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The City and Borough of Juneau’s biennial Preparedness Expo is back at Centennial Hall this weekend.

CBJ Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice says most of the more than 40 vendors from the first expo in 2011 have returned, plus a few new ones. He says this year’s event will feature more presentations on emergency preparedness topics.

“From hands on CPR, to learning about first aid, to building your emergency to-go kit, to live fire training, all kinds of good things for people to come out and learn about,” Mattice says.

While most people in Juneau would probably associate emergency preparedness with earthquakes, avalanches, and other natural disasters, Mattice says you are generally at a higher risk of experiencing a man-made disaster.

“I always tell people it can be that simple house fire that takes you out of your house,” says Mattice. “If you had to grab one bag and run out of your house as your house burned to the ground, what would you need? Do you have your prescriptions? Do you have a change of clothes? Do you have all your critical contacts and all your important papers in one spot? What kind of things do you need to be able to make through the next period of time until you can get back and up and on your feet?”

The Preparedness Expo runs from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. It is free and open to the public.

September is National Preparedness Month.

Curators of the nearly four-decades old Alaska State Museum in Juneau will start dismantling some of the permanent exhibits in preparation for the building’s demolition.

Meanwhile, some of the popular exhibits like the Eagle Tree and Science on a Sphere are expected to return in a new facility that is being constructed on the same site.

Construction is already underway on the artifact vault or storage area for the new State Libraries, Archives, and Museum (SLAM) that is adjacent to the current Alaska State Museum. Once the artifacts are transferred next spring, then work will start on demolishing the current museum and constructing the rest of SLAM.

Bob Banghart, deputy director of the state Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums, said that they’ll start on October 7th with the first run through of cataloging items and packing the current museum’s permanent exhibits for an eventual move to the new structure.

It’s a tremendously large project to do. It’s over 32,000 objects that have to be accounted for in the relocation and we don’t want any mistakes. So, it has to be done really articulately.”

The Minerals and Mining exhibit on the second floor will be done first so museums officials can gauge the time and effort necessary for the cataloging and safe packing of artifacts. Banghart said they’ll then work on the rest of the floor’s adjacent permanent exhibits through the end of the year.

It’s not like you grab a box and just start dumping stuff in it. Everything has a very, very prescribed methodology in order for us to do our job. It’s not fast.”

Alaska State Museum staff will get some help in the form of a $78,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. That will pay for 27 professionals from museums around the state to simultaneously receive training and help with the packing and transfer of artifacts.

The second floor will eventually be sealed off to the public on New Year’s Day and the first floor will be closed on February 28th. Then, all of the materials will be transferred to the new vault. That will include welding together Conex containers which will link the basement of the museum to the bottom of the new vault while providing a controlled environment for the safe transfer of artifacts.

Banghart said at least two panels from the side of the current museum with Northwest Coast Native formline design will — hopefully — be removed intact and reconstructed as a sculpture or monument on new museum grounds. The green sculpture Nimbus will be restored and returned to the museum grounds as well.

Science on a Sphere and the Eagle Tree, centerpiece of the current museum, will also be resurrected in the new museum building.

We were told — pretty much — that we could plan on leaving town if we did not put the Eagle Tree in the new building.”

Banghart said they’ve hired a local knowledge expert who will help with an accurate construction of a brand new tree with salvaged sticks and eagles. The current tree will be too small for the new space.

Some of the temporary exhibits currently on display at the Alaska State Museum include the recovered Apollo 11 moon rocks, Tommy Joseph’s exhibit of Tlingit armor, and Kay Field Parker’s Ravenstail weaving exhibit.

A house fire in the Mendenhall Valley Thursday morning caused $50,000 damage, but did not result in any serious injuries.

Capital City Fire and Rescue Chief Rich Etheridge says firefighters responded to a call about 6 a.m. to find heavy fire on the roof of a home on Meadow Lane.

Three people were evacuated from the home and taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital. Two were checked for smoke inhalation and one was treated for burns on their foot.

Fire Marshal Dan Jager investigated the cause of the blaze. The house was in the process of being re-roofed, and Jager believes the fire started when a halogen work light made contact with a plastic covering and tar from the old roof.

The house had smoke alarms, but they weren’t active in the attic due to the re-roofing project.

Besides fire damage to the roof, Etheridge says the rest of the house sustained significant water damage.

