Alaska Fire Chief's Association

Please join us for the Alaska Fallen Firefighter Memorial Ceremony on Wednesday, September 11th at 6pm.

❌ BURN PERMITS SUSPENDED IN FAIRBANKS, DELTA & TOK ❌

DOF’s Fairbanks Area suspended burn permits on Wednesday, July 24 due to very-high fire danger. Burn permits remain suspended in Tok and Delta DOF Areas due to Extreme and Very-High Fire Danger. The Fairbanks, Delta, and Tok suspensions will remain in place until conditions change. Burning of debris piles or utilizing a burn barrel is prohibited. Please note that cooking and warming types fires are still allowed but extreme caution must be used due to high wildfire potential should an ember escape or a fire be left unattended or not completely put out.

Please check https://dnr.alaska.gov/burn or call your local area’s burn permit hotline for the most current updates.

📞 Tok – (907) 883-1413 ext. 2303
📞 Delta – (907) 895-5483
📞 Fairbanks – (907) 451-2631

State law requires those wanting to conduct any open burning on state, private and municipal lands from April 1 through Aug. 31 to get burn permits from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection either online or at your local Forestry office. This includes burning brush piles, using burn barrels, agricultural burning and burning of maintained lawns. Burn permits are NOT required for camping, cooking or warming fires less than three feet in diameter with flame lengths less than two feet high. However, it’s not suggested during windy days or when and where there are red flag warnings.

| |

SAFETY ADVISORY
Motorola XVE500 UL Div 2 Speaker mics are reporting failures in the PTT system.

Moose Pass Fire is looking for temporary or long-term use of an engine due to having an engine damaged during a recent break-in. Please pm Chief Ingersoll with any potential leads.

🔥 ALASKA is at PREPAREDNESS LEVEL 5 🔥
Sunday, June 30, 2024 at 8 p.m., the Alaska Interagency Coordinating Center moved Alaska to Preparedness Level 5, the highest level. Alaska has 163 active fires statewide and 23 new fires in just the last 24 hours.

Fire Managers determine preparedness level throughout the year to help assure that firefighting resources are ready to respond to new fires. The preparedness levels are dictated by fuel and weather conditions, fire activity, and the availability of firefighting resources. As the preparedness level rises from 1 to 5, more federal and state employees become available for fire mobilization as needed.

Preparedness Level 5 means that multiple units are experiencing fire starts or three or more project fires. Probability of ignition is high and burning conditions of extreme in all fuel types. Resistance to control is high to extreme and resistance to extinguishment is high. More than 75 percent of non-tactical resources are committed; more than 75 percent of tactical resources are committed to new ignitions. Existing weather patterns supporting fire activity is forecasted to remain for the next three to five days.

June 30, 2024 Riley Fire Evacuation Status:
The Tri-Valley Community Center is the Evacuation Information Center at Mile 0.5 Healy Spur Road in Healy.

Due to increased levels of initial and extended attack, as well as anticipated warm and dry weather Alaska Interagency Coordination Center moved to Preparedness Level to 3 ( ) at 1200 today, June 22. The highest level is 5.

For more information about wildland fire in Alaska, call 907-356-5511, or visit www.akfireinfo.com

Smokejumpers mobilize to new starts around the state Fire managers prepositioned additional resources at the Smokejumper Base on Fort Wainwright with warm temperatures and high lightning activity forecast. There is high demand for the 70 Alaska-based…

⚠ A Red Flag Warning has been issued for Saturday from 1pm to 10pm AKDT. Hot-dry-windy conditions will develop across the northern Copper River Basin and northern Susitna Valley.

‼ Please use caution when recreating outdoors or working with open flames🔥

Today is the last day of voting for the 2nd Vice President!

𝑽𝑶𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺 𝑻𝑶𝑫𝑨𝒀
Western Fire Chiefs Association is proud to endorse Fire Chief Dan Munsey for the position of 2nd Vice President of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). With his extensive experience and unwavering commitment to the fire service, WFCA strongly believes Chief Munsey embodies the values and leadership qualities crucial for advancing the IAFC's mission.
To read more about WFCA's endorsement and IAFC voting process please visit: https://tinyurl.com/WFCAEndorsement

FNSB emergency level 2 evacuation in effect for Tanana South Level 2 (SET) Evacuation is in effect for Tanana South, located west of the Tanana River at River Mile Marker 228-233.

Bill to ban toxic 'forever chemicals' in firefighting foams passes Alaska House and Senate The bill prohibits the use of firefighting foams containing a class of man-made chemicals known as PFAS, which have polluted drinking water across Alaska and the rest of the country. The legislation…

Good things happening in Cooper Landing.

Saturday was a huge day for our department as the first wave of Firefighter One candidates passed their skills tests and took their written exams. Even the "old timers" cannot recall how long it has been since our department held an official firefighter 1 class, possibly 2008 or before. We look forward to helping the 10 other FF1 students practice, study and test for their credential in the coming year. This has been a long road with several months of extra trainings and book work. It would not have been possible without instruction from Moose Pass Volunteer Fire Company and The State of Alaska Department of Fire and Life Safety.

