Cooper Landing Emergency Services
We are Cooper Landing Emergency Services (CLES) and we proudly serve the Cooper Landing, AK community with emergency services that includes our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and our Volunteer Fire Department (VFD).
As an unsupported 501©3, CLES responds to around 100-150 calls each year, operating with a combination department of 1 part time employee, and over 20 volunteer responders. We proudly provide emergency services to several hundred square miles of mountainous and wilderness terrain, as well as, more than 70 miles of intrastate highway corridors (including large sections of the Seward and Sterling Highways) within the area of Cooper Landing, Alaska. In addition, we provide mutual aid response to neighboring departments: Moose Pass and Hope Sunrise. We have the ability to provide both fire and EMS services.
Cooper Landing is truly a rural community within the Alaska Frontier. We are centrally located on the Kenai Peninsula 100 miles South of Anchorage. The nearest metropolitan areas include Soldotna (50 miles West) and Seward 50 miles South). In the event of a medical emergency, the closest hospital is Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna. However, as an EMS provider, CLES may transports patients to hospitals in Soldotna, Seward, & Anchorage. A typical EMS call with transport can encompass 3-6 hours at a minimum.
CLES members can choose to participate with one division of the agency, Fire or EMS, or both based on their comfort. Both divisions operate under one central authority (the Board of Directors) and one chain of command (Chiefs and Line Officers) that splits based on call type and complexity.
Volunteering can be done on a year round or seasonal basis. Learn more about becoming a volunteer.
In the 1970s because of interest from local community members who saw the need for emergency services due to the remoteness of Cooper Landing, a volunteer fire department was formed. The first piece of apparatus was a used 1964 mini pumper donated to the department. Within 3 years, a second organization was founded to help transport injured patients treated by the fire department and CL Ambulance Association came to be. In 2007 in an effort to promote cooperation between two organizations under 1 roof, the two services were disbanded and reorganized under one agency: Cooper Landing Emergency Services.
Over time the departments made progress through donated equipment and apparatus, often given in support by a larger, better funded agencies after it has passed the expected prime lifetime.
Cooper Landing Volunteer Fire Dept. got its first piece of apparatus which was a used 1946 Chevrolet Pumper. In 1982, Past Chief Jerry Norris lead the effort to purchase the first new apparatus in department history, “Unit 1” a 1982 GMC 3500 / EOne mini pumper, pictured right.
Pictured is the 1970s Ambulance in front of the current main station.
