Inclement weather in Southeast Alaska knocked out six U.S. Coast Guard Rescue VHF Towers on the night of November 20th. That means the Coast Guard may not be able to pick up calls for distress on VHF channel 16 in certain parts of Southern Southeast.
Four towers — located on Zarembo, Gravina, Sukkwan, and Duke Islands — are back up and running, but the Coast Guard hasn’t declared them fully capable yet. The towers on Mount McArthur and Mount Robert Baron are still out of commission.
Aaron Hankins is the director of Fire and Emergency Medical Services in Petersburg. He’s helping coordinate the relief effort for a deadly landslide last night in Wrangell.
Hankins cautions mariners in the region to avoid Sumner and Zimovia straits in order to clear the area for ongoing rescue operations. He says there’s also dangerous debris from the landslide floating in the water, which may not be immediately visible below the surface. That flotsam can damage or even sink small vessels.
Due to the potential gaps in coverage, the Coast Guard is relying on mariners and emergency responders in the region to notify them of mariners in need of help by calling (907)463-2980 if they hear an unanswered distress call on VHF channel 16.
Coast Guard Sector Southeast Alaska will post status updates on the disabled Southeast VHF radio towers online.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the mountain where one of the disabled towers is located.
