Senate committee hears resolution urging expanded wildfire preparedness across Alaska

Senate staff presented Senate Joint Resolution 18 on April 14, a measure urging enhanced wildfire preparedness and coordination across state and local agencies ahead of the 2025 fire season.

Intimail Harbison, staff to Senator Giesel, told the Senate Resources Committee that SJR 18 "underscores a critical need for enhanced wildfire preparedness in Alaska" and reviewed the resolution's "be it resolved" sections. The resolution urges the governor, the Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Fire Protection and relevant municipal and local agencies to: review and develop integrated interagency wildfire response plans for high‑risk wildland‑urban interface communities; expand public outreach and education; conduct emergency response and evacuation drills; bolster fire suppression resources statewide; improve fire detection and early warning systems; and ask Alaska's federal delegation to advocate for increased federal funding for prevention and mitigation.

Committee members discussed local concerns and preparedness activities. Senator Kawasaki asked whether the resolution's list of recipients was intended to be comprehensive; staff said the list was noncomprehensive and that additional communities and elected officials could be added if the committee wished. Senators and staff described localized efforts and risks: speakers referenced low snowpack and drier conditions in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska, past local fires on the Kenai Peninsula and Goldstream Valley, and evacuation activity in the Haystack subdivision in a previous summer. One member noted utility work by Chugach Electric using sensing devices on poles and community efforts such as the Firewise program and free wood debris disposal on the Anchorage hillside.

Norm McDonald, deputy director for the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, was on the call to answer questions. He said the division provides funding to several boroughs, including Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, to operate woody debris disposal sites and chipping or burn piles for defensible‑space debris. "We do provide funding, to several of the boroughs, including Kenai Peninsula Anchorage... for funding to have wood debris lots for when people do defensible space around their homes," McDonald said.

Staff directed committee members to supporting documents provided in the meeting packet: Arctic urban risks and adaptations fact sheets for Fairbanks and Anchorage prepared by Robert Zeal of the University of Alaska, and a Department of Natural Resources public order (emergency declaration of fire season) prepared by Jeremy Douse, state forester and division director. The committee received no public testimony on the resolution and set an amendment deadline of Wednesday, April 16 at 5 p.m.; SJR 18 was set aside for further work.

The committee adjourned at 3:52 p.m. with instructions that the next meeting would be Wednesday, April 23 at 3:30 p.m.