KHNS - Haines

Alaska is earthquake country. While many people don’t know the basic safety measures they should take to prepare for an earthquake, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management wants to change that.

The Division hopes to jolt people into awareness with a mobile earthquake simulator. The ‘Quake Cottage’ is scheduled to visit 10 communities in Southeast Alaska and the Yukon for the first time ever this fall.

The simulator tentatively will arrive in Juneau on Tuesday, Aug. 30, from Skagway and depart Friday, Sept. 2, for Sitka.

From a distance, the Quake Cottage looks like a normal enclosed trailer you hook up to the back of a truck. But get closer, and you see the words: “Alaska’s Earthquake Simulator: Are you ready for the next big quake?” Step inside and an automated voice tells you, “This is not a ride, it is an experience.”

The Quake Cottage holds four people. You sit down and hold on tight as the shaking starts.

Jeremy Zidek with Alaska Homeland Security said the machine can simulate up to an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.

“The earthquake simulator is an experience we want people here in Alaska to feel because earthquakes are so prevalent here in Alaska,” Zidek said. “We have about 11 percent of the world’s earthquakes.”

Alaska is the most seismically active region in the U.S., and even one of the most seismically active in the world.

According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, there have been more than 22,000 quakes in the state so far this year. Most of those are minor. Zidek says his agency wants Alaskans to be prepared for the next big one.

“The danger of earthquakes here in Alaska is very real.”

Alaska Homeland Security owns one of a few Quake Cottages in existence. It’s a prevention tool, meant to bring home the reality of what an earthquake feels like, and that it could happen to you.

“The experience is a little bit jarring,” Zidek said. “But that’s what the earthquake is, an earthquake can be a very violent event. And people should know what to do when that shaking starts.”

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had a jarring experience when he tried out one of the Quake Cottages in 2012.

The best earthquake safety advice for people in the U.S. is “drop, cover and hold,” Zidek said. Get on the ground, find cover from falling objects, and hold on while you wait the earthquake out.

“It’s more of the turtle philosophy as opposed to the rabbit philosophy,” Zidek said. “You really can’t run from the earthquake anyways. If you run outside there’s just as many falling hazards that can hurt you there and there’s a good likelihood you’re gonna be thrown to the ground.”

Zidek said people in Southeast Alaska have been asking for the Quake Cottage for years. The Division hasn’t been able to bring the simulator to any off-the-road communities because it’s an expensive endeavor, but this fall, it’s finally going to happen with the help of grant funding.

“In Southeast, people are vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, so they need to know what to do when they feel that shaking,” he said.

Brian Templin, who is involved in Craig’s emergency planning committee, says the simulator’s visit will coincide with the town’s biennial Emergency Preparedness Fair.

“Because of our location on the coast and the threat of earthquakes, it’s one of those things that we’ve been very fortunate (so far) but you certainly want to be prepared,” Templin said.

 

The Quake Cottage tour of the Yukon of and Southeast will begin in Whitehorse August 26 and travel to Skagway, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Craig, Haines and Haines Junction – in that order.

Approximate dates for the Quake Cottage’s visits to the Lynn Canal are Aug. 28 for Skagway and Sept. 26 for Haines.

Zidek hopes the month-long tour will help Southeast Alaskans be prepared for when the next major earthquake strikes.

“We’re happy we can bring (the simulator) to this audience of seismically vulnerable Alaskans that haven’t experienced it before.”

Unreliable cell phone service frustrated Skagway residents last summer.

Some hope emerged in October, when AT&T announced plans to upgrade its network by summer of 2016. But a spokesman says those plans have stalled. And people in Skagway have noticed, as they slog through another summer of cell phone problems.

Skagway resident Andrew Cremata took to Facebook recently in an effort to hold AT&T accountable for what he viewed as ‘lies’ from the company about upgrading its service for this summer.

“It’s just so in your face how much they don’t care about anyone,” Cremata said. “But they sure don’t mind cashing your check every month.”

Cremata says he pays about $150 each month on a shared cell phone plan, but “you can’t check your voicemail half of the time, some certain texts don’t go through and certain phone calls tend to get dropped a lot more frequently, especially ones that come from out state.”

