The Swan Lake Fire can be seen from above on Aug. 26, 2019 on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Wildland Fire Information)

The Swan Lake Fire can be seen from above on Aug. 26, 2019 on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Wildland Fire Information)

Feds offering Swan Lake Fire financial assistance

Those affected by the fire have one more month to apply for a federal disaster loan.

Small business owners in Alaska have one more month to apply for a federal disaster loan if they experienced economic injury from last year’s Swan Lake Fire, according to a Monday press release from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The Swan Lake Fire started on June 5 of 2019 and burned 167,164 acres on the Kenai Peninsula, primarily within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The fire caused multiple shutdowns of the Sterling Highway and produced heavy smoke conditions across the peninsula for most of the summer.

No lives were lost and no structures were destroyed as a result of the Swan Lake Fire, but the highway closures and smoke conditions had a negative economic impact on many small businesses on the peninsula.

The Economic Injury Disaster Loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that cannot be paid due of the fire’s impact between June 5 and Oct. 2, 2019. The assistance is available to businesses even if no property damage took place.

The interest rate for these loans is 4% for businesses and 2.75% for private nonprofit organizations, with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the Small Business Administration and are based on each applicant’s financial situation.

The loans are available for businesses in the Chugach Rural Education Attendance Area, the Iditarod Area Rural Education Attendance Area, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Kodiak Island Borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage.

Business owners can apply online or download an application at disasterloanassistance.sba.gov and can call 800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information.

Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can call 800-877-8339.

Completed applications should be mailed to the following address:

U.S. Small Business Administration

Processing and Disbursement Center

14925 Kingsport Road

Fort Worth, TX 76155

The application deadline is July 8, 2020.

Reach reporter Brian Mazurek at bmazurek@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read