SPRINGDALE — A five-year plan for the Fire Department could change who's hired, what areas are covered, how employees are trained and the amount they are paid.
The plan, drawn up after meetings with community members, sets 11 goals for the next five years. Goals include equalizing the pay scales between Springdale and surrounding cities; reducing the area the ambulances serves; starting a fire academy at Springdale high schools; updating technology; and building a training facility.
At A Glance
The Goals
The Goals for Springdale's Fire Department are:
• Pay and benefits to be commensurate with surrounding fire departments.
• Deliver the best possible emergency medical service to residents.
• Increase diversity within the department.
• Increase number of qualified candidates for employment.
• Have the department commensurate with surrounding communities and national standards with regard to adoption of new technology.
• Promote department services throughout the community.
• Have department staffing level comparable to state and national standards.
• Fully equip reserve fleet for response.
• Develop a training facility for the department.
• Host more certified classes to train personnel internally.
• Develop a program to educate community on services, prevention, and preparedness.
Source: City Of Springdale
The plan was approved by the City Council on Nov. 26.
“It gives us a clear path where we want to go,” said Fire Chief Mike Irwin.
“It’s a road map for the department,” said Mayor Doug Sprouse. “We may hit some detours but we can follow the map to get us back on course.”
Comments from meetings with residents were added to the plan, Irwin said. The comments came after the status of the department was reviewed.
The biggest concern of department officials seemed to be response times, said Glen Plumlee, who was one of about 50 residents who took part in discussions.
“They reviewed how quickly they could get to emergencies,” Plumlee said. “They want to improve their times.”
Response times should improve when three fire stations are built, Irwin said. The city has $8.5 million from a bond sale to buy land and build the stations. The bonds, approved by a city vote, will be repaid by a 1 percent sales tax.
Concern about response times led department officials to look at the service it provides outside the city, said Kevin McDonald, assistant fire chief. The Fire Department sends ambulances to unincorporated areas in Benton and Washington counties.
Responses to some areas outside the city can take as long as 30 minutes, McDonald said.
“That’s not providing good service,” McDonald said. “Those calls should be taken over by some entity that can be on the scene faster.”
Responding to medical calls outside the city can reduce the service to residents that pay for it, McDonald said. Several entities, including Benton and Washington counties, Lowell and Bethel Heights, pay Springdale for ambulance runs in which patients are picked up
“The money we take in doesn’t pay for the reduction of service in the city,” McDonald said. “We only have four ambulances on front-line duty. Sometimes we might only have one inside the city.”
The plan calls for eliminating ambulance service outside city in 12 to 18 months.
“It may take a little bit longer than that,” Sprouse said, “but we do want to go that direction.”
The plan also stated the department lacks diversity. A high school fire academy could feed minority residents who would like to work for the department, Irwin said.
Springdale High School already has several academies, said Alderman Jim Reed, who works for the School District.
The academy idea came from the community meetings, Irwin said.
Parity in pay is a concern.
Pay scales between area cities need to be similar to keep from losing firefighters, said Steve Harp, a member of the discussion group.
Springdale officials looked at pay scales in other cities before the 2014 budget was proposed, Sprouse said.
“That is something we will continue to monitor,” Sprouse said. “We will continue to deal with our pay scales as best we can.”
Training would improve if the department had a training facility in the city, Irwin said.
The Rogers Fire Department has a training facility, said Capt. Nathan Keck, a Rogers firefighter. The department can test quarterly to meet training standards without leaving the city, he said.
“We can still respond to calls while we are working on our training,” Keck said.
The Springdale Fire Department has applied for an Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, McDonald said. The grant would pay 80 percent of the $340,000 cost of a mobile training center, he said.
Department representatives are also looking at improvement to technology, including placing mobile computer terminals in each fire truck, said Jim Vaughan, division chief. They are trying to catch up with improvements in technology, he said.
Those changes could cost as much as $1 million, according to the plan.
The ability to pay for changes could push some goals past the five-year mark, Irwin said.
“If it goes that long, we’ll push it to the next five-year plan,” Irwin said. “We can carry those over until we get them done.”