Cremata’s Facebook post garnered more than 70 comments from other fed-up Skagway residents. One said she nearly lost her job because of phone issues, another said every aspect of her tour business is impacted because by the unreliable service.

“(The upgrades have) just taken longer than we wanted to do,” said Chris Brown, AT&T’s Director of Network Services in Alaska.

There are multiple pieces to the AT&T technology puzzle that connects Skagway customers. One is the microwave radio tower, which used to be the only connection between Skagway and the rest of AT&T’s network. But last summer, an especially tall cruise ship blocked the tower’s path and cut out service.

“It was at that point we said we need to do something short term and long term,” Brown said. “The short term was to procure some fiber capacity so that we could avoid problems the rest of that summer until such time as we could raise the tower.”

AT&T turned that tower off, Brown said, and started using a fiber-optic connection instead. The company now is trying to make its tower taller, so the microwave radio connection is more reliable.

The necessary permits from the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration are taking longer than expected to acquire, Brown says.

“Most of it has to do with the physical construction of the site and ensuring the FAA that the tower as it was would not violate the rules because of the proximity to the airport.”

Once the tower is raised, AT&T plans to turn on a 4G LTE network. The LTE equipment is meant to improve capacity between phones and the cell tower. Then the tower sends the communication back to the rest of the network. Brown says they can’t turn on the LTE service until the tower is raised.

“We don’t want to turn LTE service up until we have good capacity or it really doesn’t provide any advantage,” he said. “If you have a very fast connection to cell site but you don’t have capacity to take that back to the rest of the network, typically it would not as good a user experience.”

Skagway residents probably won’t find  out whether these actions will fix the service issues until next summer. The improvements should be in place by then, Brown says.

Skagway is in a unique situation, with demand for service exponentially increasing about four months out of the year during cruise ship season.

That presents a challenge for cell phone providers.

“We manage carefully that trade-off between the ability to serve customers during the peak time and the cost of maintaining a network that would be 20 times over-sized,” said Brown, who noted that AT&T typically doesn’t design a network to be perfect at the peak load. “The economics of it would not be typically favorable.”

Haines Borough residents who want to sit on the new Code Review Commission shouldn’t expect a short-term project.

The commission will meticulously comb through borough code, and make recommendations to the assembly for changes or modifications.

The task will be ongoing throughout the winter and beyond, but the goal of the group is to get rid of redundant or defective sections of code to make the document more palatable and relevant.

The code commission idea was a byproduct of the controversial Minor Offenses Ordinance. An ad hoc Minor Offenses Committee softened some language and adjusted fines in the minor ordinance, however, they couldn’t add or remove offenses. Those rules are still listed in borough code.

The new commission will make recommendations to do away with, or change, sections of code that are no longer useful.

So now, after public hearings and a nod from the assembly, the code review commission awaits its new members.

The notice announcing the group and calling for participants went up on July 18. Mayor Jan Hill said it wasn’t brought up at the last assembly meeting because it had been announced at a previous meeting.

Hill hopes to make the appointments by the Aug. 23 assembly meeting.

“I’ve had several people chat with me a little bit about it and asking some questions,” Hill said. “I’ve only received one official application.”

The seven-member advisory board will be appointed by Hill.

The assembly voted to launch the commission at its June 28 meeting after a lengthy discussion. The conversation focused on whether the assembly should strike the term “local attorneys” from the ordinance’s wording, and whether the new group should be called a commission or committee. In the end, it’s a commission, and the term “local attorneys” was axed in regard to who the group would consider suggestions from.

The assembly also voted to remove the section of the ordinance that talks about the commission seeking funds to cover expenses.

Assemblywoman Diana Lapham said at a recent meeting before the ordinance was approved, that no matter what the group is called, there’s a lot of work involved.

“Anything that this committee does will be reviewed by our attorney, as well our staff, our manager and then come before the assembly,” she said. “They do not have the power to just arbitrarily change code and pass legislation in that regard.”

Mayor Hill agreed that whoever is selected will have to devote a substantial amount of time and energy to the undertaking.

