Mayor Sullivan Supports Big Wild Life (from the couch)
Mayor Dan Sullivan promised to end the unpopular ‘rolling closures’ that shuttered fire stations in Anchorage on alternating days last year. Now that cost-saving measure has been replaced with another one that will trim $150,000 from the Fire Department’s budget. These are tough times, you know. Or so the Mayor says.
Even though the city fund balances are all peachy keen now after their disastrous levels in 2008, the Mayor’s red pen feels the need to keep cutting. This time it is the special rescue teams. Why? Some say it is because overtime has amounted to far more than they’d calculated. Why? Because there aren’t enough personnel to cover the required positions, especially when people call in sick, die, retire or go on leave. Why? Because the Mayor hasn’t authorized the Fire Academy to begin training new recruits. That would cost money and remember, he was elected to not spend our money.
The timing on this should be just about right. Conservative takes over administration. Conservative breaks stuff and under-funds services. Conservative is voted out. Progressive inherits a big fat mess to clean up. Conservative says “See? Government sucks, and it doesn’t work, and it’s a big mess. And no I’m not going to help you clean up my mess because you’re doing it wrong!” Conservative sits in corner pouting and whining and stomping its feet. We’ve seen it play out on the local, statewide and national level over and over.
How many other US cities have to worry about rescuing people from icy waters, snatching tourists and reckless kids from sticky mudflats, find injured hikers, or deal with avalanche victims? Fresno? Not so much. But in Anchorage, where our city slogan is “Big Wild Life” we actually use these services and rely on them to save our lives, and the lives of those who come to visit our state. We rely on them when we’re out in the back country, or when we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – like on the Seward Highway during an avalanche. The Fire Department special teams who provide these services are trained and equipped – ready to go 24/7. Yes, team personnel receive extra pay. Yet the Mayor had the chance to cut even more than his targeted $150,000, by accepting the union’s offer to reduce some of that extra pay. Why didn’t he accept?
More important, why isn’t the city asking for reimbursement from the Troopers for each wilderness rescue? After all, they are the ones who have to give the OK before the AFD can respond, every time a call comes in. Without reimbursement, we will end up with duplication of effort and slower service. If the Troopers agree to do wilderness rescues in Chugach State Park, the AFD will still need a rescue team to handle calls like bear maulings in Far North Bicentennial Park.
Here are a couple interesting internal memos that sum it up pretty well.
AFD memo Special Operations & Rescue Responses 17 Feb 2010
AFD memo Special Operations Reductions(b) 17 Feb 2010
AFD special team reductions guidelines Feb 2010
I’ll translate for those who don’t want to dive in. This is what we’re telling the people who are trained, ready and able to do the hard work of saving people’s lives summed up in a 10-point plan.
1) We’re not going to pay you extra to be trained to do all this really important stuff, or to participate in the team that does all this really important stuff, BUT…
2) You will be expected to do it anyway if to the Troopers tell you to. So make sure you’re prepared. We’re not training any more people, and only trained people can use all the equipment. Should we reinstate the teams you will be able to re- apply, if you keep up your certification, which we won’t be paying for.
3) The Swift Water team will be off line until breakup.
4) The Dive Team will be a skeleton crew only, but there is no actual watercraft available for use in Cook Inlet.
5) The Wilderness Rescue Team is off line indefinitely.
6) We’re also cutting people from the HazMat, High Angle, and Urban Search and Rescue teams, like the structural engineers that nobody really needs anyway, right?
7) The Duty Officer will make the decision about whether to answer someone’s rescue call. And remember, there is no seaworthy craft available for Cook Inlet rescues so they will have all be done from the shore by using ‘rope throw bags.” So, you may want to make sure you’re working those deltoids and biceps, which will allow further distances when heaving rope.
8. We will continue to provide ‘non-technical’ operations with the rope throw bags that you can use to rescue people. It’ll be really useful to save those on the ice as long as our implements can reach that far from the shore. We’ll even have some motorized equipment if you have an emergency that is conveniently located on a city trail or park, but NOT in the wilderness. We’ve got that motorized equipment stored right near by, close to the backcountry areas where we most often use it. But we’ve decided to move it all somewhere else farther away.