We would also like to thank Hope-Sunrise Fire Department and Whittier Fire Department for studying along with us and help from several nearby departments for sending their firefighters all the way out to test out on these important skills as well as our hazmat skills test day.

We are forever grateful to the following departments for helping to make this happen and their continued support.

Seward Volunteer Fire Department
Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department
Central Emergency Services
Western Emergency Services
Girdwood Fire and Rescue
Southern Region EMS Council, Inc.
Soldotna Professional Firefighters
Butte Fire Department
Alaska State Fire Marshal's Office

Your AFCA is representing Alaska at the Congressional Fire Service Institute in Washington D.C. this week, advocating for fire and EMS issues that we face in Alaska.

AFCA was able to attend the rally on the State Capitol Building advocating for a defined benefits program.
It was fantastic to see such broad support for such a critical bill.

Kenai Fire Chief Set To Retire At End Of Month Kenai Fire Chief Tony Prior is set to retire after nearly 27 years with the department at the end of the month.

Have an opinion on how the new OSHA rules are going to impact your department?

OSHA has announced that the deadline for submitting comments has been extended to JUNE 21, 2024.
These rules will significantly impact smaller departments.
Let your voices be heard.

We pause today to remember one of Alaska's fallen and her memory.

Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the passing of Christine Pennington, one of EVFD's own. While responding to an emergency call, Christy was involved in a motor vehicle accident that tragically took her life and the life of her infant son, Johnathan. On this day and every day, we honor her memory 🔥

Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the line-of-duty death of Senior Fire Captain Jeffrey Bayless, who died while on duty in 2014. At the time of his death, he was performing an air management drill at the training center. Despite numerous paramedics and EMTs immediately on hand, lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful. Bayless was 51 and had been with the Anchorage Fire Department for 23 years.

Many of our current employees were hired after Bayless died and may not know that he played a pivotal role in the unification of our fire and EMS functions. Bayless was among a special cadre of new hires that were both experienced, certified firefighters and licensed Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic. As such, he (and others like him) helped pave the way for the high functioning dual role system we have today.

Previously, fire companies and ambulance crews worked out of the same fire stations and went on “medic assist” calls together, but that was the extent of the integration. There was no fire or EMS cross-training; EMS and fire each had their own leadership; and each had different uniforms and insignia.

Bayless loved his job as a paramedic and firefighter and knew the importance of his role in shaping the future of the AFD. We owe much to Bayless, his many contributions, and his lasting impact on those that knew him.

Juneau has an exciting new position open. We have a need for an ARFF Program Manager.
This is a very independent 40-hour-a-week position that oversees all the municipal airport ARFF operations.
If you have a background in program management and can work with groups of people, ensure operational readiness and manage data, this might be the right job for you.

🔎 Juneau ARFF job - Google Search

The Alaska Fire Chiefs Association passed a resolution to bring the President of the Alaska State Firefighters Association to our leadership summit each year. This initiative is to increase collaboration between both organizations and to ensure we are advocating together on the issues to improve our community and make the job safer for the folks on the line.

Pictured below are Forrest Kuiper and Bryan Vincent, the Presidents of both associations standing on the Alaska Capital steps last week.

The Alaska Fire Chief's Association had a successful leadership summit in Juneau this last week! A week of learning, networking, and advocating for our communities. Thank you to Capital City Fire Rescue for the logistical support and thank you to everyone that attended and contributed!

IF you are attending the Leadership Summit and need a ride from the airport, let Chief Etheridge know so we can make sure we have enough staff and vehicles at the airport. We hate to leave people on the corner waiting for rides. [email protected]

WFCA 2024 Economic Update by Anirban Basu.
Monday January 8th, 0715 Alaska Time

Has the Federal Reserve successfully engineered a soft landing? Or, is the confluence of geopolitical conflict, a presidential election, rising consumer debt levels, and still high interest rates conspiring to produce economic downturn in 2024? It is difficult to know whether 2024 will be a good year – but one thing is clear – it will be a very interesting one. This presentation will supply in-depth analysis of major factors shaping economic outcomes, including interest rates, global conflict, wage dynamics, business confidence, and demographics. It will then turn toward a forecast for the coming year, highlighting the major risks that economic stakeholders will likely encounter.

Anirban Basu is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., a Baltimore-based economic and policy consultancy he founded in 2004. He serves the Chief Economist function for many organizations, including the Maryland Bankers Association and Associated Builders and Contractors. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010. In 2022, he entered the Daily Record newspaper’s Circle of Influence. He is the Distinguished Economist in Residence at Goucher College, where he teaches History of Economic Thought. He holds four graduate degrees, including a J.D. and a Ph.D.

register.gotowebinar.com