Tontitown Fire Department Faces Bleak Future

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Tontitown Area Fire Department is running out of money because a contract for services with the city couldn’t be worked out. The department still has bills even if city money isn’t coming in, said Jason Steele, board president.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Tontitown Area Fire Department is running out of money because a contract for services with the city couldn’t be worked out. The department still has bills even if city money isn’t coming in, said Jason Steele, board president.

TONTITOWN -- The Tontitown Area Fire Department is running out of money because a contract for services with the city couldn't be worked out.

The department still has bills even if city money isn't coming in, said Jason Steele, president of the Fire Department board.

By The Numbers

Tontitown Area Fire Fees

The Tontitown Area Fire Department collects fees in its coverage area outside Tontitown. With no city contract, the department may have to levy membership fees in its entire coverage area.

• One-time initial membership: $100 for first year

• Annual renewal for residences: $75

• Annual renewal for businesses: $200

• Service calls to nonmembers: $1,000 for the first hour, $400 for each hour thereafter.

Source: Tontitown Area Fire Department

"We have to pay for our full-time firefighters. We have to pay for our fuel," Steele said.

The Fire Department, formed in 1979 as an all-volunteer organization, responds to fire and emergency medical calls in Tontitown and surrounding rural areas. A city-operated department is now also responding to calls in the city.

The City Council voted to form a Public Safety Department, with officers responding to both police and fire calls. Kris Arthur, the former police chief, was named as chief of public safety.

The Fire Department still responds to calls in the city because that area was included in the organization's coverage area when it received equipment grants, said Paul Colvin, a Fire Department board member. The city now has a separate state fire reporting number, Colvin said, making them the primary responder in the city.

The Fire Department also is under the threat of being forced to move out of their city-owned building, Colvin said.

Mayor Jack Beckford sent a text message Tuesday, asking for one bay and one office to be cleared in the fire station, Colvin said. After consulting with the department's attorney, Jim Crouch, Fire Department officials refused to empty the bay and office, Colvin said.

The Fire Department has a lease on the building that requires a 30-day written notice to vacate, Crouch said.

City officials want to put its fire engine in the bay, Beckford said.

"They have a lease for the building when it had one bay," Beckford said. "It has more now, and they don't have a lease on those other bays."

Crouch said he disagrees with that interpretation.

Fire Department representatives are waiting to see if they receive a notice to vacate, Colvin said.

There is a second fire station where equipment in the main station can be moved, Beckford said.

"We're not putting them out in the cold," Beckford said. "We just wanted a location that is closer to the majority of the people."

The main fire station is east of City Hall, where public safety officers have their office. The city's fire engine has been stored in the city shop building, Beckford said.

The city bought a 1996 Pierce pumper engine in late March for $45,000. The engine has all of its certifications, Beckford said. The engine had a leak caused by a faulty fixture, which has been replaced and is working fine. All the hoses that came with the truck have been tested and are functional.

The Public Safety Department is getting all emergency calls, Beckford said. There are some glitches to be worked out with dispatch.

Those problems resulted in the Fire Department not receiving a couple of emergency calls, Steele said. Emergency calls routed directly to Washington County don't create a dispatch call to the Fire Department, he said.

Springdale dispatches the Tontitown Area Fire Department, and the ambulances that come from the Springdale Fire Department, Steele said. Washington County dispatches the Tontitown Public Safety Department, Arthur said.

Training Day

The public safety officers have all the certifications and experience the city needs, Beckford said.

All 13 have at least volunteer firefighter certifications, Arthur said. Three are fully certified firefighters.

Brett Freeland, a Tontitown officer, taught two of the three classes needed to certify officers as volunteer firefighters, Arthur said.

According to an email from Freeland to Arthur obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request, the classes were cut short. The email was sent Jan. 27, before the classes were taught.

An "Introduction to Protection" class, also called "Introduction to Firefighting," is listed on the email as a 12-hour class. Information in the email notes the class would require four hours.

Likewise, a 16-hour class, "Introduction to Personal Protective Equipment," was labeled a six-hour class. An Arkansas Forestry Commission eight-hour class on wildland firefighting was described as a one-to-two-hour class.

Classes sometimes can take a little less time than listed, depending on the teacher and the number of students, said Rachel Nix, director of the Arkansas Fire Training Academy in Camden. The reduction in hours for the two introductory classes for Tontitown officers appears excessive, she said.

"That concerns me," Nix said. "I would like to know what parts were left out. You couldn't teach everything that should be covered in that class in that much time."

The Tontitown officers, if classified as full-time firefighters, would have to have more classes within a year to be certified at a higher level, she said.

The training of the public safety officers concerns Fire Department officials, Colvin said. The department has at least six firefighters who work full time for larger fire departments, he said.

A new volunteer in the department is always paired with an experienced firefighter when working a fire, said Colvin, who worked 11 years for the Springdale Fire Department.

"I worked five years full time before I thought I had enough experience to test for captain," Colvin said. "That's when I felt like I could tell people how to fight a fire without putting them in danger."

A Springdale official also questioned the fire training of the Tontitown public safety officers, after the Tontitown City Council asked for mutual aid agreements for fire response with surrounding departments.

Eric Ford, a Springdale alderman who 's chairman of the Police and Fire Committee, said he would never vote for a mutual aid agreement with the Tontitown Public Safety Department.

"It's all about safety," Ford said. "I would not want to put our firefighters at risk working under their officers."

He said he doesn't mind Springdale responding to help with Tontitown emergencies, but doesn't want the public safety officers to respond to fires in Springdale.

"I don't want to put our residents at risk, either," Ford said.

Tontitown has contracted with the Fire Department for six years to respond to fires inside the city. Previously, the department collected annual membership dues, which it still does in its coverage area outside the city. Returning to membership fees for the entire area might be an option, Colvin said.

Fred Kirk, the owner of RWK Pallet Co., said the Tontitown Area Fire Department seems to be well organized. The company is west of Tontitown, but is in the department's coverage area.

"I've never had a problem with them," Kirk said. "They come out twice a year to check the water supply. I hope they keep going just like they are now."

The money crunch has put that in question, Colvin said.

"Are we going to have to go back to all volunteers?" Colvin said. "As a board, we may have to look at that. We're just going day by day now."

NW News on 04/20/2014

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