Ketchikan Assembly to take up $347,000 for new South Tongass ambulance after 2024 fire

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly is set to introduce an ordinance Monday that would spend $347,000 in federal money on a new ambulance and cardiac monitor for the South Tongass Volunteer Fire Department, which lost both of its ambulances in a 2024 fire.

The April 9, 2024, fire at the department's main station destroyed most of its equipment, including both ambulances, two fire engines and a rescue truck, according to the federal award record. The City of Valdez gave the department a surplus ambulance so it could keep answering medical calls. That ambulance is now about 18 years old, and the record says it's near the end of its service life and increasingly hard to repair and find parts for.

The money is congressionally directed spending from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, set aside by Congress for this project. It would pay for one new ambulance and one advanced cardiac monitor and defibrillator.

The ordinance is on the consent calendar, so it will be introduced along with other routine items in a single vote unless the mayor or an Assembly member asks to discuss it. A public hearing and final vote would come at a later meeting. Monday's meeting starts at 5:30 pm in the Assembly Chambers at 1900 First Ave.