Anchorage Fire Department chief Jodie Hettrick said people who live on the Anchorage Hillside and Stuckagain Heights can expect longer wait times in an emergency if planned cuts to the fire department budget go through.
Hettrick said the Berkowitz administration asked them to slice $2.4 million from the 2019 budget. She said that's a cut of nearly 3 percent from the fire department's $99 million budget, adding it comes on top of other cuts in recent years.
"We have no fat in our budget. Really, the only thing left to cut are positions," said Hettrick. "If it was totally up to the fire department we wouldn't make any cuts. But when the Municipality doesn't have the money to meet the basic needs of not only our department but the police department and everywhere else, we get tasked with making a cut and we have to."
The department's proposal is to stop manning a water tender from Station 14 on Campbell Airstrip Road.