A few weeks back, on Flashlight’s personal Facebook account we had a friend request from a user called “Afd Status.” Thinking it odd, we went ahead and accepted, and began receiving updates in our news feed about which trucks and engines were being put out of service as a result of the rolling closures implemented during the brief Claman administration as part of an effort to close the city’s then-$17 million or so budget gap.
For example, two minutes ago as this is typed, Afd Status posted “Truck 11 (Eagle River) and Engine 14 (Tudor & Baxter) are closed for 24 hours.”
But on Monday, Afd Status, which isn’t sanctioned by the department or the administration, cited a link to a KTUU news story with the commentary, “We’re at a loss for words…” The KTUU story revealed that the Sullivan administration had decided to lay off Anchorage Fire Department personnel to further whittle the city’s expenses (during the transition between the Claman and Sullivan administrations, another $9 million shortage was discovered).
That was the first Flashlight heard about the layoffs—now expected to be around 12 firefighter personnel. It got us wondering who was behind the Facebook account (Afd Status has a Twitter account as well, with the same information, at
www.twitter.com/afdstatus).
What we discovered was that the administration had decided not to announce the rolling closures on its “official” page, which is a fan page rather than a friend page. So some rebels at the department decided to make their own page, where they could friend people in the media like yours truly, and media folk would know what trucks and engines were closed on what day. Which is pretty awesome, if you ask Flashlight.
The rolling closures switch every 24 hours, so that any particular community that feels slighted by trucks or engines in their area being closed doesn’t really have time to rally against the closures; by the time they got started, the resources would be reopened the next day. Clever on the administration’s part, we suppose, but with the announcement of additional layoffs, it puts a large question mark on Mayor Sullivan’s campaign promise to make public safety a priority. As developments occur, Flashlight will be watching (and watching Afd Status’s social media announcements).
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