A group of Petersburg residents is bringing back the local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla — an un-uniformed volunteer group that helps the Coast Guard with everything from dockside safety exams, to search and rescue missions, to cooking meals aboard their vessels. Now, the group is asking community members to step up and get involved.
The town used to have a flourishing Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla. But membership dwindled until the spring of 2020, when it was dissolved due to having zero members. But since then, residents like Desi Burrell have set out to bring it back.
“Slowly, now, for three and a half years, [we’ve] been working on recruiting,” said Burrell. “We now have enough people to stand up to be a flotilla.”
Burrell has helped recruit about a dozen other locals to the group. She said all the effort is because she wants to help keep her community safe.
“I’ve always had such great respect for the Coast Guard — living in a coastal community, and being rescued at some point in a plane accident,” said Burrell. “I joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary because I thought I saw a need for dockside exams for commercial fishermen.”
Those dockside exams are intended to address any safety issues on a boat before it gets underway, a they can be performed by trained volunteers with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Every commercial fishing boat is legally required to get them done periodically. But Burrell says the exams can be hard to get in rural communities. The Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Division only flies out to Petersburg a handful of times per year — and even then, only for a few days at a time.
“If you, as a captain of a fishing boat, are not present in Petersburg while they’re here, they often can’t get their boats done,” said Burrell. “There is not anybody here locally that is doing that. So, that kind of need for Petersburg, being that we are such a large fishing port, to have people here that are able to do that, I think will really serve our community well.”
Burrell has taken it upon herself to get trained to do dockside exams. However, that’s just one of many ways flotilla volunteers can donate their time, according to Coast Guard Auxiliary Division One Commander Brett Wells.
“We’ve got everything from public affairs to interpreters,” said Wells. “That’s just just to name a couple of some of the more visible ones. If you’re interested in teaching, we have our public education staff that goes into the schools, as well as doing the adult classes for boating safety.”
They’re also in a desperate need of cooks. Wells said there’s a big shortage of cooks on Coast Guard vessels — not just in Alaska, but nationally. And Wells says that can really disrupt their work.
“If a cutter doesn’t have enough cooks on board, they can’t go out and do whatever mission they’re trying to do — whether that’s law enforcement, search and rescue,” said Wells. “You’ve got to have enough cooks on board.”
How volunteers choose spend their time with the auxiliary is totally up to them. As is the amount of time, according to Alaska’s Coast Guard Auxiliary Commandant, Marion Parrish.
“I don’t want to minimize the fact that there is some training involved, and there is some time involved, initially…” said Parrish. “But you can always say: ‘no.’ You can always say: ‘I’m too busy. I can’t do it. I have grandkids to go see — whatever.’ And that’s perfectly okay! I joined because I retired and I was looking to stay out of trouble with my wife. And and then eight years later, here I am! There’s no obligation other than: you commit to [helping.]”
Now that there are enough members in Petersburg’s flotilla for it to get underway, the group is getting ready to make it official. A chartering ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, September 11 on the Coast Guard Cutter Pike.
