To: Alaska Fire Chief Association

From: Emmanuel Harley

Subject: Decreasing House Fires

To whom it may concern,

The number of homeowners in Alaska have been increasing in the last couple years. Business have been
growing for a lot of companies that builds and manages homes. We want to keep it that way; however,
with the amount of house fires that have been presented lately, Alaska needs more firefighters to
combat house fires. With limited firefighters, house fires will overpower our fire crew that are in service.
To fix this issue, I propose that we increase the budget and increase salaries. We should also increase
awareness to homeowners especially the new ones that are developing homes.
House Fires in Alaska

House fires are presented in every state in the U.S; however, Alaska has been presented with more
house fires than any other state. Alaska has a rate of 27.0 people per million deaths in a fire at home,
which is unacceptable. In 2021 alone, Alaska had 389 total fires caused by humans and lighting. To
address this issue, we must hire more firefighters.

Why low Salaries is a Problem

Having low salaries is causing more firefighter to quit and not consider accepting the position once
hired. If we can’t get anyone to accept the position, then no one will be able to fight the house fires.
Increasing this budget can seem unnecessary; however, firefighter are the only ones responsible for
putting out a fire. Increasing the budget around $50,000 will not only be beneficial but it will attract
more firefighters who are looking for employment. This is necessary especially with the amount of
house that we have been presented with.

What We Can Do

As already stated, increasing budget and salaries is a must need for this state. Increase firefighters can
combat fires faster and more efficiently. Another action we must take is bringing more awareness to
social media for homeowners At this point in time, social media is at its highest, and we must consider
how we can benefit from using it. Homeowners can benefit from social media posts informing them
through the biggest apps such as Facebook or Instagram. The next action is to provide more funding for
house fire prevention. Increasing our budget which we are more than capable to fund putting out house
fires and coming up with more funding approaches is something I would love to talk about soon. I would
love to sit down with you this Friday, May 5 th at 12:00 for lunch to talk more about what we can do as a
team to increase more firefighter and help homeowners prevent their homes from a house fire. Please
contact confirming if you are available for the time above. I can be reach at this email that this
document was sent from. I can also be reach by phone 8039288877.
I look forward to hearing from you,

Emmanuel Harley