Ketchikan Gateway Borough gets $347,000 federal earmark for an ambulance lost in a 2024 station fire

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough has been awarded $347,000 by the Department of Health and Human Services to replace one ambulance and one advanced cardiac monitor/defibrillator for the South Tongass Volunteer Fire Department, according to the federal award record. The award was signed Sept. 11 and carries no local match.

The department has been running an 18-year-old surplus ambulance provided by the City of Valdez. The award description states that vehicle is reaching the end of its functional service life and has become increasingly difficult to service and to source replacement parts for.

The fire came at about 2 a.m. on April 9, 2024, and was out by 4:30 a.m., the borough manager's report says. It destroyed both of the station's ambulances, two fire engines and a rescue truck. Responders operated out of City of Ketchikan Fire Station One, and the borough's department page records that fire and EMS service continued through mutual aid while the station was unusable. A new ladder truck arrived for South Tongass assignment in 2025, the July 7, 2025 manager's report shows.

The money comes through congressionally directed spending, which a member of Congress writes into an appropriations bill for a named project, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The record does not say which member requested it.

The borough plans to buy both items through established cooperative purchasing contracts, to ensure fair and reasonable pricing. The award record puts the expected result plainly: "a fully equipped, service-ready ambulance" returning the department to full operational strength.

The award period runs Sept. 30, 2026, through Sept. 29, 2027. Nothing has been spent yet, and neither the borough nor the fire department has said how long a new ambulance takes to arrive.