens after for a few hours after any major event. It didn't affect us."
Staging areas were set on both sides of the bridge, and incoming crews reported there for assignments. "It was a tremendous effort."
While there was a recall of firefighters in Minneapolis, many off-duty personnel had already responded to lend a hand. Charleston experienced the same in June during the massive sofa store fire where nine bravest perished.
Clack said he was never more proud to see how civilians, police and rescue workers pulled together to help. "I saw people being carried up from the river in the back of pickup trucks. People were improvising. It was incredible??"
"I believe that tremendous cooperation is solely responsible for such a good outcome, and keeping the death toll down. It's certainly a miracle so many survived."
Six hours after the bridge collapsed, the incident turned from rescue to recovery. The chief said the decision was made after extensive searches.
A specially trained rescue team worked for more than nine hours Thursday to recover the body of a driver pinned in a rig crushed by part of the bridge. They literally disassembled the cab to extricate the man.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, the fire department relinquished control of the incident to law enforcement. "We're still on site. We still have crews in the river."
Clack said he and other agency commanders realize that the tabletop exercises were invaluable.
"We could have been overwhelmed. But, we stayed focused."
The chief said that first commander who gave the size up set the tone -- calm and deliberate.
