SALCHA AREA FIRE PROTECTION
On average, the Salcha area loses 3-4 homes or structures to fire each year. Not only are these losses devastating to the home owners and their families; it also puts neighboring properties/structures in danger. Many of these losses could have been prevented, or at least minimized. Since 1991, the population of the greater Salcha area has nearly doubled, and so has the probability of losing another home—so as long as fire service continues to be absent in Salcha, each of us will continue to face the fear of losing everything
Several of our Salcha neighbors have formed a vision for fighting the fire dangers of living in rural Alaska. This initiative includes establishing a volunteer fire service that grows with the community. The sponsors of the initiative recognize we are not a rich community and any such fire service has to be within our economic means. It has to be a balance between a reasonable level of service and affordability. The sponsors do not want a fire department empire that exceeds the needs of the community. A comprehensive plan is being developed that will allow Salcha to establish a program that starts with an aggressive prevention program while building the capital to purchase two “attack” vehicles and one pumper/tanker to help multiple crews of 8 volunteer firefighters, to provide a rural fire fighting capability. That’s means the fire fighters will respond to a structure fire and will do everything short of entering the structure. By virtue of having this level of service, a mutual assistance agreement will be formed with neighboring fire service areas; and they can respond too; some of which are qualified to enter the structure. Further down the road, there may be sufficient interest to develop our service into a full fire fighting capability—up to and including life saving entry into a burning structure.
In the long term we will have a main fire station and 2-3 satellite warm-storage buildings. The satellite buildings will stage 1 or 2 attack vehicles. The main station will be home to the tanker and another attack vehicle. It will also be home to the Salcha Rescue EMS fleet.
So how can all of this be possible. The Salcha Rescue organization is prepared and willing to restructure its organization to integrate fire protection into their existing rescue organization. It would be led by a full time Fire/Rescue Chief, one part time deputy for each service, augmented by a part time administrator. Each of these positions are critical to residents reaping the insurance benefits of having a fire department, but more importantly, to have a protection service that is effective in its mission and safe for its cadre of volunteers.
The service area will generally share the same geographical description as the Salcha Rescue (EMS) service area. The service area will include all properties accessible by the Richardson Highway and all primary and secondary feeder roads starting at Mile 333; and south-eastward to Mile 3XX.? (formerly known as Silver Fox Road House). It is bordered to the south by the Tanana River; to the north-west by Eielson Air Force Base, and Eielson Farm Road (Happy Trail subdivision); and to the north-east by Ft Wainwright training areas. It includes Alyeska Pump Station #8 and nearly 22 miles of their Alaska Oil Pipeline. It does not include those properties up the Salcha River inaccessible by the roadways.
The sponsors believe a Salcha Fire Service Area can be funded through a levy of 1.8 mil in property tax; that equates to an additional $180 per $100,000 property valuation. For years Salcha Rescue has given us excellent service—there’s no doubt the same excellence can be achieved in fire protection.
A more comprehensive plan is currently being developed and will be available in the near future. In the interim we must publish our petition. The petition is to send the initiative to the voters in a special election. To get there we must get 50%, plus 1 of the property owners to sign the petition. Once it goes to the ballot, the registered voters of Salcha will make the final decision. If a majority of the voters that show up cast a vote in favor of the service area, we can start moving forward. Getting the initial petition signed will be our biggest challenge. Please join us in making this fire service area a true Salcha community fire service.
Proposed
Salcha Fire and Rescue Service District
The third organizational meeting of the above Service District will be held soon. Proposed boundaries for discussion will be:
1. 1. Eielson AFB as the boundary north to approximately two miles beyond the Midway Lodge for the south boundary.
2. 2. Eielson AFB as the boundary north to Richardson Roadhouse/FNSB boundary south.
The first two meetings were well attended and we believe that the majority of the members of our community desire and are willing to fund a fire service. We need your comments and suggestions – positive or negative, because the Salcha community will be involved in a petition drive soon to get this proposal on the ballot.
If you’re interested in knowing just how this volunteer organization will be funded, how it will be manned, and how it will combine with the excellent service we have at the present time in Salcha Rescue please attend:
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; 7:00 PM
If you are unable to come to the meeting on March 22, but want to offer your comments or volunteer your time in some way, you can e-mail Rob Weathers, EMTIII, Fire Project Officer, Salcha Rescue, at weathers@mosquitonet.com, or call him at 488-3696.
Wally and Yvonne Leavitt
5394 Ingrid Drive
Salcha, AK 99714