Forest Service State and Private Forestry

Alaska Region

Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry

Cooperative Fire Protection

2001

Introduction

Since much of Alaska's forests are not federally owned, the need to protect these lands from uncontrolled fires through a fully coordinated rural fire response system falls to the State Forestry agency and rural volunteer fire departments. To help accomplish this, the USDA Forest Service-State and Private Forestry, provides assistance through three specific program components: State Fire Assistance previously known as Rural Fire Prevention and Control (RFPC). Volunteer Fire Assistance previously known as Rural Community Fire Protection (RCFP). Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP). Combined, these three program components of the Cooperative Fire Program (CFP).

Objectives

The objectives of the three program components of the Cooperative Fire Program are as follows: State Fire Assistance (SFA): Protects natural resources from fire on state and private lands. This is done through fire prevention efforts, providing suppression assistance to the State's rural fire departments and maintaining initial attack capability to keep outbreaks small. The Federal funds are cost shared with state and local funds and help augment state protection needs. Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA): Improves the capability and effectiveness of America's 26,000 rural volunteer fire departments (256 in Alaska) to protect lives and other rural investments. The purpose of this program is to provide financial, technical, and other assistance to state foresters and other appropriate officials to organize, train, and equip fire departments in rural communities. In 2000, 11 rural volunteer fire departments received the $45,000 VFA funds made available to Alaska. The grants awarded were for organizing, training, and equipping rural fire departments. The equipment included: portable pumps and nozzles, radio communications equipment, portable generators, and wireless communications items (pagers). Specific requests for the State from 31 fire departments totaled $131,000. Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP): The Forest Service charged is with assuring that federal excess personal property is acquired, used, managed, and disposed of in accordance with federal laws and cooperators for wildland and rural community fire protection. In 2000, 83 excess property items valued at $267,000 were acquired and placed into service in Alaska. The total of the FEPP inventory in Alaska is about $5,367,000.

**Title II Dollars Only

Cooperative Fire Program
	FY 1997	FY 1998	FY 1999	FY 2000	**FY 2001
State Fire Assistance	$375,800	$364,000	$367,400	$368,000	$672,800
Volunteer Fire Assistance	$28,000	$44,000	$44,000	$45,000	$109,800

Program Highlights

The Federal Cooperative Fire Program protects state and private lands from uncontrolled fires by helping build strong, efficient state fire protection programs. Based on a 10-year average, Alaska will control 439 fires per year that burn 172,998 acres annually. The Alaska Division of Forestry has averted a major reduction in the fire suppression rolling stock levels by supplementing their fleet with excess federal vehicles. These cost savings have exceeded $500,000 dollars per year when compared to regular fleet replacement cost schedules. Dozens of excess military vehicles have been screened at nearby military bases, refurbished, and turned into wildland firefighting apparatus. The Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) is now critical to the wildland fire mission. In 2000, excess property items valued at approximately $5,367,000 were used by the State and rural fire departments. In 2000, $45,000 in VFA funds made was available to rural fire departments. 95% of the funds allocated were for equipment, with the remaining for training. The dollar value of all applications received was $131,000. 11 of the 31 requests from rural fire departments were filled. Funding for technology transfer, such as the new GIS based fire behavior training (FARSITE), has enabled the State Forestry to meet its goal of keeping abreast of emerging technology in fire and resource management. This has allowed the State to provide better input to the many local and statewide task forces and working groups that have taken on the tasks of mitigating issues, such as the increase in fire hazard due to the spruce bark beetle epidemic and better preparedness planning for wildland urban interface areas. The Alaska Division of Forestry in cooperation with local structural fire department organizations have developed a number of 32 public service announcements which are provided to local radio and television stations. To date, 15 spots have been created which covers a wide variety of topics, depending on the time of year. Topics such as safe burning before Greenup, defensible space, burn-permit requirements, powerline fires and late-season, and hunter-caused fires which are but a few of the topics covered. In 2000, over 500 public service announcements provided were on local radio and television. 13 positions were funded to attend 9 national level courses and workshops. Course areas included Command and General Staff Exercise, Long Term Fire Risk Assessment, FARSITE, Supervisory Dispatcher, Aviation Safety, Safety Officer, and Finance Unit Leader. These opportunities greatly improve the State Forestry incident management capabilities. Continued to provide prevention education to elementary schools. The Fairbanks area, for example, provided programs to 4,200 students and 177 teachers in grades 4-6. In addition, similar programs took place in the Mat-Su Valley, Anchorage School District, Kenai Peninsula, and several remote villages. The Alaska Division of Forestry has cooperative agreements with 57 structural fire departments. Federal funding was utilized to plan and execute training and fire simulation with the emphasis on promoting interagency cooperation with SFD operations in the wildland/urban interface. Basic Red Card training and yearly fireline safety/refresher classes are offered to all cooperating departments. Over 500 volunteer fire department personnel received this training.

For more information:

United States Department of Agriculture	Wayne Bushnell, Fire Program Manager USDA Forest Service Fire Management Program 3301 C Street, Suite 522 Anchorage, AK 99503-3956 Phone: 907-743-9459 Fax: 907-743-9479 Email: mailto:wbushnell@fs.fed.us	Joe Stam, Fire Manager State of Alaska Alaska Division of Forestry 400 Willoughby, 3rd Floor Juneau, AK 99801 Phone: 907-465-3379 Fax: 907-586-3113 Email: joe_stam@dnr.state.ak.us	State of Alaska