EOC closes, Borough focuses on recovery

The Emergency Operations Center at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is closing at 4 pm today, six days after activating to manage the Sockeye Fire.

The Borough responded immediately, staffing an emergency operations center Sunday afternoon to manage the fire with Forestry and disseminate information on facebook and the web 24 hours a day for five days. Posts this week reached 367,097 views.

Borough Manager John Moosey declared a disaster on June 15. The same day at a Borough press conference, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker agreed to assist in the declaration.

Now the Borough turns its focus to recovery. Borough Emergency Services Director Bill Gamble said the transition of fire management from the Borough to the Type 1 Team is completed.

"The Mat-Su Borough EOC, in coordination with State Mat-Su Area Forestry was able to support the needs of the Sockeye Fire incident until the Type 1 Incident Management Team was in place,” Gamble said. “The team now has full control of the incident. The EOC is closed now. Our new focus will be primarily on disaster recovery and a return to normal emergency services operations for the residents and visitors to the Borough."

Casey Cook, Mat-Su Emergency Manager, will be heading up the recovery effort.

“We will be coordinating the recovery effort through the State’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, partnering with other Borough departments, the State of Alaska, Red Cross and other volunteer organizations and civic groups to assist in the recovery process,” said Cook.

Fire Debris

Borough Public Works is assisting fire victims with removing fire debris. The Willow Transfer Site will be accepting fire debris for free. The site will be open from 9 am to 5 pm, seven days a week for now. Fire victims will need to sign a certification that their property is within the burn area and the debris is from the Sockeye Fire.

Pickup loads of debris are okay at the transfer site. Truck loads larger than pick up trucks should go directly to the Central Landfill in Palmer.

Willow Transfer Site (907) 861-7615, 15469 N Willow Station Road Willow AK

“We’re working on a plan for taking large quantities of metal,” said Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan.

http://www.matsugov.us/facilities/willow-transfer-site

Numbers to call, Pages to See

For recovery efforts, call the Borough’s administration for Emergency Services at (907) 861-8000.

For fire questions call the Incident Management Team at (907) 892-9413.

Go online for fire information at

Type 1 page

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4288/

Mat-Su Borough web and facebook pages

https://www.facebook.com/MatSuBorough

http://www.matsugov.us/

Photo by Stefan Hinman, Mat-Su Borough PIO, of Willow Fire Capt. Leo Lashock's place that burned down on Sunday night. His 21 dogs were evacuated by neighbors and friends.

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Patty Sullivan, PIO, Mat-Su Borough, (907) 861-8577 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.