Located on the far northeast corner of Denali National Park in Healy, Alaska, Lausen’s Dependable Disposal provides portable restrooms for the park and surrounding areas. That means extended periods of subzero, mind-numbing cold in winter and frost-heaved roads in the spring. Wildlife including moose, bears, black flies and mosquitoes join with wildfires and an influx of tourists to enliven the summers. And autumn weather has been increasingly unpredictable. It’s all in a day’s work for this PRO, who also handles septic pumping and solid waste disposal to keep his crews busy throughout the year.
Owner Leroy Lausen runs the routes, covering a vast territory, aided by his son, Will. His wife and co-owner, Vickie Lausen, and their daughter-in-law, Sheri Lausen, cover the administrative end of things.
Last year wasn’t a typical summer season. Leroy Lausen talks about an unusual portable sanitation customer the firm serviced, crews fighting on the front lines of five major wildfires around Fairbanks. It was the hottest summer on record for the area, creating a nightmare scenario for firefighters. If they were exhausted, Lausen was right behind them.
Summer is normally Lausen’s busy season, but not this busy. Usually, it’s just tourist attractions and events, National Park units and a few construction sites. But in 2009, it was a nonstop endurance run for the Lausens. On top of that, the couple had to continue servicing their regular septic pumping and solid waste disposal customers, whose business carries them through the cold weather. It was a far cry from the eight months of cold, snowy weather that’s usually their biggest enemy.
