Mayor Dan Sullivan and his administration have altered plans to close the South Fork Auxiliary Fire Station on Hiland Road, restoring $10,200 originally cut from the proposed city budget.

Now there is a renewed emphasis from the South Fork Community Council to recruit the personnel needed to staff the station with residents because, they say, the facility is a key part to the emergency response plans for the area.

"Closing the station was being considered because there were questions of its viability," Sullivan said. "But the funding for the station has been restored to at least keep the building heated and the equipment ready for the next year."

Anchorage Assemblyman Bill Starr of Eagle River said after sitting down and discussing the proposed cut with Sullivan, they determined it was in the best interest of the city and area residents to restore funding for the station in the 2010 operating budget.

"The mayor is committed to keeping the station open. He realized the auxiliary model is a good one after a couple of meetings," Starr said. "The problem wasn't one of enlisting the needed volunteers to man the station as much as it was the Anchorage Fire Department never incorporated those who had volunteered and completed the necessary training into the emergency response plan for the area."

Instead the previous city and fire department administration focused on Station 11 in Eagle River as the primary emergency responder for the area, according to Starr.

"Those who went through the training to staff the station were forgotten, so they lost interest in serving," Starr said. "That led to the plan to mothball the station altogether."

After reading through the proposed 2010 operating budget, which was released in October, Starr began hearing rumblings from the community about the closing of the station.

"One of the first calls I got came from one of four different people who live in the area and had completed the training necessary to staff the auxiliary station should there be an emergency," Starr said. "He still wants to serve. As do the others who've been trained."

The South Fork Station is the only auxiliary fire station in the municipality. The Chugiak and Girdwood fire departments are volunteer organizations. As an auxiliary, the Anchorage Fire Department pays those who staff the facility for the time spent on an emergency call.

The auxiliary model has been successful throughout the state, the biggest example in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fire Department. With the exception of a handful of full-time administrators, the entire department in the Matanuska Valley is made up of auxiliary firefighters.

"We're hopeful that we can make the station work," Sullivan said. "Bill Starr and the community council need to continue to beat on the bushes and see if they can scare up some volunteers."

Finding volunteers and qualifying them to work as auxiliary firefighters is not easy. Each person must be certified to national standards before they can assist in firefighting. If an adequate number of people willing to complete the training is not found the station will remain as a garage for the tanker and brush truck now parked there and will be manned by firefighters from Station 11 in Eagle River.

"If the station stays viable in that manner then an SUV can zip up the hill faster than a fire truck with a full load of water," Sullivan said. "Then they can either be the first on the scene or arrive with an additional truck to assist in fighting a fire in the area."

Bob Gill, community council president said it didn't make sense to shut down this station just because it will save a little money. He presented the Assembly on Oct. 27 with a petition signed by residents urging the funds to be restored in the proposed budget.

"I think the mayor took a look at this from a financial point of view and saw there was no real benefit in closing the station," Gill said. "I think people heard about it and (called) their Assembly members and the mayor's office to fight for the little bit of government services we have in the area."

Starr plans to attend future Southfork Community Council meetings to discuss the need for volunteers and the future of the station.