City Wants UA To Share Cost For Fire Protection

FAYETTEVILLE — Fire Chief David Dayringer said the University of Arkansas should chip in for more fire protection.

Dayringer met last week with members of the Town and Gown Advisory committee, which formed last year to discuss university growth and its impact on surrounding neighborhoods and the city in general.

“The demand for fire services has increased and a lot of that demand is from the students and the university,” Dayringer said, during an interview Tuesday. “We need to expand and enhance the service we provide the university because of the greater demand.”

The university’s 2013 fall enrollment was 25,341 and officials anticipate 28,000 students by 2015. Enrollment was about 20,000 in 2009. Developers are in the process of opening more rent-by-the-bedroom apartment complexes that will add at least 1,000 bedrooms in the central part of town. The university is also addressing the surging population by adding 2,000 on-campus beds during the next seven years.

Dayringer said he wants the university to partner with the city to either expand Station No. 2, two blocks north of the university at 708 N. Garland Ave., or build a new fire station in the same area of town.

“The high rises in the city are based mainly at the university,” he said. “The 2,500 or so bedrooms are being built in the core area of the city. With that type of increase, we need to make sure we’re planning.”

Mike Johnson, the university’s associate vice chancellor of facilities, said he’s open to discuss the possibility of forming a partnership.

“The Town and Gown Committee passed a recommendation for the mayor and chancellor to enter into discussion about an expanded Station No. 2 to include an ambulance and hazardous response team,” Johnson said. “They’re only recommending that the conversation start.”

Dayringer said the city is conducting a study to identify gaps in fire service.

“We have a group at the University of Arkansas working with a battalion chief to look at the economic impact of the service provided by the fire department,” he said. “That will go in with the service gap analysis.”

Calls for service, Dayringer said, have increased from 5,522 in 2003 to 8,500 in 2013, a 54 percent increase citywide.

Firefighters are dispatched to all medical calls within the city because they can typically arrive faster than Central Emergency Medical Service responders.

Dayringer said the department has seven stations scattered across the city, enabling firefighters to respond to any call within six minutes about 90 percent of the time. All firefighters are certified emergency medical technicians, trained to stabilize patients until Central EMS arrives to provide transport.

The newest fire station, Station No. 3, was built in 2008 for about $1.8 million. The 6,500-square-foot building is at 1050 S. Happy Hollow Road.

Dayringer said he estimates it would cost about $3 million to expand or rebuild Station No. 2.

“I don’t have a funding source at this point,” he said. “I would rather the university build it and we staff it, but they don’t have a funding source at this point either.”

Dayringer said the city talked about partnering with the university to rebuild Station No. 2 in 2009. He said the city applied for a federal grant, but it was rejected.

Johnson said he understands the city’s concern about the need for added fire protection.

“I think we absolutely need to sit down and talk it through,” he said. “I think there are valid concerns and benefits for both parties.”

Daniel Williams, Clemson University fire chief, said his agency has shared a 50-50 partnership with the city since 1927.

Clemson University, he said, is one of 14 college campuses nationwide that has its own full-service fire department.

“It’s always been a cooperative effort,” he said. “The university is a little bigger than the town.”

Williams said the agency is a combination department that uses full-time paid staff, part-time student firefighters and community volunteers.