Alaska Governor cuts Wildland Fire Academy and 16 jobs in DNR

Funny River Fire, Landsat,
Funny River Fire, Landsat, true color, 1:13 p.m. local time, May 20, 2014. The red line is the fire perimeter at 12:29 a.m. on May 29, 2014. The clouds are pyrocumulus, created by the fire.

Nine months after the Funny River Fire burned more than 195,000 acres south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, the state Department of Natural Resources has eliminated the Wildland Fire Academy as well as 16 jobs within the agency after budget cuts by Governor Bill Walker.

Below are excerpts from an article in the Juneau Empire:

With the devastating, weeks-long Funny River Fire just months behind Alaskans, the Department of Natural Resources’ Wildland Fire Academy is facing elimination.

The program, which trains civilians as forest firefighters, did not make the cut when Gov. Bill Walker trimmed the state budget this month.

“It takes the young folks from the villages and trains them up and gives them a career path for firefighting,” DNR Deputy Commissioner Ed Fogels said at a Monday Senate finance committee meeting. “It’s just one of those things where we’re looking at reducing our budgets and we have to make reductions somewhere.”

Also hit was the Division of Forestry’s Southwest region firefighting staff. Through the governor’s cuts, the staff, based in McGrath, would be diminished from 22 people to six. Combined with the elimination of the fire academy, it’s a $1.1 million cut.

[Senator Peter] Micciche [who represents the Funny River area on the Kenai Peninsula] said after the meeting that the fire changed the way he thinks of essential services, and he would now definitely include firefighting on his list of state must-haves.

[DNR Deputy Commissioner Ed] Fogels said the state will bring in additional fire crews from the Lower 48 if need be, something the state will then need to pay for at a cost that “will be more expensive than if we had our own fire crews.”

More information about the Funny River Fire:
Wildfire Today’s primary coverage of the Funny River Fire last May.
Satellite photos of the Funny River Fire.
Firefighters rescue wolf pups on the Funny River Fire.

 

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

11 thoughts on “Alaska Governor cuts Wildland Fire Academy and 16 jobs in DNR”

  1. Sad day when our representatives put our land in jeopardy that will effect our way of life, wild fires destroy land we use to pick berries and feed moose that we depend on to feed our families and without jobs to buy gas and food to get to the destination, therefore I disagree with these cuts to dnr in McGrath and will be waiting for the election on who will represent us fairly, thank you.

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  2. What! bring crews from south 48? Why not India or Timbucktoo,how about training Alaska crews to send to south 48? Wtf,Murkowski is back?

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  3. To top it off the only position saved by the legislature was upper management, a $200k+ a year position, which could easily save the IA personnel in McGrath. The good ole boy system at the expense of life and property of Southwest Alaskans.

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  4. Got it Emmett

    State or Fed……somebody is going to be up there…putting the flames out.

    Once again State and Fed types not plannin ahead in the LMA world and hoping FEMA rides in on the big white horse…cuz you know that is where this will head

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  5. Can see it now…

    USFS fanjet……eerrrr. ……turboprop service from the Lower 48 to Alaska every Spring season…with handcrews …..to justify their C130 “program”

    Remember…..ya read it here first……

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    1. Most of the Fed land at risk from wildfires in Alalska is BLM and USFWS, not USFS. And the cut-backs are at the State level, not Fed, so maybe the Guv and Alaskans who support his position ought to have to “pay the piper”. Remember, Alaska has NO State income tax, and actually gives free $$ to it’s citizens every year. Now that oil prices have tanked, they’re hurting and can’t meet the resource protection obligations.

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  6. Cut Alaska fire crew training ……..fires get really big and threaten resources ……..get crews from the Lower 48 ……..ask the Feds at FEMA for emergency Disaster funding! Yep, makes perfect sense to me. Oh yeah, and see Bill’s related article about the ALASKA US Senator who’s threatening to cut USDI funds, too.

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  7. “Suppose they have a fire and nobody came” It is getting harder and harder to get the outside help. Management thinks they can just order up what they need. The reduction in number of firefighters is starting to really show. The only thing that Alaska has going for it, is that they have an early fire season before there is much competition for resources. Budget cuts always start with the entry level fire jobs. How in the world are they going to have future leaders if they cut these entry level jobs and training? I feel bad for my firefighter friends that work for the State fo Alaska.

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  8. No problem, private industry, ie minimum wage /no benefits personnel can move in an make some good money for their bosses. We don’t really need folks with a strong background. Do we?

    Wake up folks the big picture becomes better with each passing article as well as subsequent posts. PROTECT LAND MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY JOBS. Oh, and make FS firefighting jobs public safety and NOT forestry tech jobs!

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  9. Of all the items that could or should be cut from a state budget, this seems like a Major Loser Idea in terms of both budget and environment.

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  10. Man, talk about short sighted. Real shame to hear about those cuts. I’ve worked with some of those fellas from McGrath and they were damm fine firefighters. If they could work in Canada I would hire them in a heartbeat.

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