Fire Chief Wassman hired full time
The Pea Ridge Fire Department was established in 1951 by several area residents including Ralph Miller, Hugh Webb Sr., Fred McKinney, Wilson Webb, Roy Taylor, Roy Broadhurst, Floyd Wilson and Scott Nichols. The original truck was a 1940s Dodge fire truck. The original fire station was the little white concrete block building, just large enough to hold the truck itself, which still stands in the north block of today’s North Curtis Avenue downtown. Source: Pea Ridge Historical Society
For the first time in its 70-year history, the Pea Ridge Fire Department has a full-time chief.
Jack Wassman was hired by Mayor Jackie Crabtree recently and put on the payroll. Crabtree said his salary is in the 2021 budget.
Wassman, appointed chief of the volunteer department by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council July 16, 2019, said the change to full time won’t change much of what he does as he spends about 50 hours a week at the station.
“I’m excited to be here and excited for the opportunity,” Wassman said Monday. “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
In addition to Wassman, Stephanie Henson was hired as administrative assistant. Her hiring was approved last month by the City Council. Henson worked parttime this past year with medical billing.
“She started here about a year ago for medical billing and blew it out of the water. She far exceeded our expectations with her knowledge,” Wassman said. “There’s a lot more that goes into running a Fire Department that most people don’t realize.”
“With her diligence and knowledge, we’ve increased the income
potential of the department,” Wassman said, explaining that Henson has increased the collection of income for the department, thereby helping fund the salaries.
Wassman, who retired in November from the Rogers Fire Department where he had served for more than 25 years, has served on the Pea Ridge Department for nine years. He said working full time for Rogers and serving as chief at Pea Ridge resulted in him working about 110 hours a week. Now that he retired from Rogers, he is home every night, something he hasn’t been able to do in 26 years, he said.
A native of Avoca, Wassman began firefighting as a volunteer with the Avoca Fire Department. Over the years, he has taken firefighter and emergency medical training classes, earned an associate’s degree in fire science, completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, graduated from the executive fire officer program, completed hundreds of hours in certification in firefighting, and completed paramedic training.
For the past year and a half, Wassman has been working to make the department a combination department with paid staff to man the station 24 hours a day and still use volunteers. There are 25 volunteers on the roster.
Currently, there are two full-time emergency personnel manning the station 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Those positions are part-time and are filled by paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who work full time at other departments. Those positions are required to manage an advanced life support ambulance.
There are two firefighters who work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Wassman presented a request to the City Council in the summer of 2020 to apply for grant from Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) program.
The SAFER grant is a federal grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency that allows volunteer fire departments to transition from completely volunteer to combination or full-time departments.
Pea Ridge did not receive the grant, but Wassman said he plans to apply for it again.
“Our number one goal is getting the department to a full-time status,” Wassman said, explaining that he is reviewing policies, seeking grants and doing whatever he can to get the department to a full-time status. “A lot has to do with training and we’re continuously looking at the training level and increasing that all the time.”
The department is already paying firefighters, EMTs and paramedics 365 days a year. “The only thing missing is benefits,” Wassman said.