KODIAK — The response to Alaska’s Twin Creeks Fire last summer was swift, said a state report, but could use improvement.
Local and state emergency personnel “performed very well,” according to a report and improvement plan from the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. But it also pointed out long hours and a need for more trained people to fill relief shifts, reported the Kodiak Daily Mirror.
Kodiak city manager Aimee Kniaziowksi signed the report on Dec. 17 and DHS released it Monday.
The Twin Creeks Fire destroyed several structures, including the Chiniak Library, and charred about 5,000 acres near Chiniak between Aug. 27 and Sept. 7. The report doesn’t discuss the fire’s cause, the subject of an investigation by the Alaska Division of Forestry.
The report also calls communication between agencies “critical,” saying Alaska State Troopers did not follow directions of the Emergency Operation Center and allowed people access to the hazard area.
The EOC is at the Kodiak Police Station. It was built for a large-scale multiple-agency response effort, and the Chiniak fire was its first chance to respond to such a scenario.
But the report says the EOC’s equipment is “limited” and at times slowed things down. The report says the EOC needs wall monitors, a larger copier and scanner and Wi-Fi-equipped tablets.
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
