Little Rock donates firetrucks to county volunteers

Smaller agencies welcome the help

Members of the Little Rock Fire Department and West Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department check out a 1989 fire engine the city of Little Rock donated to West Pulaski department. Little Rock also donated a 1987 fire engine to the Sweet Home Fire Department.
Members of the Little Rock Fire Department and West Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department check out a 1989 fire engine the city of Little Rock donated to West Pulaski department. Little Rock also donated a 1987 fire engine to the Sweet Home Fire Department.

The Sweet Home Fire Department's 1983 Mack Pumper fire engine has busted pipes and gears that don't work.

The volunteer department only owns two engines, and having one out of service poses a threat to area residents. So the Little Rock Fire Department's donation of a 1987 Pierce Arrow engine Thursday couldn't have come at a better time.

"We were in dire need," said Will Hamilton, Sweet Home's assistant fire chief. "We were down to one engine and one in service. Us not having a backup was a very bad fire danger."

Without dedicated funding like city departments, volunteer fire departments often serve rural areas with fewer staff members, less money and outdated equipment.

Little Rock often donates trucks and firefighting equipment that it retires after purchasing updated vehicles and gear. In fact, Sweet Home's other operating engine was previously donated by Little Rock.

In addition to the donation to Sweet Home on Thursday, the Little Rock Fire Department also gave a 1989 Pierce Arrow engine to the volunteer West Pulaski Fire Department. That made six engines total that the capital city's Fire Department has given away.

The two engines were serving as Little Rock's reserve units, used in the event that all other units were called out. Last year, the city received six new units it purchased the year before, allowing the department to put some of its other models in reserve and retire the Pierce Arrows.

"[The engines] are 1987 and 1989, but I can tell you they are getting some very good units. They've been well taken care of," Little Rock Fire Chief Gregory Summers said.

The donations leave Little Rock with a Fire Department fleet of 38 units -- 27 of which are fire engines.

If the city had sold the two units at auction, they would have brought in $4,000 to $6,000 each, Fleet Services Director Wendell Jones said.

Summers said being a good neighbor to surrounding communities was more important.

"The volunteer agencies we have, they have a very difficult time trying to get members to volunteer for those services. Not only that, but the resources for equipment are just not there," Summers said. "We want to be good neighbors to our volunteer agencies. Any time we can support them, we want to be of assistance."

Both volunteer departments also got to select from an array of equipment the Little Rock department is donating to area volunteer squads. Equipment included nozzles, fans, hoses and generators.

Hamilton hopes the donations help the Sweet Home department improve on its recent success. The department, which has fewer than 10 volunteers, recently improved its insurance rating to a 4 from an 8.

The ratings, which affect homeowners' insurance premiums, are on a scale of 1 to 10. The lower the rating, the lower premiums typically are.

Insurance ratings are based on manpower, equipment, emergency communications, water supply and other factors, so larger, well-funded departments generally boast lower numbers. Little Rock received a rating of 1 earlier this year, down from a 2.

In Arkansas, the majority of fire departments have a rating of 9, the second-worst. Of the state's 1,003 fire departments, 903 are volunteer.

The West Pulaski volunteer department had ratings of 5, 6 and 10 in various service areas. After opening a new station on Pinnacle Valley Road last year, the department's rating in that area dropped to a 5.

"There is a bond and tie between West Pulaski and the city of Little Rock," West Pulaski Fire Chief Ronnie Wheeler said. "We have several firefighters who are also Little Rock firefighters. We have a large border with the city, and there's many times we work with each other on fires.

"This truck will enhance our ability to provide fire services and will help us have an extra truck in the Pinnacle Valley Road area," he said.

The West Pulaski department has six other fire engines, five brush trucks, six tankers and four rescue squads. But many of its engines only seat two or three people, requiring some volunteers to take their own vehicles to fire scenes. The department has about 70 volunteers.

"With this truck [donated by Little Rock], you can seat about five people, so that cuts down on the personal vehicles at the scene," Wheeler said.

Getting the Pierce Arrow fire engine from Little Rock will allow the department to retire a 1977 American Lafrance engine.

For Sweet Home, it's not only the donation of an engine that means something, but the fact that it is coming from such a respected department, Hamilton said.

"Getting a truck like this, knowing it's been taken care of and managed in the way it has, it gives us inspiration that when we go to a fire, we know we have adequate equipment we can rely on," Hamilton said.

"One thing that makes a firefighter feel adequate and better is knowing his equipment is there for him and has his back, just like we have the back of all our firefighters. This is a big inspiration to us, especially with the warmer season coming."

Metro on 05/02/2016

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