About 120 Alaska Scouts, leaders and other volunteers from the Great Alaska Council, which includes all of Alaska except the Interior, are there, said Mike Hale, the council's interim executive director. Like the event five years ago, it's being held at Fort A.P. Hill, south of Washington, D.C.
Hale said jamboree organizers recruited a full team of volunteers to work solely as safety experts, checking out the various camp and activity sites.
"They'll be the eyes and ears to make sure things like this don't happen again," Hale said.
The Boy Scouts also are not allowing anything to be erected in the power line right of way this year. Five years ago, the Alaskans were helping hired workers raise a tall center pole for a dining canopy when it touched a power line.
"They are extremely sensitive to that," Hale said.
In all, an estimated 45,000 Scouts and leaders are gathering for 10 days of activities, from archery to fishing to trapshooting.
This year's event -- celebrating 100 years of Scouting in America -- will be the last one on the military base. The Scouts are building a permanent jamboree home in West Virginia.
-- Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News/adn.com
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.