LITTLE ROCK — In light of a jump in the number of accidents involving Little Rock Fire Department vehicles, the department hopes the purchase of a $300,000 driving simulator will better train drivers and cut the accident rate in half.
The department secured a grant in December for 80 percent of the cost of the simulator and is seeking approval from the city to pay the remaining 20 percent, a decision that will go to the Board of Directors on Tuesday.
The total cost of the device is $318,245, according to a proposed resolution.
Between 2008 and 2010, the accident rate involving Fire Department vehicles increased 30 percent per year, according to the grant application submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which awarded the department an Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
But according to data provided by the city’s Fleet Services Department, accidents involving Fire Department vehicles jumped from 16 in 2008 to 39 in 2011, an increase of nearly 144 percent. So far this year, the Fire Department has recorded one accident involving one of its vehicles.
“Part of that, quite honestly, is we are tracking them [accidents] more now,” Assistant Fire Chief Doug Coney said. “We have an accident review committee that reviews them. That’s part of the reason for what looks like a significant increase is really because now we’re tracking them and reviewing each accident.”
Coney said the department has always submitted accident reports to the city’s Fleet Services Department but recently established its own review committee to better understand why accidents occur.
The department’s grant application cites a goal of a 50 percent reduction in the number of accidents with the use of the new simulator.
To achieve that goal, Coney said, the department hopes to use software included with the simulator to take drivers through a variety of scenarios.
“I was in the simulator, driving down the road, and you see some kids playing to the right of you and you see a ball go between two cars,” he said. “So they want to see your reaction time and see how you react to that. Do you pull to the right, do you go to the left, do you slam on the brakes?”
Coney said the simulator will help prepare firefighters for a variety of occurrences and take some of the risk out of training drivers.
“It allows us to sit somebody down in a controlled environment and determine if we’ve got any trends or any issues that we may need to address with the way we’re currently teaching our guys to operate the apparatus,” Coney said.
In addition to the proposed purchase of the simulator, the department is asking the city for $90,696 to buy three pickups and a sport utility vehicle,which will be used by agency staff members, including assistant and division chiefs, and fire marshals.
The requests come less than five months after the department requested $1.6 million for the purchase of two pumper trucks and a ladder truck. Those vehicles, which the city approved for purchase in mid-November, are expected to be delivered later this year.
The Police Department is also requesting the purchase of eight new motorcycles, costing $130,704, at Tuesday’s Board of Directors meeting, two weeks after the city approved the purchase of 36 new pursuit-rated cruisers at a cost of $815,842.
Officials have said the capital expenses will be paid for from revenue from the city sales tax increase approved in September.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/02/2012