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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
Chief Hatley, welcome to Capital Chat.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning.
Speaker 1:Nice to meet you, by the way.
Speaker 2:Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on the gig.
Speaker 2:It's been, very challenging, but, yeah, very fun, and I'm very excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Now you are from, well, you've worked in a number of different places, but, the... As we like to say, the Lower 48. But you're you're in Washington state?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Eastern Washington. I'm a farm boy from Pullman and then worked in Spokane and did a couple stints over on the West side of the state. So Washington boy all my life.
Speaker 1:And we were talking before we started the show that, you got to experience, our winter. Yes. Right in the middle of it.
Speaker 2:Right? Yes. I did. Got to fly in right in the middle of it and was here when you guys broke the record in February. Oh, congratulations.
Speaker 2:I hope never to see that again.
Speaker 1:But You and me both. Well, you mentioned, challenges. Let's talk about some of the challenges, and and it's finding firefighters to work in... To come and live and and work in Juneau. What what are some of the challenges there?
Speaker 2:Well, again, it's cost of living, housing, again, being... We are an island, and, we've been very fortunate right now. We got an apprentice program that we're trying to... Due to the fact that we can't get individuals here in Juneau, we're utilizing our own resources here at home. And our apprentice program has been very successful to find those that are here, from here, understand the the environment, the whole situation, I guess, as far as living and having a support group.
Speaker 2:Our other challenges, like I said, bringing firefighters up from the Lower 48 or even up here in Alaska is very challenging just due to the fact of housing and Juneau. Again, being an island, it's it's a different lifestyle.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it's it's interesting, isn't it? Because we we had that conversation also prior to, you know, it's one of those things that, you step on the ground here in Juneau, and it's got you or it doesn't. And and for my wife and I, it was like, oh my god. This is this is fantastic.
Speaker 2:Right. Know?
Speaker 1:But for for others, it it can be challenging. It can be isolating. You know? And, like you said, the the cost of living that that we have experienced in this in this city. And it's part of the conversation that's happening, you know, with the coast guard coming to town too.
Speaker 1:We've got all of those situations. So I I know that's a challenge. As you continue to reach out and, hopefully, encourage, folks to come up here and and build our team, what are some of the the, the the procedures and processes you're putting in place to entice them to come up?
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, I've coming into this organization, a lot of things. You don't know what you don't know. And for our organization, it's been been... Our folks are just out of this world. They they go above and beyond.
Speaker 2:I I came in trying to bring some structure. And again, I... As I came in from day one, I make... I wanna make this a very... A professional fire department.
Speaker 2:I wanna make this a place where it's a destination. I want people to come to Juneau. Yeah. We have a lot of unique... Uniqueness about our fire department.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're truly an all hazards fire department. We... You know, EMS, fire, hazmat, rope rescue, water rescue. It... It's a very dynamic.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And we're on our own. We got no help. We got no backup. We got no mutual aid.
Speaker 2:We gotta be very resourceful, and our individuals are very well adapted to that. And, like I said, you can't make this stuff up. It's like the day of the gloth. We had the flood, we had an airplane crash, and we had a wildland fire all in one day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it just, for our end, our folks, it's it's very dynamic. And I want to make this, an organization where it entices people that have a sense of adventure to come up and and, be part of this team.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Part of of having a successful and an active fire department is making sure that we've got the right equipment. We have a new airport rescue and firefighting truck that we're announcing and is active right now. Right?
Speaker 2:That is correct. Actually, that was my... As soon as I hit the hit the deck, as I landed my first day, that was my main objective, to get the airport up and, running efficiently. We had two, ARF trucks that were on loan. ARF is aircraft rescue firefighting vehicle.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:We had... We were borrowing one from Gus Davis, and we were renting another one from, Palmer. And we are the capital city. We are an international airport. So that was my number one goal coming off this...
Speaker 2:Off the airplane to make sure that our airport was running efficiently, equipped right, and trained.
Speaker 1:Beyond the new equipment, you mentioned you're... We're also recruiting volunteers too as well.
Speaker 2:Right? That is correct. Okay. Yeah. We got the ARF side of the house.
Speaker 2:Like I said, we got two new brand new trucks. We also got that Marshmaster that we got on a federal grant. But as we stated before too, was staffing. As I came in, I reorganized the volunteer department, volunteers of our organization to be more active, to be more engaged. I need butts in seats.
Speaker 2:Got it. And, the volunteers, play a vital role in that.
Speaker 1:What do, what do residents here have to do to find out more information about that and what the qualifications are?
Speaker 2:They can go to our website, our CCFR website on the city, and then, all the application information's right there online.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. What a pleasure. Great to have you here. I think new energy and the inspiration that you bring and the the the... What you're hoping to build here, I think, is inspiring.
Speaker 1:And it's very cool to have you on the show today.
Speaker 2:Well, I greatly appreciate it, and I'm excited for the future and to be here more often to tell you good things about what's going on at CCFR.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. We'll see you then.
Speaker 2:Thank you.