82% of anchorage is in the zone

and the money that pays to thin it out runs out at the end of next year.

Anchorage's wildfire crew is three people. Two full time and one contractor, rebuilt two years ago on federal grant money.

Since then they have thinned brush and cleared away standing timber across 150 acres, and finished one fuel break at Abbott Loop Community Park. Another one starts this month on state park land up against the hillside neighborhoods.

The fire chief says keeping that going costs about two and a half million dollars a year the city does not have.

So two Assembly members asked for a study on something called a Wildfire Interface Service Area. In plain English, that is a way to charge the properties in the risky zone to pay for the clearing.

Four versions are on the table. One spreads the cost evenly across the whole city. The others charge more where the risk is higher, which means your bill comes down to which side of the tree line your house sits on.

Recommendations are due back by the end of October.

One member put it plainly. For a long time we were lucky, and we were not ready.

I am breaking down what each of those four options does to a normal homeowner's bill in Thursday's newsletter, link is below.