I attended the Kasilof community meeting on May 22 held by the Alaska Interagency Response Team regarding the Funny River wildfire. I want to extend a sincere thank you to all officials, including from CES, Division of Forestry and Borough Emergency Management, who took the time to plan this meeting to inform local residents of crucial information about the status of the wildfire.
I was saddened that some residents chose to treat these officials with rudeness and disrespect during the meeting. I think I can speak for other Kasilof community members as well when I say I am so grateful to all the emergency responders and appreciate the hard work being done by everyone involved in trying to save Kasilof homes, especially to the brave firefighters risking their lives on the front lines of this fire. I don’t believe the disrespectful behavior of some local residents is a reflection of the how the Kasilof community as a whole feels about the efforts of emergency response teams. Thank you to all involved for your hard work.