Tasked with a vital role in their community, the Nenana Fire Department is asked to provide life saving services with little to no funding and outdated equipment. The building, a 1980's relic from Prudhoe Bay, has been repurposed from an old mechanical shop to the current fire station. On the outside of the station the paint has significant peeling, once you walk inside a single row of lights illuminates the equipment, the rest are plagued with electrical issues. The building also struggles to hold heat in the winter, risking their IV fluid. Fire Chief Joe Forness said they aren’t neglecting the station, they just don’t have the money to fix it. “We don’t have the money, we don’t have the funding to purchase new equipment, to get the equipment that we have tested and recertified, to purchase new PPE," said Forness.
With no permanent staffing, 911 calls come in to a land-line phone at the station and then those calls get forwarded to personnel radios. These radios are carried by staff and answered at all hours when emergencies arise.