radio for navigation and safety as well as for 

 tight control on fire missions. All stations and 

 a large share of vehicles are radio-equipped: 

 VHF-FM for air-ground work; VHF-FM and HF- 

 AM for vehicle and station use. 



Deployment of men and equipment during 

 the fire season must be based upon information 

 about fire occurrence. Since a large percentage 

 of man-caused fires occurs in May and early 

 June, men, tankers, dozers, and other ground 

 equipment are aimed at control of fires near 

 habitation centers and areas of agricultural de- 

 velopment. Later, all the aircraft — whether for 

 patrol, smokejumping, chemical attack, or sup- 

 ply — must be in constant readiness to attack 

 lightning fires anywhere in the State. 



Manpower 



The supply of manpower in Alaska is small, 

 and the distribution in respect to recruiting fire- 

 fighters is poor. Even though Alaska's popula- 

 tion has increased fourfold in the past 40 years, 

 the 1960 census records a total of only 226,167 

 persons (four-fifths the population of Nevada). 

 The tabulation below shows the uneven distribu- 

 tion of people; only about 100,000 persons re- 

 side outside of the Anchorage and Fairbanks 

 vicinities, and many of these are in the southeast 

 coastal area. 



Climatic Geographic Approximate 



division division population 



Bases and Warehousing 



Major operational bases and warehousing 

 facilities are at Anchorage and Fairbanks, the 

 only two cities capable of furnishing manpower, 

 food, equipment, supplies, and services neces- 

 sary for launching and supporting fire crews in 

 the field. These are augmented by a few sec- 

 ondary permanently manned bases located at 

 strategic support centers. In addition, several 

 fireguard stations, manned seasonally, are situ- 

 ated from Skilak Lake on the Kenai Peninsula 

 northward to Fort Yukon just north of the Arctic 

 Circle. 



The long time required to deliver many 

 supplies (retardant chemicals for instance) makes 

 it imperative to anticipate such needs as long as 

 one season ahead of expected use. 



Most equipment, tools, and supplies are 

 packaged and stored in six-man units — a 

 Grumman Goose load of firefighters. Develop- 

 ment of new tools and equipment for fighting 

 fires in the Alaskan fuel complex has lagged 

 seriously. Dozers, tankers, and pumpers are used 

 where available and where topography and soil 

 along the fireline permit. Shovels and pulaskis 

 are the old standbys for handtool work. New 

 hand and power tools are urgently needed to 

 help offset the relative scarcity of personnel, the 

 difficulty of terrain, and the remoteness that 

 gives fires such a headstart. 



Dispatching 



Most dispatching of men, equipment, and 

 materials is handled at Anchorage and Fair- 

 banks. Nearly all smokejumping and a major 

 part of retardant chemical attack operations are 

 controlled from Fairbanks. Dispatching involves 

 considerable advance planning, preparation, and 

 training. Even pilots of the contract retardant 

 planes require orientation and training by the 

 dispatcher staff. All aircraft use is controlled by 

 the dispatcher and chief pilot in order to attain 

 greatest value from each plane. 



Effective dispatching depends upon a highly 

 reliable communications system. Trunkline tele- 

 phone service is excellent, but is limited to the 

 large cities and to a few places of habitation 

 along the main highways. All other communica- 

 tions are by radio. Airplanes need the most 

 complex set of equipment as pilots depend on 



Maritime zone Southeast, South Coast, 56,000 

 Aleutians 



Transition zone Copper River, Cook Inlet, 106,000 

 Bristol Bay, West Central 

 (includes Anchorage) 



Continental Interior Basin 49,000 



(includes Fairbanks) 



Arctic zone Arctic Drainage 15,000 



A small part of the regular fire control per- 

 sonnel are year-round employees, but most of 

 the fire dispatching and overhead employees are 

 seasonal. Most of them enter duty in April or 

 May and remain until September. They are the 

 well-trained nucleus that leads the attack on 

 fires throughout the summer. 



The actual firefighters come from two 

 sources — Indian villages and the open labor 

 market. The natives and Eskimos are excellent 

 firefighters. Their villages are sufficiently scat- 



84 