9) When 9-1-1 calls are received from inconvenient wilderness locations outside the Anchorage Fire Service Area, the dispatcher will first call the Alaska State Troopers to ask if they want us to respond, like we’ve been doing all along. Since they don’t really have the ability to respond, and they’re usually pretty busy, they always say, ‘Yes.’ Then, the request will be forwarded to the Duty Officer to decide whether to respond or not.
10) Thanks for your understanding about all this. We’re just really sure that nothing bad will happen, and we’ll continue to do just fine as long as something bad doesn’t happen, which it probably won’t. And think of all the money we’ve saved, and how people will begin to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to make our city a better place.
I’m imagining a letter coming from Mayor Sullivan. You can imagine it with me. It goes something like this:
Dear Anchorage Resident or Tourist,
Do not take a boat out into Cook Inlet farther than you think someone can throw a rope with a bag on the end of it.
If you insist on having a heart attack while enjoying our beautiful state, please do so only on designated and maintained trails within the Anchorage Fire Service Area.
If you do enjoy the back country, make sure to avoid all bears, moose, bodies of water, inclement weather, avalanches, giardia, dehydration, disorientation, general illness, firearms, poison berries, tripping, sharp implements like wood saws and Swiss Army knives, hypothermia, conking yourself on the head, and other activities of a similar nature. If you do encounter an emergency situation, just let someone know and they will contact the troopers and they will tell someone to contact the fire department’s DO and they will decide whether to respond to you.
If this takes too long, we hope your last thoughts as you lie there looking at the sky, or the snow, are gratitude for living in a free society where we all take personal responsibility for our actions, and don’t rely on the government to bail us out if we do something dumb like getting mauled by a bear or buried by an avalanche. And think how much money we’ve saved! And if you do manage to survive somehow, Mayor Sullivan would appreciate your vote next time.
Don’t forget to enjoy Anchorage’s Big Wild Life!
Warmest Wishes for your continued health and happiness,
The City of Anchorage, brought to you by Mayor Dan Sullivan
Maybe it’s time for safety minded Alaskans to start enjoying the Big Wild Life from the couch.
Oy, vey!
I agree with thatcrowwoman. And here, in my fair city, a second wilderness response team has just started itself up ( http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/022310/loc_566537440.shtml )
Is he purposefully trying to decrease the population levels? I’ve never heard of anyone dropping a population by way of attrition or by “natural selection.”
What a doozy of a dolt!
Un-freakin’-believable.
There are actually many volunteer organizations in the SouthCentral region that are much more qualified to do wilderness rescue than the AFD. AFD are not trained to be wilderness rescuers or searchers, and they waste more time than they save in being faster to respond. I think this was a wise move by Sullivan. We never needed the wilderness team to begin with, and we spent how much outfitting the FD with snowmachines, 4 wheelers, etc.
Just because Sullivan does it doesn’t mean it’s automatically wrong.
AFD does go through training for these things, and those that do them have certification to do so.
Volunteers should be applauded, and many are indeed selfless and competent. They save lives. But I don’t think there are volunteers who handle, or would be allowed to handle HazMat situations for instance.
I want to know that there is someone paid 24/7 to handle these types of situations. However qualified volunteers may be, there is no guarantee that they will be available around the clock.
Anchorage voted in Dan Sullivan to cut the budget, and that’s what he’s doing. I just wish he would have cut it from … spending $50,000 to sue to federal government over the beluga whales, or spending $50,000 on repeats of city audits, or spending $12,000 to pay himself for being “mayor elect” when we were already paying Matt Claman to be mayor. I could go on, but you get the idea.
AKM
Daddy says, “Some people have more money than sense.” Mayor Sullivan has the money (budget), but needs a heaping helping of sense.
but then again, I’m a lefty-liberal-outdoorsy-tax-paying-public-school-librarian-union-activist-voter, so who am I to say? (Tax-paying voter, that’s who!)
Brothers and sisters in Anchorage and environs, you have my sympathy. For what it’s worth, you’ve got plenty of company suffering the consequences of similar stupidity in my neck of the woods.
