Girdwood Fire and Rescue had a near miss safety incident during a recent Seward Highway vehicle accident due to extrication equipment failure. According to a (hyperlink) social media post, the equipment failure didn’t impact patient outcome.
Fire Chief Michelle Weston said:
“I am very thankful this equipment failure did not cause injury to a patient or our firefighters, it was luck by a matter of feet, but at the same time I am very frustrated. This is what happens when financial decisions to not fund basic replacement of fire rescue equipment potentially impacts the safety of others. We should have current extrication equipment, especially on the major transportation corridor of the Seward Highway. I think most Seward Highway travelers would be surprised to know the fire department is using 20–30-year-old vehicle extrication equipment to cut them out of their cars on accident scenes. Equipment that is recommended to be replaced after 10 years.”
The Municipality of Anchorage, according to Girdwood Fire and Rescue, turned down the request to have the equipment included on a 2021 Areawide Bond and has repeatedly directed the Chief to fundraise for the $175,000 replacement costs. At issue, though, is the fact that local Girdwood fire funding can’t be used as it is outside of the fire service area.
A 2021 Federal FIREACT grant was submitted for all 3 Municipality of Anchorage fire departments but unfunded, according to the department. Another FIREACT grant request was submitted earlier this month to partially replace some of the equipment. Additionally, the Alaska Department of Transportation hasn’t been able to suggest a funding mechanism for use on the Highway Safety Corridor.
Chief Weston suggests:
“At this point, I just need someone to step up and say, yes, we agree having reliable tools to save lives is important to us too and we will help you find the money, not write another grant. I’m on borrowed time here, using equipment that was here when I started in 1996. As the highway infrastructure grows, no dedicated funding is set aside for vehicle extrication equipment for those fire departments that provide rescue services on our Alaska highway corridors, maybe we could start thinking about a long-term solution.”
The tool was equipment that was purchased for the department back around 2000.