“This will be probably one of the major winter projects,” Hill said. “Some of us have a little more time in the winter to devote to this kind of a commitment. I think that this is going to be a big job and once they get started, I believe they’ll be meeting regularly.”

Interested code champions can submit a letter of interest or pick up an application online or at the borough administration building. Resumes or a detailed description of qualifications are strongly encouraged. Applicants must be a Haines Borough resident as it is defined in code.

“It would really be nice to have choices so that it could be a balanced committee,” Hill said. “Until we achieve that balance, the notice to apply to get on this committee will remain open.”

Dozens of Haines residents, who buy firewood from Canadian company Dimok Timber, will have to look elsewhere for their fuel source this winter. The company, located near Haines Junction, has been asked by the Haines Borough to pay sales tax and obtain a business license. But the owners say they shouldn’t have to because all sales are taking place outside the borough, and the country, for that matter.

The borough attorney weighed in earlier this month, supporting the borough’s decision. So, with both sides at an impasse, the company says it’s done with the Chilkat Valley.

Dimok has been doing business in Haines for a decade. Each year, it sells hundreds of cords of wood to residents who use it to heat their homes. Dimok owner Dorothy Clunies-Ross says customers continue to reach out to her about their displeasure, but, she says, there’s nothing more they can do.

“We’ve had a number of calls and emails and nobody is pleased,” she says.

She says if the borough rescinded the request for the Yukoners to collect and pay borough tax, they would consider coming back.

“We don’t feel that we have any right to actually collect tax. We’re a Canadian company, we’re a Yukon company. It just doesn’t seem right that they should put this pressure on us, because we don’t feel that we can comply, legally. We’re not a U.S. corporation.”

Dimok says for 10 years it would meet its Haines customers on the Canadian side of the border to purchase firewood. The customer was responsible for importing the wood and other paperwork. But Dimok representatives would physically drive the product to the desired location, escorted by the customer.

“We had a working relationship with customs, we were doing everything according to their rules,” she says. “So, there was no problem with the wood itself.”

The beetle-killed spruce is dry and ready to burn, which is why so many in Haines liked it. Clunies-Ross says Haines customers made up about 10 percent of their overall business.

“We’re not going to go under because of this, but when you’re in business, you make your projections based on your customer base and so, this definitely has affected us.”

Dimok is now in the process of letting its Haines customers know that they won’t be providing firewood anymore.

But some customers aren’t taking this development sitting down. Earlier this week, Steve Virg-In, who is a customer and a personal friend of the owners, wrote letters to the governor’s office, the attorney general, and the commissioners of revenue and economic development for the State of Alaska. He says he doesn’t believe the borough has the right to demand local tax from a foreign corporation. He calls the act an overreach of authority.

He wrote a letter to the borough and in it, he says he feels their demand for the tax is “politically, personally or monetarily motivated.”

The borough is shooting themselves in the foot, he says, because they’re also losing a dry source of wood for the upcoming biomass project.

Haines manager Bill Seward says the borough is within its rights to ask the business to pay.

“So, our position has essentially remained the same and the interpretation of our attorney is that Dimok is subject to our tax given the way they currently do business in Haines,” he says. “Now, should they change their business model perhaps to incorporate a common carrier for delivery of their product, that would change.”

In a response to an appeal from Dimok last week, Seward, with the help of the borough’s attorney, wrote that “the borough’s sales tax is to be ‘broadly interpreted’ in favor of taxability.” He went on to say that even though the transactions happen outside the borough, the product is driven into the borough and delivered in Dimok trucks. Therefore, the company must collect sales tax from its customers and pay the borough accordingly, the letter said.

“That was our hang up, was that they bought the product from a Canadian company,” Seward says. “The same company isn’t using a common carrier, they’re delivering it themselves.”

Seward says he’s gotten plenty of calls and emails from upset residents, but he adds it would  be “foolish to not embrace the legal advice of our attorney.”

He says borough staff became aware of the discrepancy in 2014, eight years after Dimok starting selling wood to Haines customers.

In an interview with KHNS last month, owner John Clunies-Ross said he had been threatened with fines and jail time if they didn’t start paying sales tax. He says he’s not interested in fighting with bureaucrats and so, the relationship between Dimok and Haines has been extinguished.