We have our work cut out for us…but We. Don’t. Quit.
Dear Mud….your comments and interpretation of the recent fire department cuts and the MOA’s position is right on the mark…so to speak (what with Mark being the Mayor’s “man” in the Fire Chief’s chair….)
Wonder if ACVB would like some revenue: would they take this article and publish it? (…for a fee of course…) Would the cruise ships and the AK Railroad (if it’s still operating) like the tourist publications to tell everyone that we’re saving money like crazy (at the risk of their lives should they encounter problems)? And here’s a shot for attorneys to make some more money….are the Duty Officers who will decide whether to rescue some injured or lost soul at personal risk of being sued for bad, possibly fatal results of their decisions? After all, like the Mayor and the Fire Chief, they KNOW the potential…So many questions, so few answers….
I assume Sarah has asked God as a personal favor to send any big waves or earthquakes to Alaska as long as a Republican is Mayor of Anchorage. But to wait till a Democrat is back in the office.
And God stuck his head through the door and said Okie Dokie.
jeebus!!! imagine poor me a wanderin’ round seein’ sights an stuff in Alaska’s wilderness. i suppose i could tether myself to one of Brian’s antlers and be safe. i expect he would take me home and sit with me till AKM and spouse come. unlike the mayor, Brian is a gentle. loving being and a credit to his people.
Speaking of Big Wildlife (excuse for going OT), is someone keeping up with the Board of Game scenario in Fairbanks this week regarding the elimination or the expansion of the wolf hunting/trapping buffer zone around Denali?
Apparently Dr. Rick Steiner testified on behalf of the wolves. Anyone in Fairbanks keeping up?
Fairbanks News story posted in “Action Alerts” in the Forum–but Fairbanks News is pretty slanted on this–using PETA to stir up Alaskans against protecting the wolves.
Reports are that Denali wolves have declined by almost half. This buffer zone should be kept and expanded.
It is time to consider a recall of mayor Dan Sullivan.
bubbles! LOL! I’d like to know why ‘conservative’ politicians always seem to make cuts to the budget in areas that are NEEDED by the citizens. How about some salary and benefit cuts for the elected officials who really spend most of their time campaigning?
I wonder if Sullivan is prepared for the tourist drop if word gets around that nobody will help you if you go a huntin, fishin, or camping in the area around Alaska and get into trouble. Bad word gets around, and remember people come to Alaska for the outdoor life. If they wanted to stay indoors all day, there’s always warmer Vegas.
Indeed, unless Sullivan plans to build a nice safe casino in Anchorage for visitors to safely spend all day indoors and still spend money, then he needs to face reality.
The money is going somewhere.
Development? Where, and for the benefit of who?
The perfect ” Karmic situation ” would be that if Mayor Sullivan took some of that $193K he ASKED FOR ( not earned ) and went on a shopping spree for himself and bought a New 4-Wheeler ATV or boat with it… and he got
into ‘ trouble ‘ somewhere…
Who would HE call… and would there be anyone there to answer the phone..?
Sorry….Mayor… we have no money in the budget to come rescue You.
“Phone a friend ” option… maybe….( Or Eddie Smurf )
May a sleep deprived angry, rabid mamma bear stroll into McMayor’s bar and remove his liver via his back. May her mate show up and think McMayor is assulting his girl and act accordingly. When McMayor’s Bar Harem dials for help may the dispatcher laugh whilst explaining the budget cuts.
Tantef……that there is funny
I love this post because I think it’s exactly why AKM started to blog. A crazy set of local circumstances got her dander up and she started typing. Best illustrated here by:
“How many other US cities have to worry about rescuing people from icy waters, snatching tourists and reckless kids from sticky mudflats, find injured hikers, or deal with avalanche victims? Fresno? Not so much. But in Anchorage, where our city slogan is “Big Wild Life” we actually use these services and rely on them to save our lives, and the lives of those who come to visit our state. We rely on them when we’re out in the back country, or when we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – like on the Seward Highway during an avalanche. ”
I live in Chicago. Where none of those things happen. Well, not those things but different ones.
