Volunteers needed at rural fire stations

FAYETTEVILLE — Peter Oxford sat down to last year’s Christmas meal as his pager beckoned.

Oxford made apologies and left. Someone’s home was on fire, and Oxford, a volunteer firefighter with Washington County’s Round Mountain Volunteer Fire Department and about 20 other volunteers answered the duty call.

Similar groups from other rural fire departments assisted.

Rural fire departments in the area are finding it harder to find volunteers who will join the departments — or even show up, chiefs report.

At the same time, the departments are getting busier with more calls as more people move into the area, said Willie Watts, an assistant chief with the Fayetteville Fire Department. Watts also volunteers with the Prairie Grove Fire Department, which works with the Farmington Fire Department for calls outside the city limits.

The Fayetteville department, formed in the 1870s, also operated with volunteers until the 1980s, he said. Watts said the local difficulty follows a national trend among fire departments and even other organizations relying on volunteers.

Watts and Oxford said the entire county could be brought under a single fire district if manpower issues leave the volunteer departments without resources.

Now, departments rely on mutual aid agreements among neighboring fire departments — volunteer and full time — in Benton and Washington counties.

“If we want fire service in a timely manner, we cannot jeopardize the volunteer departments,” Watts said.

STAFFING STANDARDS

The National Fire Protection Association sets standards for firefighting, which volunteer departments also strive to meet.

The association requires 16 firefighters to battle every 2,000 square feet of a house, which can be covered by the area’s bigger fire departments, staffed full time.

Jerry Oliver is chief of the all-volunteer Rocky Branch Fire and Rescue, east of Rogers. He said the department has 20 to 25 people on its rolls.

“But you get by with seven or eight, who, if they are in the area, will show up every time the pager goes off,” Oliver said.

“But it’s not a guarantee that even the most dedicated volunteers will have the time to respond,” Watts said. “They might be in Branson.”

The Nob Hill Fire Department east of Springdale counts three paid staff members, 25 volunteers and 12 to 15 regularly showing up at emergencies.

“That’s enough if we get assistance from other fire departments,” said Chief Gary Hull. Nob Hill covers 87 square miles, which includes a large part of Madison County, Hull noted.

Rocky Branch covers 12 square miles and a lot of Beaver Lake, Oliver said. Rocky Branch responds to the same calls dispatched for volunteer Piney Point Fire Department, Beaver Lake Fire Department, Highway 94 East Volunteer Fire Department and the Hickory Creek Fire Department.

Both Nob Hill and Rocky Branch have equipment and men trained for water rescues and other emergency situations, their chiefs said.

The Nob Hill department also receives calls for major wrecks along U.S. 412. Hull said his department has the same equipment and training as the neighboring Springdale Fire Department and can handle the wrecks in terms of both manpower and equipment.

“We help them more than they help us,” Hull said of Springdale.

A Nob Hill engine and crew will go into town to cover Springdale fire stations when the station is on another call under the mutual aid agreement between the two departments. The Nob Hill unit will stand ready to answer the next call for help in the zone.

A lot of volunteer firefighters work full time at the region’s larger fire departments and volunteer for the communities where they live.

“They are the true public servants,” Oliver said.

Oxford, the Round Mountain department volunteer, is one of four career firefighters working 72-hour shifts for the Farmington Fire Department. He is a captain who commands the shift, he said.

Oxford said he would fill some of his department’s volunteer hours, but state law prohibits first responders from volunteering in the same department where they are employed.

NOT FOR EVERYBODY

“Being a firefighter is the hardest, dirtiest, most exhausting thing that anybody can ever do,” Oliver said.

“The job involves a lot of dragging and carrying. It’s hard physical labor,” he said, adding some of the longtime, older volunteers can no longer do the job physically.

Oliver reported 75% to 80% of the calls Rocky Branch receives are medical calls. This can mean patching people up, pulling them out of wrecked cars or performing CPR, he said.

“But some people can’t do it,” Oliver said. “Some are overcome by emotions at emergency scenes. It’s not their fault. Everybody is not suited to be a firefighter.”

It’s not a job for everybody, but the small fire departments have a job for everybody, he said.

Rocky Branch has a volunteer with severe asthma, Oliver said.

“I’m not going to put him in an air pack and send him into a burning building,” Oliver said. “But some people have to be engineers. You need somebody to run the truck and pump the water.”

He said one lady handles only medical calls, and another volunteer works with the utility companies on the scene.

“It’s not just putting on bunker gear and doing heroic stuff with the hoses,” Oliver said. “It’s a lot of steps, and then we have to clean up the scene. When that pager goes off at 2 in the morning, you think it’s just not worth the $6.”

Rocky Branch has found a way to pay its firefighters and officers a bonus at the end of the year. They earn $6 for every incident they work, Oliver said.

Oxford noted many people no longer work in the city where they live and are unavailable for emergency calls during their work hours.

Hull said the community’s shutdown during the covid-19 pandemic affected that department’s volunteers. First, everybody was scared they’d get it, so they wouldn’t respond to calls, he said.

When the world reopened, people had shifted priorities — family time was more important, he said.

“And we’re still out of sync,” Hull said.

Last week Hull announced his retirement after 36 years in emergency services.

SOME TRAINING REQUIRED

Watts noted the state requires all firefighters to be certified.

Local residents wanting to be career firefighters or emergency medical technicians must receive certification through the Arkansas Fire Training Academy.

But the state also requires volunteer firefighters to complete three classes through the academy: an introduction to firefighting, personal protective equipment and wildland firefighting. These three also are part of the state certification.

The classes are presented by training officers in the departments.

“The classes take 12 to 16 hours of instruction, and next three Saturdays aren’t my own,” Watts said.

Beaver Lake Fire Department, also east of Rogers, has 2,000 households in its coverage area but can’t get people to even talk about being a volunteer, Oliver said.

He thinks the best way to recruit is to get current volunteers talking about their service.

“When there’s a new couple at church, I have a chat with them,” he said. “Most said they had never considered being a firefighter. Well, never say never.”