At a Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce meeting in the early 1970s, Len Laurance said that eventually Ketchikan would host more than one million cruise ship passengers each season.
The proclamation, made at a time when less than 70,000 cruise passengers visited the First City, was met with guffaws by the audience.
But Laurance, who died at 88 on April 8, was right. In both 2018 and 2019, Ketchikan had more than one million cruise visitors and would likely have had more than 1.3 million in 2020 if not for the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down the entire Alaskan cruising industry.
In an interview in 2014, Laurance said his projections were simply based on a 10 percent increase every year.
The Ketchikan Fire Department welcomed its newest aerial firefighting truck to town Monday morning when it rolled off of the Alaska state ferry Kennicott.
KFD Assistant Fire Chief Scott Brainard said the truck will replace the 1998-model aerial truck that the department has been depending on.
The new truck offers several improvements, Brainard said. Those include an on-board water tank, two nozzles instead of only one at the top of the 100-foot tower, and a basket at the top of the tower that will allow two firefighters to work side-by-side.
The nozzles each can flow 1,000 gallons of water per minute and from a greater height, both of which are superior to what the old truck is capable of, he said. The aerial ladder reaches up to 100 feet.
RAINBIRD repair funds on Council agenda ketchikandailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ketchikandailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
U.S. Congress 2019-2020: Bills Introduced (Over 5,000 in the House and over 3,000 in the Senate)
Fish Factor:Alaskans Prepare for Poor to Average Salmon Runs By LAINE WELCH - Alaskans are preparing for another salmon season of poor to average runs to most regions.
The big exception once again is at Bristol Bay where another massive return of more than 51 million sockeyes is expected. Managers predict that surge will produce a harvest of over 36 million reds to fishermen.
Bristol Bay is home to the largest wild sockeye salmon run in the world and typically accounts for 42% of the world’s sockeye harvest. Those fish and all wild salmon compete in a tough worldwide commodities market, where Alaska salmon claims 13% of the global supply.
Burst Pipes from Recent Cold Weather Causes UAS Ketchikan Damage
Sunday PM (SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - During the recent cold weather, a sprinkler pipe froze and burst in the Zeigler Building at 2600 7th Avenue on the UAS Ketchikan Campus, resulting in a large amount of water travelling through corrugated roofing panels to various locations on the first and second floor of the building.
Water making its way through the corrugated roofing panels and draining to spaces below flooded areas of the UAS Ketchikan Library, the Student Center and a number of offices and hallways. Approximately 5,000 UAS Ketchikan Library books, a number of computers and monitors, important documents, office furniture, carpet flooring and ceiling tile were subject to various levels of water damage.