ADAK ALASKA FIRE DEPARTMENT (FORMER MILITARY BASE DEPT CURRENT VOLUNTEER DEPT)

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Adak

Adak, formerly Adak Station, is a city located on Adak Island, in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 171, down from 326 in 2010. It is the westernmost municipality in the United States and the southernmost city in Alaska.[note 1] (See Extreme points of the United States.) The city is the former location of the Adak Navy Base and Adak Naval Operating Base. (Wikipedia)







Adak Volunteer Fire Department is a Fire Department located in Adak, ALEUTIANS WEST County, in the State of AK.

Organization of Adak Volunteer Fire Department​

Dept Type: Mostly Volunteer
Organization Type: Local
Number of Stations: 1
Career Firefighters: 1
Volunteer Firefighters: 20
Paid per Call Firefighters: 0
Civilian Non-Firefighting: 0
Volunteer Non-Firefighting: 2

Adak Volunteer Fire Department | Adak, AK

Adak Volunteer Fire Department is found in Adak, ALEUTIANS WEST county, AK. Get the Fire Dept latest news, contact info, logo, patch, photo, map, fire equipement, statistics, type of firefighters.

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MILITARY FIRE DEPARTMENT ERA DURING COLD WAR

Info and history about Adak Station military fire department (prior to base closing)

I was a member of the Adak Fire Department

 

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LODD - FN PERRY WALLACE - 1980s

FN Perry Wallace was riding hoseman responding to alarm. The truck flipped avoiding another vehicle. Wallace was thrown from apparatus and died later at the Adak hospital. Three other firefighters were pinned and seriously injured.

Fair winds and following seas.

 

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The U.S. military base on Adak Island began its existence on August 28, 1942 when American submarines delivered an Army scouting party to determine whether Japanese military forces were present. The Japanese had attacked Dutch Harbor/Unalaska from the air two months earlier and then occupied Attu and Kiska Islands, further to the west. On August 30th, 4500 troops and tons of heavy equipment were landed on Adak from seventeen ships and construction of temporary, and then permanent, facilities was begun. At first Adak was under the control of the Army. A shallow lagoon off Kuluk Bay was drained and a Marston mat aircraft runway was serviceable within weeks, allowing Army Air Corps bombers to take off for attacks on Kiska and Attu. At the same time, Navy operations were centered on the east side of Lake Andrew where amphibious PBY aircraft departed for surveillance and bombing operations. Until Adak was occupied, operations against the Japanese had come from the Umnak Island airfield near Dutch Harbor/Unalaska 300 miles to the east. Flights from Adak were shorter, more effective, and safer. In May 1943 about 27,000 combat troops gathered at Adak ready to support the invasion of Attu. After three weeks of bloody fighting, the Japanese forces were defeated. In August 1943, an invasion force of 90,000 troops was staged on Adak to launch amphibious attacks on Attu and Kiska. More than 100 ships were in the harbor. On August 15 the invasion force landed on Kiska only to discover that the Japanese had evacuated under the cover of fog. Thereafter, the Aleutian Islands remained under Allied control. Although this was the end of combat in the Aleutians, development of Adak’s infrastructure continued. Adak’s role was to support operations at newer bases further to the west; the island was also used to launch raids against the Japanese in the Kurile Islands. Adak became the largest military base in the Aleutians with facilities to accommodate 50,000 men.1 In 1948 the Adak base changed from Army to Air Force control, and in 1950 the Navy took control. Rising concerns over Soviet military power during the Cold War led to expansion of facilities and operations, including submarine surveillance; at its peak the station housed 6000 Navy personnel and their families. Support facilities included theaters, churches, elementary and high schools, a bowling alley, a library, a swimming pool, and a MacDonald’s restaurant. Adak remained under Navy control until the Adak Naval Air Station was decommissioned on March 31, 1997. Ownership of the facilities passed to the Aleut/Pribilof Native Corporation and the City of Adak, which have worked to reconfigure Adak into a support base for commercial fishing operations in the Aleutians. In 2001 Adak organized as a second-class city and currently (2017) has a population of about 100-300. The southern half of the island is administered by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. 2

https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/media/24194/b1996_035_guide.pdf