CENTERTON -- Additional positions in local fire departments are reflecting growth in Northwest Arkansas.
Firefighting was once mostly volunteer in rural Arkansas. While local departments still rely on trained volunteers to help, increasing calls create the need for more staff at the station.
Centerton added three full-time positions in mid-February, a first for the growing department. It's been a goal since 2012, said Chief Delton Bush. The department was staffed by firefighters working partial shifts. Now there is one person on shift 24 hours a day, a full-time chief and supplemental part-time firefighters during the day. Centerton is still a bedroom community and most calls come during the day, Bush said. The department also is poised to respond to more calls as West High School opens in 2016.
The city improved its Insurance Services Office rating from a 6 to a 4 inside the city and from a 9 to a 5 in outlying areas on March 1.
Centerton will replace two engines this summer, starting a rotation where the city can buy newer equipment on a schedule instead of in a pinch. The city's newest truck was 15 years old. One of the two engines being replaced belongs to the county and will be rotated to another department. Another will be sold.
Prior to making the full-time positions Centerton served more people with volunteers than any other volunteer department in the area, Bush said.
Volunteers aren't going away anytime soon in Centerton, Bush said. They will still drive to the fire stations, pick up fire trucks and head out to an emergency to back up firefighters on duty.
"We will be relying on volunteers for years and years to come," Bush said.
Full-time firefighters mean better, more consistent service. Making positions full-time is part of the shift in building a growing fire department. The biggest change for now in Centerton was making sure overnight staff have a place to sleep. Station 1 had the bedrooms so the transition was easy, Bush said.
"I had to buy a few beds and we were ready for people," he said.
Lowell added its first full-time positions in 2005, said Nolan Jones, fire marshal and public information officer. Now there are six paid firefighters and a full-time chief. Volunteers are paid per call.
The department will add ambulance service next year.
"That's gonna be a big leap for us," Jones said.
The Lowell department will have to order an ambulance, and also add on so there will be a place for paramedics to sleep. Lowell firefighters now stabilize patients, but Springdale takes patients to the hospital. There were 900 calls for service in Lowell last year, most of them medical, Jones said.
Thirty years ago most departments in Northwest Arkansas were volunteer, but now it's hard to find someone who has a job where they can leave to make a run, Jones said. Lowell requires its volunteer firefighters to make 33 percent of the calls they are summoned to.
There's more time commitment than just the emergency. It could be a midnight call, a fire for four or five hours and then the equipment has to be readied for the next call. The hoses have to be cleaned, air packs filled, the trucks checked. It can take at least an hour to put everything back in order even from a small fire, Jones said.
Training also is required for all firefighters.
Fires are hotter, faster and deadlier today than they were years ago and firefighters have to be prepared, Jones said. Household items include more man-made materials, making the burn faster.
"It's too dangerous of a job not to train," Bush said.
Gravette has six full-time staff with two people on each shift. Volunteers also are used.
Gravette Fire Department covers 56 square miles for fire protection, but takes ambulance runs to the Missouri and Oklahoma borders covering 166 miles that includes Decatur, Maysville and Sulphur Springs.
Gravette added the first full-time staff members in January 2014, said Captain Star Butler. The fire staff were just as qualified before, she said, but service is better because full-time staffers know the area, which roads to take and, most importantly, they get to know the patients who call frequently.
The future growth for Gravette will come as the Bella Vista bypass opens and their service area has a sudden influx of traffic. The department is applying for a grant for six more positions through a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant.
Even with two people on duty, one ambulance run leaves the station empty.
"The nature of the job is never know how much is going on when,"
Gravette has provided advanced life support ambulance service since 2012, which requires a paramedic. Lowell will add advanced life support with ambulance service in early 2016. The Centerton Fire Department does not run its own ambulances but relies on neighboring Bentonville.
Emergency medical technicians are better trained than a first responder and bring basic life support care to an emergency. Paramedics have even more training and can perform procedures considered invasive, such as an IV or intubation. and can administer medication during transit, Butler said.
One reason for many departments use part-time staffing is because highly qualified firefighters may work at more than one department.
"We all share paramedics and we all share emergency medical technicians," Butler said.
Departments always want more staff on hand because they want to be ready, Butler said. There may be days with few calls and then they roll in one after the other.
"The nature of the job is never know how much is going on when," she said.
With volunteers it is difficult to predict who will be available, Bush said. Centerton requires volunteers to respond to 10 percent of the calls they are summoned to. In Lowell it's 33 percent. Departments rely on neighboring departments to help out, a concept firefighters call mutual aid. Even full-time departments wish for more staff, he said.
"It's always a people game," Bush said.
Amye Buckley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAAmye.
NW News on 03/16/2015