Dallas shares FCFD’s goals for new year

Changes are anticipated with the Forrest City Fire Department this year.

Reflecting on the agency’s work last year, FCFD Fire Chief Shane Dallas said department saw another increase in its call volume last year compared to 2020.

"Last year was a very productive year for the fire department," said Dallas. "We were constantly dealing with Covid, which we are still dealing with, but Covid can't be the only thing that we focus on. We still have to take care of every other emergency that comes in. We finished the year with 2,330 calls for the year in 2021, which is more calls than we had in 2020. Every year has been more than last year. The majority of the calls were medical calls, and 221 of them were fires.

“Last year was good for us. The biggest thing we can say is thank you to the citizens of Forrest City for trusting us with this bond money,” continued Dallas. “We think we have been good stewards of those funds thus far. In 2021, we were able to award a bid for a new tender, which is a water hauler. We call it a tender pumper. It will replace a 1988 model that we are currently using that was an old military truck. It is harder and harder to find parts for it and so we hope to be getting the new one by April of 2023. We also were able to apply for and receive $120,477.17 in grants for the fire department, that allowed us to replace aging equipment and purchase new equipment like multi-gas detectors.

Dallas said that each year, the agency sets high goals to move forward as far as possible during the year.

"Last year, we also hired some new firefighters," said Dallas. "We sent two new firefighters to rookie school in Camden for seven weeks and both passed. We sent three to EMT school where one passed, one is testing and one is having to retest. That stuff is not a gimme. You have to know what you are doing and how to apply book skills through your hands. We work medical calls multiple times a day.

“Last year, we awarded two different life-saving medals to two firemen and we had three pre-hospital deliveries where we helped deliver three babies before they got into the ambulance. We also used some grants that allowed us to put in ADA compliant sidewalks, replace the front concrete pad at the station one and replace our heating units. This building is 46 years old and it is a good, solid building, so we are just doing preemptive maintenance. Last year was very successful for the fire department. We have come a long way. We set high goals each year, hoping to attain them, but if we don't, we are still a lot

(Continued from Page 1) further than we were in January."

According to Dallas, the FCFD plans to expand each shift by adding another fireman, going from a six-man crew to a sevenman crew.

"There are a lot of things changing in 2022," said Dallas. "We are extremely proud to have a very supportive government agency helping to lead us and the city. We will be hiring a few new firefighters. One is a new hire and the other is due to personnel changes. Right now, we are taking applications for people who want to be a firefighter. We are looking for good applicants who would be good, solid firefighters to help protect our community. Being a fireman requires going through a physical agility test and having a clean background. Once we get fully staffed, we are going to have seven firefighters on a shift at all times in Forrest City. That will be the first time that we have ever had staffing of that nature, but we are also exponentially increasing our call volume."

Dallas said the titles of ranks within the agency are also changing, effectively removing the rank of lieutenant.

"We are going to have a supervisor, called a battalion chief, who supervises both houses,” said Dallas. “Their job is to make sure staffing is supervised at both houses, respond to scenes and evaluate them to decide how to handle them. The battalion chief is our most senior officer here. This is a transition to the way that departments larger than us operate. When you are running from one station you can run things a little differently, but when you run from two or more stations you have people coming from different directions and you are separated so you have to tweak a few things. We are making this change to be able to operate a little better. Our current captains will now be battalion chiefs, and current lieutenants will now be captains. These are just title changes."

According to Dallas, training remains at the top of the list, as competent has been selected as the department's word of the year.

"We are looking to increase our training level this year,” said Dallas. "Each year, Mayor (Cedric) Williams asks every department in the city for a word of the year to describe what you are trying to resonate or achieve for the year,” said Dallas. “We want to be a competent department in every aspect of what we do, whether it's fire, rescue, extrication, hazmat, medical or whatever it is. When the public calls the fire department, they expect people to show up who know what to do, and we are going to continue to train on that. This is always a challenge because we are always bringing in new people, and it feels like we are always taking on new missions. The definition of competent is having the necessary ability, knowledge or skill to do something successfully. We are looking to send more guys to EMT school, hazmat school and our new guys go down to Camden for seven or eight weeks of schooling at the Fire Academy. My whole career has been focused on training. I have always been big in training and I want to really influence that on our personnel. You never know everything and nobody up here knows everything. There is always something that we can learn new or refresh every day."

Dallas said a new department within the FCFD has been created called the Community Risk Reduction Department, led by Division Chief Jeremy Sharp.

"Fire Marshal Jeremy Sharp is going to be leading this new department as division chief. Underneath him is Captain Chris Ray who will be leading our building inspection program, which was previously known as code enforcement,” said Dallas. “I have talked to other fire departments that use this model and it is the more progressive model. Chief Sharp has always been the backup for the code enforcement position anyway, but now he is training the new building inspector."

According to Dallas, with all of the changes within the agency, the department is excited to see where they might be at the end of this year.

"We are just really excited about where we are going to be at the end of 2022," said Dallas. "We are charting some areas that the FCFD has never been before. We are making a lot of changes. We are excited to see where it takes us and how it make us better when we go out to respond to help our citizens."