This letter comes from the Girdwood Board of Supervisors, on behalf of the local community and on behalf of the Girdwood Area Volunteer Fire Department. The letter was written with the awareness of and input from Chief Bill Chadwick of the Girdwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Inc. (GVF&R), the volunteer fire department.

As you are aware, the GVF&R and the Girdwood community at large have recently been surprised to hear the Anchorage Fire Department Chief Fullenwider announce his intentions to place an Anchorage EMS unit at the Girdwood area fire station. As you are no doubt also aware, Chief Fullenwider, through a spokesman, made his intentions known through the media, namely the Alaska Star, and by sending a representative to talk to the Girdwood Fire Department volunteers, all without consulting Chief Chadwick of the GVF&R, the Girdwood Board of Supervisors, or the Girdwood community at large. As you have also become aware, the residents of Girdwood do not appreciate Chief Fullenwider's unilateral and indirect announcement. The GBOS has received a good deal of input from local residents making it clear that the local community at large wants public input on any decisions made in Anchorage regarding the local fire service and regarding their current volunteer force.

At the July 21 Girdwood Board of Supervisors meeting, the Girdwood Fire Department appeared as an agenda item for public discussion. At that time, Chief Chadwick briefed GBOS and the public on the issue. Chief Chadwick, who has been in contact with Chief Fullenwider, informed us that Chief Fullenwider has stated that his intent is to return the GVF&R to an auxiliary status, taking away the nonprofit corporate status which currently allows the local volunteer group to contract out its services to the AFD. Probably most unfortunate and disheartening for the local community and firefighters is the fact that Chief Fullenwider in his statements through a spokesman to the Alaska Star indicated that the basis for his actions is a quality assurance or liability issue regarding Girdwood's EMS or medical care abilities. This leaves the impression that either Chief Chadwick or the GVF&R at large has done something less than a stellar job for this community.

In point of fact, the GVF&R quality assurance program is managed by the Anchorage Emergency Medical Services Board, which also does quality assurance for the AFD. To date, the Medical Services Board has made no findings against the local group; in fact, subsequent to Chief Fullenwider's statements, the Medical Services Board assured chief Chadwick it would issue a letter indicating there are no such quality assurance issues in Girdwood. Also contrary to Chief Fullenwider's public statements is the fact that, through the efforts of the GVF&R, Girdwood as a community this past year achieved a substantial reduction in our fire protection rating from the original rating of seven down to the current rating of 4; this reduction is based on fairly strident criteria reviewed by underwriters. This was no small feat given the state of the insurance industry these days! The protection rating change has resulted in significant reductions in homeowners' insurance premiums for local residents.

Assemblymen Dick Traini and Dick Tremaine both attended the July 21 GBOS meeting. Both assemblymen spoke publicly and assured the community and the board that they came with the authority to speak on behalf of the mayor as you were unable to attend yourself. Assemblyman Traini and Tremaine told the GBOS that the mayor's office had already decided against Chief Fullenwider's proposed course of action and that the local community had nothing to fear on this issue. They quite literally told us to consider this matter resolved.

However, Chief Chadwick then met directly with Chief Fullenwider on July 22 and Chief Fullenwider informed Chief Chadwick of his intent to proceed with his original plan. At this time there is a considerable consternation in the local community, within the local fire department and within the board as to the municipality's actions regarding our fire department. And, no matter how this gets resolved, we feel that the reputation of the local group has been damaged by Chief Fullenwider's uninformed and unsupportable statements.

At this point, the GBOS is assuming that some of the confusion may be due in part to the transition into the new administration. We have been most pleased to see the mayor's office make Girdwood area issues one of its priorities. As you may be aware, the GBOS has scheduled a sit down session with you for Friday, Sept. 5. While there are many things to discuss, we hope that this issue regarding our fire department can be resolved by you before the Sept. 5 meeting. We would like to see something in writing assuring Girdwood that the GVF&R will remain intact. We would also appreciate seeing Chief Fullenwider publicly retract his statements about quality assurance issues in the same medium in which he originally made those statements. We are sensitive to the fact that the GVF&R and the AFD must continue to work together in the future and we would like our local volunteers to see that Chief Fullenwider is willing to take the steps necessary to restore their reputations and the relationship between these departments.

We will look forward to your support and reply on this issue. Please let us know if there is any way we might be of assistance to you in resolving this matter. We look forward to meeting with you in September.

Sincerely,

Anne Herschleb and Diana Stone Livingston

Co-chairs, Girdwood Board of Supervisors