Mat-Su Borough emergency official: calls surge as Station 39 groundbreaking proceeds

An agency official for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough told the assembly that emergency calls and rescue demands have risen well above earlier projections, and outlined capital projects and operational changes intended to address the shortfalls.

The presenter said the borough recorded about 16,000 emergency calls last year and that emergency medical services hit a record month with 1,217 calls in December 2024. "Our on-calls this year put in 96,000 hours," the presenter said, adding that on-call responder numbers (about 183) and training demands have increased as call volume grew roughly 35% since 2020.

Those increases have strained staffing and equipment and prompted capital and operational investments. The borough recently broke ground on Station 39 (supported in part by an $8 million federal grant) and is advancing plans for Station 121 in Willow to address a coverage gap between Big Lake and Talkeetna. The presenter said the borough seeks to align deployment with call-volume growth but that staffing decisions for new stations depend on future funding and hiring.

Operational steps the presenter described include a youth firefighter program run with the school district that has already produced at least one hire to the full-time ranks, a structured equipment evaluation (LifePak 35s and Stryker stretchers) overseen by Deputy EMS Director Tracy Loscar, and two DES-specific dispatch call-taker positions added at Mat-Com funded through E911 that are being evaluated as successful.

Communications upgrades were also highlighted. The presenter credited Zach McCray with building redundancy across radios and towers and said the borough is preparing to move to digital radios (analog is being phased out), noting approximately $7,000 per radio as a planning figure and that grants have helped phase purchases. A joint "East Tower" project with the state is expected to extend coverage from Palmer to Lake Louise and add repeaters to improve east-side communications.

On fleet and maintenance, the presenter defended in-house mechanics and mobile repair units for fire trucks and ambulances, saying local shops often lack the certifications or capacity to maintain complex apparatus and that sending vehicles to Anchorage can leave them sidelined for months. The presenter said in-house teams completed about $14,520 in warranty work billed to manufacturers and conducted 26 NFPA inspections this year, allowing the borough to sign off inspections in-house.

During a question-and-answer exchange, Assemblyperson Boles asked whether revenue from ambulance transports supports staffing increases. The presenter said the borough bills transports based on insurance, Medicare or Medicaid and that non-transport calls such as lift assists are not billable. The presenter warned that frequent transports and long transport times can tie up ambulances and contribute to "status zero," when no ambulances are available.

The presenter described a recent multi-agency active-shooter exercise that revealed interagency communications challenges and spurred additional radio programming and interoperability work. He said grants totaling roughly $11.7 million over five years (including the $8 million federal award) have reduced taxpayer costs and supported station construction and equipment purchases.

The presenter closed by reiterating that rising call volumes (driven in part by growth in nursing and assisted-living facilities) require continued investment in facilities, staffing and technology; next steps include continuing equipment evaluations, completing the Station 39 build and advancing the East Tower project.

The assembly will continue reviewing staffing and deployment options and the presentation closed with the presenter answering follow-up questions about standards and billing.