Original story:

Three people were treated for minor injuries after an early morning house fire in the Mendenhall Valley.

Fire Chief Rich Etheridge says Capital City Fire and Rescue received a 911 call around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, and crews arrived at the house on Meadow Lane to find heavy fire on the roof.

Etheridge says the house is in the process of being re-roofed, so there were open trusses and only about half the decking was back in place. Fire Marshal Dan Jager is working with the homeowner and the contractor to determine the cause of the blaze.

While the fire was contained to the roof, Etheridge says the rest of the house sustained significant water damage.

Three people were home at the time. Etheridge says they were taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital, where two were checked for smoke inhalation and one was treated for burns on their foot.

Etheridge says the investigation continues.

The last cruise ships of Juneau’s tourist season sailed away Wednesday.

Cruise ships made more than 550 visits to Juneau this year.

Though final numbers aren’t in, Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Nancy Woizeschke  says just under a million passengers visited the capital city this summer.

“At the beginning of the season we were hoping to break the million passenger mark for the large cruise ships and that was a little optimistic. And then with the cancelling of multiple Celebrity Millennium stops, I think we won’t be passing that particular mark this year,” Woizeschke says.

In August, multiple mechanical problems sidelined the Millennium in both Seward and Ketchikan, forcing cancellation of several voyages.

Several new ships called on Juneau this summer, including the 1,041-foot Celebrity Solstice, which Woizeschke says is the largest cruise ship to sail Alaska waters.

She says based on hotel occupancy rates, the number of independent travelers to Juneau this summer may be high.

“We think that’s a good indicator of lots of independent travelers coming and spending multiple nights here,” she says. “And then we’ve had a lot of smaller cruise ships, for instance the Un-Cruise Adventures came to port for the first time this year. Lot of those folks, because they depart and come back here, have the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Juneau on either side of their trip.”

Holland America’s Oosterdam and Westerdam were the last two ships in port Wednesday.  The Westerdam was not expected, but bad weather earlier this week forced it to revise its schedule.

The first cruise ship of 2014 will sail into Juneau on May 1st.

The Juneau School District’s annual summit is Wednesday.

It’s the district’s report to the community on everything from student achievement, attendance, and graduation rate to how well kindergartners are prepared for school.

Kristin Bartlett is chief of staff for the district. She says District Superintendent Glen Gelbrich also will explain the state’s new academic performance index.

The summit is directed toward all Juneau residents, whether or not they have children in local schools.

Bartlett says results will be released from the annual survey of parents and guardians.

“Questions for all parents and guardians are about satisfaction and confidence in the school district, in schools, and in teachers in Juneau,” Bartlett says. “Then there are specific questions about school choice, about participation in activities, about climate and connectedness and then information about how students choose which high school they would like to attend.” 

A second survey of middle and secondary school staff and students is called Climate and Connectedness.

“That really means how involved students are in their school.  How connected they feel to their peers as well as their teachers and the staff in their school,” she says.

The Annual School Summit is Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Thunder Mountain High School auditorium.

Throwing out visitors who overstay their welcome is a common late night practice in downtown bars. But one guest on Monday night was particularly unwelcome at the Alaskan Hotel & Bar.

Take a look at this video posted on the Alaskan Bar’s Facebook page:

Around 9:15 p.m., C. Scott Fry, the hotel and bar manager, watched the black bear walk down the sidewalk past the hotel  lobby.

“And as soon as he got to the bar door, it made a left and walked in like he wanted to have a beer,” Fry said.

Ariel Svetlik-McCarthy was tending bar last night. She says it had been quiet up to that point. She realized the bear was inside and freaked out.

She yelled, “No bear! Get out! No! You can’t be in here!'”

Within seconds, the black bear obliged. It looked underage, too, she quips.

Area management biologist Ryan Scott with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game recalls bears visiting Bartlett Regional Hospital and private homes. But, he says, bears going inside buildings is rare.

“Sounds to me like they did great, and it’s good news the bear did oblige,” Scott said.

Alaska wildlife officials have put down two nuisance bears in Juneau this summer.

(Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional comment from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Full disclosure: Ariel Svetlik-McCarthy is a friend of the reporter. Also, the entire Facebook post was included in an earlier version of this story, but stability problems led us to just embed the video.)