Wood stoves and open flame fires are commonly used in rural Alaska homes and in our traditional ways of life. Because of this, homes in rural Alaska have a higher risk of catching fire. To help reduce the risk of house fires in our communities and promote fire safety and education, The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) created the TKC Fire Safety Initiative. 

In 2019, TKC partnered with the American Red Cross as part of their Sound the Alarm efforts to install smoke detectors in every home in our 10 villages. Over the span of six days, an installation team traveled to all our middle Kuskokwim Shareholder communities and installed 480 smoke alarms. The following year, we partnered with the City of Aniak to provide fire extinguishers and fire safety training to residents at the Aniak Volunteer Fire Department. We then expanded our fire safety initiative to deliver fire extinguishers and fire safety training to every home in the TKC region. Today, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are available to any Shareholder household, anywhere.