Godsend garage for Lake Louise celebrated tod

A community in the outer reaches of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is celebrating having a heated garage, for emergency vehicles. “It’s a godsend for us to have an ambulance now with I-V bags and humidified oxygen that’s not frozen solid, and all the fringe benefits that go along with that,” said Corky Matthews, the fire chief, the ambulance chief and one of the chief proponents for the shelter.

“It’ll be a whole lot more comfortable for a patient. I don’t care how long you have that vehicle idling, the gurney and all the surfaces are going to be cold,” Matthews said, of the ambulance that was previously parked outside.

Matthews, his wife Bev, and Deputy Mayor Lynne Woods snipped a ceremonial ribbon with over-sized scissors today before a beaming small crowd.

Public buildings are non-existent in this remote community 129 miles up the Glenn Highway and Lake Louise Road from Palmer, where the vastness of the MAT-SU Borough is felt. Getting here you pass at least four glaciers, Matanuska-Powell-Nelchina-Tazlina. You drive out of the Borough, into the Unorganized Borough, and return to the MAT-SU Borough, before you arrive at this lakeside recreational community. When locals fall ill, mostly it requires a snow machine, boat or ATV to rescue them. Some 65 people stick it out here in the winter, off the grid.

With the completion in August of the facility, an over-compensating lifestyle for responders has recently ended. The garage is 40 foot by 40 foot with a 12 foot overhang for parking, a small office and a 1,000 gallon water tank for firefighting equipment. To keep it powered, the facility has a diesel generator and solar panels that also charge a pack of 12 batteries as a backup. Outside there’s even a toilet.

“This is Up Town,” said Bev Matthews, an emergency trauma technician, and the vice president and past president of the Lake Louise Community Nonprofit Corp.

This winter, when an emergency call comes in, no longer will a lodge owner get a call to start the ambulance and warm her up from sub-zero temperatures. No longer will responders have to store medical fluids and oxygen in their homes rather than in the frozen ambulance. No longer will responders have to do training in one of the four lodges or bars.

“It will be heaven. We’ve had to take everything to our cabins, everything. It’s a real hassle when it’s 30 below. It’d be nice to have the ambulance warm when we get there with a patient,” Bev Matthews said.

Husband Corky added: “Our responses are somewhat different. Very seldom do we take ambulance to the scene, we usually bring the folks from the scene to the ambulance. To have the ambulance warm and ready to go would be a real blessing. We’re the only game in town.”

At the end of her six years on the Assembly, Deputy mayor Lynne Woods said she has enjoyed watching the community grow. “I see so much work that has gone into this community. You started with just getting a used vehicle,” Woods said, laughing. She singled out Corky and Bev Matthews as stellar community volunteers and hopes the building is named after the couple.

Acting Borough Manager Elizabeth Gray thanked two representatives from the granting agency, the Alaska Dept. of Commerce, Community and Economic Development for attending. The facility was funded by a Community Development Block Grant for $850,000, with a match by the Borough Assembly for $125,000. Borough Grants Coordinator Pam Graham shepherded the funding. Gray told the community, "This is your building."

Also moving inside to the warmth, will be firefighting equipment called Fire Department in a box, basically a tank of compressed foam on a trailer, and a tank of water, now unfrozen, on a trailer with a pump. Both are parked in front of a pull-up garage door awaiting a fast hookup by a six-wheeler ATV. A snowmachine, rescue sled, and possibly a forestry brush truck, will also move in.

Dennis Brodigan, Director of Borough Emergency Services, said the building is a much-needed public space. “We now have a facility in which our people can train consistently. We have a place where they can meet and prepare for response. It’s a landmark or institution now in the community that hopefully will attract additional responders.”

The community has seven active emergency responders.

Architects Alaska designed the building. Collins Construction completed the facility in August. Jeff Walden managed the project in Borough Public Works.

For more information call Patty Sullivan, Public Affairs Director, MAT-SU Borough 355-0103. Photos by Patty Sullivan/MSB and Jeff Walden/MSB.