Emergency services see upgrades in upper valley

The upper Susitna Valley is about to receive some upgrades of emergency related equipment and radio capabilities.Mat-Su Borough’s emergency services director Dennis Brodigan said that he plans to deploy two connexes with disaster preparedness equipment at the borough-owned property that also is home to the Trapper Creek Library and ambulance department. The connexes would store several thousand bags of pre-filled sand bags, road signs, barricades and other public works related disaster supplies in order to act fast when flooding occurs.

Brodigan and Tom Smayda visited the site last week and found that neither the librarian nor ambulance officials objected to having a 20-foot and one 40-foot connex stored at the site.

Brodigan also said that the emergency services department is beefing up their radio capabilities by installing a new radio repeater on Mount Baldy. The borough has contracted for space at an existing tower on Baldy and is slated to install the repeater in the next few weeks. This, Brodigan said, will greatly improve radio communications, especially for the Caswell Lakes area.