Pea Ridge VFD
Chief Frank S. Rizzio Jr.
Pea Ridge Fire Dept.
227a Pickens St.
Pea Ridge AR. 72751
The
Pea Ridge Volunteer Fire Department has proudly served the citizens of Benton County
Arkansas for 52 years. With a primary response area of over 35 square miles,
and automatic/mutual-aid agreements with six different Departments (two
combination, four all volunteer) in an additional 60 square mile area the Pea
Ridge Volunteer Fire Department is considered to be one of the most progressive
Fire departments in the county. The Department roster is kept full due to the
great sense of duty and service to community by its members. With the
expotential amount of residential growth and layout of an industrial base
taking place in the City of Pea Ridge, our community has taken a long term view
of planning for the future. Five years ago a fund was established to eventually
provide basic, safe response capabilities by purchasing an NFPA compliant
pumper and tanker that would meet the future needs of our area, as well as
provide the needed capacity to lower the City and county areas ISO rating.
Several thousand dollars have been saved for this project, and we've almost
reached the 1/4 mark of being able to outright purchase these vehicles. It will
take ten more years to complete this project in the current method of
collecting donations and holding Department fundraisers.
Development
in the City of Pea Ridge and surrounding area is taking off at a rapid pace.
Major development on the southern edge of our city consisting of 600 exclusive
3500 square foot or larger homes coupled with the beginnings of an industrial
district on the northern reaches of the city, a new High School to accommodate
a large number of children in our school system and the recent expansion of an
ambulatory care retirement facility in our city has put us in great need to
accelerate the basic firefighting vehicle improvement program. The FIRE act
grant program sponsored by FEMA provides an opportunity for the Pea Ridge
Volunteer Fire Department to accelerate this program and complete it in one
year vs. ten additional years.
A
committee was formed consisting of Fire Department personel and concerned
citizens to evaluate manufacturers products in the line of firefighting pumper
apparatus. After much study and deliberation, the LEECO Fire Equipment company
of
Subsequently the requested
amount of funding will purchase this vehicle with a 10% match by the Pea Ridge
Volunteer Fire Department basic firefighting vehicle improvement fund.
If
this request is granted, it will enable our Fire Department to also accelerate
the purchase of the needed
tanker apparatus that would
even further enhance our assistance to our outside protected areas and service
to our
mutual/ auto-aid agreements,
and therefore could save millions of dollars in property damage for years to
come. In the past eight months, our primary response pumper apparatus, which is
greater than 26 years old, and has over 50,000 miles logged, has lost pressure
to the nozzle three times during initial offensive interior firefighting
operations due to plumbing and mechanical problems that have surfaced during
these operations. We've fixed those problems... but what's next. Please help us
in this effort to provide basic safety and firefighting efficiency to our
firefighters and citizens.