A small host of state grants set to be addressed this week by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will help fund the ongoing activities of borough fire service areas.
Volunteer fire assistance grants from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources ranging from $4,000 to $7,370 have been awarded to the Anchor Point Fire and Emergency Medical Service Area, the Bear Creek Fire Service Area, Kachemak Emergency Service Area, and Nikiski Fire Service Area.
The money may be used for equipment purchases and training, and will require a 10 percent match from the borough.
The cash grants from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources are listed in four measures set for introduction Tuesday. Each ordinance has been set for a hearing Aug. 21.
The department's Alaska Division of Forestry allocated $167,738 to 28 of 37 applying fire departments around the state.
The VFA grants are not the only state money awarded to the borough that the assembly will address Tuesday.
Also on the agenda is $160,000 to the Central Emergency Services Area for purchase of a new fire engine for fighting fires in the wildland-urban interface.
Another measure involves a state grant of $50,000 that will help the Nikiski Fire Service Area purchase emergency response equipment.
Both ordinances are tentatively set for public hearings Sept. 4.
Also up for introduction Tuesday with expected hearings set for Sept. 4 are ordinances that would:
* appropriate $25,000 in supplemental funding for North Peninsula Recreation Service Area;
* appropriate an Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management grant of $5,286 for the Kenai Peninsula Citizen Corps Program;
* appropriate a $22,125 grant from the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to support activities of the borough's local emergency planning committee;
* appropriate $52,750 from the Alaska Division of Forestry for the Spruce Bark Beetle Mitigation Program;
* extend the Dec. 31, 2007, termination date of Ordinance 2002-30 to allow continued tax exemptions for increases in the assessed value of property resulting from harvesting of insect-infested timber.
Hal Spence can be reached at hspence@ptialaska.net.
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