The Haines Borough and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are telling residents in certain areas of town to boil their water before drinking it. The boil water notice went out Monday evening to residences in these areas: Small Tracts, FAA, Tower Road, and Highland Estates.

Over the weekend, the borough’s main water supply was blocked, and storage tanks drained so low that some neighborhoods were left with brown water or dry taps.

Borough officials say the boil notice is a direct result of the transmission issues. The water pressure that minimizes the risk of impurities was lacking, and so the borough is required by DEC to issue a boil notice.

A release from the borough says maintenance is being done to restore water flow and correct the problem. Residents in the Small Tracts, FAA, Tower Road and Highland Estates areas should use an alternate water source or boil their tap water.

The boil notice will remain in effect until water pressure is restored and the water is tested for bacteria.

The Haines Borough is working to replenish its water supply after storage tanks drained so low Sunday that some neighborhoods were left with dry taps. The water shortage sprung from a problem with the transmission line from the borough’s main water source, Lily Lake.

On Sunday afternoon, Fort Seward resident Merrill Lowden drove 5 miles to the Mud Bay spring to get 8 gallons of drinking water. She said she usually gets her water from the tap.

“I’m lazy, I don’t like to haul water if I don’t have to,” Lowden said.

She first heard about the water problems when she went to the Pilotlight Restaurant Sunday morning. Restaurant owner Eric Forster said he was preparing for the brunch rush when he noticed something different about the tap water.

“It came out incredibly brown, super dark, almost looked like coffee,” Forster said.

“It got down low in the tanks where the sediment is at, and so while there’s nothing really wrong with it, it just doesn’t taste good and it’s not pleasant to drink,” said Borough Public Facilities Director Brad Ryan.

Public works staff were at Lily Lake on Sunday, trying to figure out what was wrong with the pipe that supplies water from the lake to the treatment plant. Efforts that afternoon to clear the line of an apparent air lock weren’t successful, and the borough put water restrictions in place.

“We had a big step forward (Sunday) night at about 8:30,” Ryan said. “We think we sucked some of the air out of the line and prevented some of the air lock. So it’s flowing pretty good right now, but not as good as we’d like.”

On Monday, Ryan said they were letting the water flow to the treatment plant to try to replenish reserves. The Lily Lake supply is being supplemented by Crystal Cathedrals well water, also known as well field, which is a backup source for the borough.

“And right now we’re making water, with well field we’re pumping about 400,000 gallons a day which is about 50,000 gallons more than we think we’ll use in a day especially if we can keep this water restriction on,” Ryan said. “So we’re trying to catch up, and if we do, tomorrow we’ll hopefully make some more improvements on the (Lily Lake) water line.”

Ryan said another reason the water stores drained so low is because the Tower Road tank is out of commission. The borough is waiting on a state permit for a tank roof replacement. Normally, that container provides a buffer for the municipal system to draw on.

Ryan said the borough has also been trying to avoid funneling Crystal Cathedrals well water into town, because the lower water quality can impact businesses. Last month, the brewery expressed concern when the borough used well water, saying it affects their product.

“So we’ve really been playing this game to try to keep people in better water so they can stay in business and be happier at their houses, and draw this tank down lower. But this hiccup is now a greater impact because we’re running our tanks lower,” Ryan said. “Now we’ve turned well field back on and we’re gonna have to live with it.”

Using Lily Lake and the Crystal Cathedrals well, Ryan hopes to get the water supply back up to the safe zone. A burn ban was put in effect this weekend partly because of the dwindling water stores.

Ryan said Monday afternoon that some residents on Highland Drive, Young Road and Bjornstad Street were still without water. He said borough staff were working to get service to those areas as soon as possible.

Forster at the Pilotlight said they’ve been using bottled water for everything since Sunday.

“So we had to go and use bottled water for sanitation and bleach buckets and washing hands,” he said. “It was bad. …Hopefully it gets fixed quick ‘cause buying all this water is expensive when we already pay for water.”

A water use restriction was still in place Monday afternoon for municipal water customers. That means people should refrain from things like watering their lawns, washing vehicles or other nonessential uses.