The volunteer West Pulaski Fire Department has broken ground on a new station serving the Pinnacle Valley area and plans to open it by the end of the year, even as a third of it hasn't been funded yet.
The new station, located at Beck and Pinnacle Valley roads, is expected to cut response times and high insurance ratings in half, Chief Ronnie Wheeler said.
Right now, the average response time is 15 to 18 minutes.
"Most of our calls are medical," Wheeler said.
"That's the biggest focus to me is response time to something like that ... versus insurance. Life is more important to me."
Because the nearest fire station is more than 5 miles away at Arkansas 10 and Ferndale Cutoff, the 160 property owners in the Pinnacle Valley neighborhood have an Insurance Service Office rating of 10, the worst rating for fire protection.
"The folks that are building down here are having a hard time getting [homeowners] insurance down here because of the rating," Pinnacle Valley Property Owners Association President Luis Bianco said.
The Insurance Service Office is a private company that provides evaluations to insurers across the United States based on fire department staffing, equipment, fire alarms, water supplies and access to hydrants.
In the United States, 28.9 percent of fire departments have Insurance Service Office ratings of 9 or 10.
In Arkansas, that percentage is 42.9, concentrated in rural volunteer departments.
"It should drop to a five, which the rest of us have," Wheeler said.
"There's one gentleman, his homeowners [insurance] went up 300 percent. That was kind of a motivating [factor] out there for some people to donate. They'll recoup it pretty quick."
When the new station opens in December, it will be a 3,600-square-foot, bare-bones metal garage for three reserve trucks, built with nearly $200,000 in community donations. Resident Greg Hatcher donated the land it's being built on.
Another $100,000 would go toward constructing an office, kitchen, meeting room, training room and storage space, Wheeler said.
But the station will open without those things if the money isn't raised.
The station will be the fifth for the West Pulaski Fire Department after more than a year of fundraising for a new station.
The department expects to raise more money for the station after its annual fish fry next month, Wheeler said.
The fundraiser usually takes in $6,000, which is split among each station in the department.
Wheeler said he hopes to raise the rest of the money by the end of the year, in time for the contractor to build the indoor portion of the station.
"We have enough money to build the building, so I'm happy about that," Bianco said. "Inside, they might have to wait a little longer."
But the neighborhood is "very happy" about the new station, even if it's just a metal building at the start.
"It's a huge thing," he said. "It's not only going to benefit the homeowners out here ... but it's also going to help anybody and everybody who comes down here."
He noted the parks nearby: Pinnacle Mountain State Park and Two Rivers Park.
Bianco is so enthusiastic about the station that he's already ordered a cake for the open house in December.
"I think it's a great thing," he said.
Metro on 09/29/2014