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Anchorage Fire Department urges planning now for wildfire office and SAFER grant sunset
Summary
AFD told the Public Safety Committee the municipality should plan now to sustain a new wildfire mitigation office after federal grant funding ends in 2027 and to budget for 18 SAFER-funded firefighters whose grant expires Feb. 3, 2026.
Doug Shrugge and Division Chief John Glover of the Anchorage Fire Department briefed the committee on Feb. 5 about two pending funding challenges: the sustainability of a rebuilt wildfire mitigation office and the impending end of a FEMA SAFER grant that funds 18 firefighter positions.
Shrugge said Anchorage received roughly $8,000,000 in a U.S. Forest Service grant in 2023 to stand up wildfire work, buy wildland personal protective equipment, establish a woodlot, produce a prioritized fuels treatment plan and rewrite the community wildfire protection plan (CWPP). He said the wildfire office had been closed in 2008 and that staffing and activities have increased since October 2024, but the federal grant runs through 2027 and the department is concerned about sustaining the program after the grant ends.
Shrugge told members that a fully built wildfire office as envisioned in the grant would cost nearly $1 million per year and had budgeted three positions in the grant application; currently the department has one wildfire manager on staff. He asked the Assembly to consider the long-term operating cost during the 2025 budget season and to plan for internal funding if federal support lapses.
John Glover explained the grant reimbursement structure: the department incurs program costs and then requests reimbursement under the Forest Service grant. He said if federal reimbursements were paused or stopped the program would rapidly exhaust available funds because the grant is not a lump-sum fund held by the municipality but a reimbursement model.
On staffing, Shrugge said a separate FEMA SAFER grant provided funding for 18 firefighters (a $10.3 million award over three years) and that the grant expires in February 2026. The SAFER grant currently pays full salary and benefits for those positions; without a successor funding source the department plans to adjust future academies and hiring rather than lay off personnel, but the city will need to consider including those positions in the operating budget or reduce academy size if funding cannot be secured.
Committee members asked about alternate federal and state grant sources, the Office of Emergency Management’s FEMA track record and whether a work session could present the department’s needs assessment, strategic plan and community engagement summary; Shrugge and Glover said they are pursuing grants and will welcome a proposed work session on the wildfire needs assessment and CWPP timeline.
No formal action was taken at the Feb. 5 meeting; AFD asked the Assembly to plan for the 2026 operating budget implications and to consider timelines for funding discussions in 2025.