And Then Along Came Sarah.
Thanks for all you do.
Hey, if I am ever in Alaska and suddenly die, would someone be so kind as to bury me in Sullivan’s back yard?
Thank you.
Hey, if I am in Alaska and suddenly die, would someone be so kind as to bury me in Sullivan’s back yard?
Thank you.
Wow. Just wow. I’d love to hear the opinion of wildlife rescuer Slipstream. To everyone who is considering a visit to Alaska’s Big Wild Life, here’s a piece of advice from an experienced hiker/camper/lover of wild places: Train for your visit (no one is born knowing how to use crampons, which contrary to how they sound, have nothing to do with “that time of month,” or an ice axe), and go out with a similarly experienced/trained group, and by all means, hire a local guide who knows the area! Most of Alaska is truly wild, and that is worthy of respect. Happy trails; health and peace.
Reminds me of a story I read about Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. The topic was health care and someone called and explained that he had broken his wrist but didn’t have the $6,000 that was needed to properly treat it.
Limbaugh’s answer? “Well, then you shouldn’t have broken your wrist.”
W H A T ? ! ? ! ? !
According to conservatives, we should just decide to never get sick, never have a car accident, never get caught in a fire or building collapse, never fall or get hurt by a wild animal, never slip into a body of water and never get caught in an earthquake, tsunami or avalanche, and all our problems will be solved.
Well, WHY didn’t WE think of that???
I swear these people remind me more and more of the Grinch…with a heart three sizes too small for their bodies. HOW do they look themselves in the mirror each day and not be thoroughly disgusted by what they see???
sauerkraut @ 18 -
Hey, if I am in Alaska and suddenly die, would someone be so kind as to bury me in Sullivan’s back yard?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With one specific finger sticking up out of the ground, I assume???
In my opinion, there were too many good progressives running against Sullivan. They should have collaborated, selected one, and joined in a team effort to get the voters unified. We were just too split up.
I think New Hampshire has begun charging people for the cost of their rescue. Mostly, they have to rescue people lost in the mountains. I’m not sure if they charge everyone or just the ones who clearly put themselves in danger by being stupid. While visiting there I have witnessed several emergency rescue teams organizing to find someone missing and assumed lost or injured in the mountains. The state rescue response was huge with search dogs and mountain rescue personnel as well as a helicopter. It seems reasonable to do this for someone who has planned for being in a severe environment but something went wrong. More often, it is the city dwellers who need rescue because they decided to go hiking in flip-flops and a tee-shirt and they didn’t so much as look at a trail map before starting their hike.
Since tourism is the biggest driver of N.H.’s economy , it certainly would make them less inviting for visitors if they responded poorly or stopped rescuing people. Shouldn’t this also be a consideration for Alaska?
…and HOW LONG are you guys stuck with this guy ?? Is a recall practical yet ??
Big Wild Fiscal Conservatism?
I love you.
AKM, this is spot on!
AND I would like to offer a somewhat different, yet corresponding, point of view –
This is the same thing that’s going on within our Federal government — versus the States.
They play politics, propose and pass their budgets — and then when they expect to be voted out, they dump all of their excesses — and undermet needs — onto the next administration.
This is what Pres O has inherited. And it filters down to the states, because the sh!t has to settle down somewhere.
I predict the Alaska state budget could be in a real mess, sometime soon.
And when you really want to get down to it, it’s the cities that get to deal with it all.
Yes, even the small remote cities in Alaska that don’t even assess taxes! The State wants their blood money from all the cities too.
He’s trying to save $150,000???? $150,000???? That’s the stupidest rationale I’ve ever heard to cut such a program. I’m sure he could cut that amount out of the annual budget for paper clips and printer paper! C’mon Sullivan. He is a poor excuse for an administrator.
This is like asking the New York City Fire Department to turn Volunteer because it costs the taxpayers a lot of money to have them in the firehouses 24/7/365. That’s just plain stupid to be playing fast and loose with people’s lives.
I’m starting to think your mayor wants to be the poster boy for the Tea Bag Party.
