Alaska State Defense Force constables are on duty in the City of Houston Monday, helping with security needs. Twenty five constables are patrolling heavily damaged and barricaded areas to help keep residents safe.
http://www.ktva.com/topstory/ci_4216267
Recovery plans for Mat-Su flooding
Disaster Assistance Centers will open to receive damage reports
KTVA Staff
Governor Frank Murkowski has asked the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to set up Disaster Assistance Centers.
The Disaster Assistance Centers will operate from the Willow Library and Sunshine Fire station, located at the ìYî in Talkeetna, from September 23-30, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
After the disaster has run its course, Individual Assistance can begin once Response teams assess the total damages. Families that qualify for this type of assistance can submit applications to receive up to 5,000 dollars to replace real and personal property.
The DACs will remain open for one week to receive as many in-person applications as possible and then a toll free disaster assistance number will be established to reach those victims who could not apply in person.
Alaska State Defense Force constables are on duty in the City of Houston Monday, helping with security needs. Twenty five constables are patrolling heavily damaged and barricaded areas to help keep residents safe.
Four volunteers with the Alaska State Defense Force,
civilians who assist during emergencies under the
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, will help
police shoo kids from the dangerous piles of twisted metal
rising from the soot where the fire raged, Hoelscher said.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8062336p-7955268c.html
Guardsmen will patrol fire-ravaged village
HOOPER BAY: Calls to police are surging in charred
community.
By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 10, 2006
Last Modified: August 10, 2006 at 03:37 AM
Alaska National Guard soldiers, with help from some
volunteers, will help maintain order in the fire-ravaged
village of Hooper Bay.
Police in the Southwest Alaska village of 1,133 are facing
a surge in calls since the massive Aug. 3 fire, Police
Chief James Hoelscher said Wednesday.
Hooper Bayers are panicky, and rightfully so -- especially
if they see kids playing with matches, he said.
"Everybody's on edge, including myself," he said, putting a
caller on hold to answer what he said was another phone
call about children mucking among the blackened rubble.
"We don't want anything like this to ever happen again."
Hooper Bay's old school erupted in flames early Aug. 3.
Within hours the blaze had flattened 14 homes, teacher
housing, a grocery store and several small structures in
one of the most devastating fires to hit rural Alaska.
Alaska State Troopers are investigating the cause and arson
has not been ruled out, spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.
No one was injured, but more than 70 people lost
everything. And as the summer draws to a close, about 400
students are without a school.
Four volunteers with the Alaska State Defense Force,
civilians who assist during emergencies under the
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, will help
police shoo kids from the dangerous piles of twisted metal
rising from the soot where the fire raged, Hoelscher said.
Seven guardsmen will help patrol the village and keep the
peace.
Troopers, still investigating the blaze with state fire
marshals, returned to Hooper Bay earlier this week,
Wilkinson said. Officers are interviewing more residents,
he said.
Gov. Frank Murkowski declared the fire a disaster Sunday
while touring the village, freeing up state financial
assistance for victims and clearing the way for the state
to seek a federal disaster declaration.
Victims have until Oct. 9 to apply at the local armory,
where the state has set up a disaster assistance center,
for up to $5,000 to replace destroyed property such as
clothing, tools or hunting essentials like snowmachines,
said McHugh Pierre, spokesman with Department of Military
and Veterans Affairs.
Out-of-village residents, such as teachers who lost
belongings when school housing units burned, have until
Oct. 10 to apply by calling 800-921-3682, Pierre said.
Hooper Bay has also been given the first satellite phone in
a new $1.5 million program to put emergency phones in every
remote village, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant
general of Alaska.
The state is shipping seven or so temporary housing units,
such as construction trailers and modular homes, to the
village, Councilman Marc Cowart said.
The homes will arrive on a barge that left Seattle today,
Pierre said, and should reach the Bering Sea coastal
village before freeze-up.
As for the new school, the state's Village Safe Water
program is pitching in there, Cowart said. The school was
under construction and scheduled to be completed in
December. The state program is now running work crews
around-the-clock to get the job done sooner, he said.