The Anchorage Assembly passed Ordinance AO 2025-61 this week, introducing criminal penalties for unauthorized fires to address wildfire risks, particularly those linked to vagrant encampments, which are a growing threat in Anchorage.
The ordinance makes it a misdemeanor to start fires on public or private land without permission during fire season, on public roads or sidewalks, or in violation of a burn ban.
Numerous vagrant fires are being set on sidewalks and in greenbelts.
The new ordinance may deter negligent fire-starting, but it is unclear if vagrants will be aware or will abide by the ordinance. After all, the vagrant camps are lawless places, filled with garbage and stolen items.
Over 80% of Anchorage is considered urban wildland. Anchorage Fire Chief Doug Schrage called the ordinance critical and said firefighters are responding daily to outdoor fires that risk escalating.
Misdemeanor????
Seriously??? That doesn’t stop vagrants from burning shit down!!! A lot of these fires are being set on purpose! I will assure you that things WILL…get done real quick if the fires burn down the elite’s property!
You can’t solve Anchorage’s problems until the sheep wake and fire all those that created the problem. The assembly and mayor are Anchorage’s main problems.
They will start fire just to spent winter in warm jail.
They will not prosecute our precious homeless population, from whom many blessed dollars flow, but they will prosecute you if you light a fire in your backyard to roast marshmallows.
Good luck, Schrage. Have some margaritas with LaFrance -on us.
Exactly true! The Muni code enforcement (Tim Quinones) only goes after people who appear to have money to pay the fine. In my case $300.00 per day for having the correct number of honey bee colonies in my yard and now there is going to be a hearing.
But the homeless people having sex in front of everybody at a public park is of no concern to him or the Muni. And those who piss and shit on public land are not fined or otherwise dissuaded from doing this.
Good job, Suzanne!
Oh, you mean you’ll start enforcing existing laws. Yeah, right. You know that any fire started by a “camper” or “unhoused” will not be prosecuted. For starters, what are they gonna pay the subsequent fine with? Stolen property? Like everything else, only citizens with a means to pay the fine(s) will be targeted.
The city will ONLY go after law abiding taxpayer, homeowners burning brush piles on their property.
Revenue generation.
The street cretins will get a pass just like they do for all the other crimes they commit EVERY day.
Vagrancy, trespassing, loitering, littering, public intoxication, public drug usage, trespassing, shoplifting, public urination and excrementation – need I go in – we all see the above behaviour regularly.
I wonder if the majority of those crimes weren’t being committed by white people, if there’d be a different level of enforcement?
P.s. Anchorage is a sh//hole city.
At least once a week my neighbor and I walk into a vacant property off of Chugach Way and either kick people out or pick up garbage, needles, bedding, etc. More often than not, we find evidence of fires set right in the ground with rubbish in a huge pile. Sooner or later these bums are going to burn down a neighborhood and/or kill people.
And, in the last election, did you vote for the candidate who wants to continue throwing money at Meg’s homeless commission and paying Mark Begich to take them into his hotels? Or did you vote for the candidate that actually wanted to do something different?
Is this a joke?
We don’t need new laws.
We need current laws enforced.
Davis Park in east Mountain View. Every damn day.
Yes, this new ordinance will surely stop the bums from starting fires just like the jaywalking law stopped them from getting run over by the wild Anchorage drivers.
Well…… many of these individuals are stake holders in their native corporations and receive dividends quarterly. If the State of Alaska can garnish Permanent Fund Dividends, why can’t the State or the Municipality garnish the dividends they receive from the native corporations? Maybe things would change quickly if they did t receive their dividends? Maybe this would be of great benefit to the communities having to deal with the mess of homeless camps.
The private property part of the ordinance means it’s more likely to be used against law abiding citizens having a fire in their backyard. Everyone is going to have to apply for a burn permit to have a BBQ this 4th.
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