This is one of the more asinine decisions I’ve heard lately – coming in a close second to Sen Bunning’s lack of simple human compassion. As we’ve seen – it only takes one person to effect the lives of 1.2 million. It is stunning in it’s scope of understanding.
Should Mayor Sullivan’s story reach the msm, imagine the possible impact on the tourism industry. Alaska stands to lose untold income to this misguided stroke of a pen. Surely the numbers would be much more than the $150,000 he’s trying to save.
Both of these men have shown what happens in that black hole of “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The term “corruption” does not solely relate to political bribery and crookedness – it also also means that they have departed from everything that is morally and ethically correct. A corruption and corrosion of the soul. This seems a most Palinesk approach…more of the same. Once again Alaskans have been thrown beneath the snowmachine.
“AFD does go through training for these things, and those that do them have certification to do so.
Volunteers should be applauded, and many are indeed selfless and competent. They save lives. But I don’t think there are volunteers who handle, or would be allowed to handle HazMat situations for instance.
I want to know that there is someone paid 24/7 to handle these types of situations. However qualified volunteers may be, there is no guarantee that they will be available around the clock.
AKM”
Not trying to be contrary – really. However I don’t think you understand what happens in a wilderness rescue, and how competent and trained the local volunteer groups are.
Many times the AFD and APD call in volunteer groups because the local SAR folks are MORE trained and MORE experienced at SAR than the police and fire departments. The fire department is pretty hopeless at SAR, really. They have tons of medical training and are invaluable in situations in which they can get their trucks and equipment on scene, but really, honestly and truly, they have very little training and experience at locating and rescuing lost people. Time and time again the scenario plays out this way: Person is lost. Fire department and police departments respond. They conduct a disorganized and fruitless search, realize they can’t do it, and call in the volunteer units who are very organized and experienced, but essentially have to start over from the beginning since the FD and PD did not properly conduct a search.
APD has a volunteer SAR unit that conducts ALL of the PD’s lost person searches for them. Every single one. The police do not do SAR – they dispatch the volunteer units to do SAR.
AFD is great at zooming around on snowmachines, but that is no way to search for a lost person as demonstrated by last year’s search for a lost snowshoer. The FD was driving around all over the place, the roar of their snowmachines drowning out the person’s call for help. They did not know enough to stop, turn off their machines, and listen. Personally I do not find that to be a good use of fire department resources, since while there are a bunch of firefighters driving snowmachines around, there have to be other firefighters responding to car accidents and fires in that unit’s regular area. If you were to attend an actual multi day, extended search, you would see volunteers there because the FD eventually has to return to their own area. They are just not a good SAR resource.
The National Guard has the training, resources, and budget to do wilderness extraction with helicopters, and they do so many times in the Chugach. The FD does not have these resources or training. They don’t have the wilderness skills necessary to do high angle rope rescue on a mountain, despite being called a “wilderness rescue” unit.
Local SAR volunteers are trained, proven, and really are available around the clock as demonstrated by their tireless responses, time and time again. On every extended SAR mission you will see volunteers carrying on the effort when the professionals go home for the day. We’d do much better to support the specialized local SAR groups than we would to provide the FD with fancy snowmachines and four wheelers and take them away from the things they are actually good at. $150K would do amazing things for local SAR units but only buys fancy machines for the AFD.
As for HazMat – the AFD wilderness team doesn’t do that. There are already State HazMat response teams, this move by Sullivan doesn’t disband those multi-agency units.
I really do recommend talking to local SAR groups and getting a feel for what they do and what it is like on a real SAR before bashing Sullivan for this. IMO Anchorage is not getting their money’s worth for providing the FD with a bunch of fancy equipment when they STILL need to call in volunteer SAR to finish the job, almost every single time.
One more thing – and this is just a personal opinion – I have 25+ years of mountaineering and wilderness experience. If I were lost and hurt in the Chugach and had cell service, I would call directly one of the local SAR volunteers rather than call the AFD to come and rescue me because I know that local SAR would do a better job. I would hope the AFD ambulance would be in the parking lot, but that’s as much involvement as I would want from the FD.