JULIE STEWART
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
LAKEVIEW -- A small volunteer fire department
in northern Arkansas has achieved a fire insurance rating that would make
many departments nationwide burn with envy.
In February,
the Grover Township Fire District's fire insurance rating is to drop from
a Class 7 to a Class 4. The classification system, administered nationally
by the Insurance Services Office for the insurance industry, is based on a
scale of 1-10, with 1 the best.
Lower ratings mean lower
fire insurance premiums and better fire protection.
For a
rural fire district to receive a Class 4 rating "is unheard of here in
Arkansas, and it's very rare across the nation," said Charles Gangluff,
program manager for the state's Rural Fire Protection Program.
For instance, Rogers -- with paid firefighters and hydrants all
around town -- also has a Class 4 rating, Gangluff said. The lowest in
Arkansas is a Class 2, held only by Little Rock and North Little Rock, he
said.
Nationally, there are just a handful of Class 1
cities.
But officials believe many fire departments in
Arkansas are on the verge of achieving lower ratings for the communities
they serve. There are about 1,100 fire departments in Arkansas, and 85
percent are volunteer. Most of Arkansas's rural departments have Class 7
to Class 9 Insurance Services Office ratings.
"It
definitely can be done," said Grover Township Fire Chief Jim Sierzchula,
who grew up in a family of Chicago-area firefighters. "But don't do it
just for ISO. Do it to fight fires."
Why is the 19
square-mile Grover Township district in western Baxter County leading the
way? Based at the tiny city of Lakeview, west of Mountain Home, it serves
only about 2,100 residents.
Experts point to several
factors, including:
Community support, both financial and emotional. "Our people out here
understand" and open their hearts and pocketbooks, Sierzchula
said.
Government support. "They have a tremendous amount of support from their
local government, and that will help a fire department as much as
anything," said Ethany Perkins, president of the Arkansas Rural and
Volunteer Firefighters Association.
Effective shuttling of water from Bull Shoals Lake, the White River and
other sources to the scene of a fire. "They have fine-tuned the art of
water shuttle," Gangluff said.
Surrounding fire departments that automatically respond to structure fires
in the Grover Township district, a practice called automatic
aid.
"Grover Township wouldn't be able to achieve this if
they had to do it on their own," Gangluff said.
The
community support comes not only through property taxes but also through
donations from businesses and individuals, Sierzchula said. The fire
department has an extremely active auxiliary that raises money.
Local residents are proud of their "bumble bees," a nickname
inspired by the department's yellow fire trucks.
"Go,
bees!" spectators cheered as the Grover Township fire truck, sirens
wailing, passed by in this year's Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce
Christmas Parade.
Government assistance includes Baxter
County's enhanced 911 system, which immediately dispatches fire calls and
automatic aid calls to surrounding departments. The county unit of the
state Department of Emergency Management operates a training facility for
fire departments in the county.
County Judge Joe
Bodenhamer and emergency management director Charles Newton also recognize
the value of moral support and recognition of fire department
achievements, Perkins said.
For volunteer firefighters,
"a little pat on the back goes a long way," she said.
"They're not getting paid for this. If they have support from people, some
way of saying, 'Boy, you're doing a really great job,' that's payment for
them," Perkins said.
Sierzchula said the 19-member fire
department spent four years preparing for Insurance Services Office
inspectors. Departments must present extensive documentation on department
training and equipment, plus in-depth analysis on how it would fight fires
in all commercial structures in the district.
Water
availability can be the biggest challenge, though.
"My
feeling is that the reason we were able to achieve [the Class 4 rating] is
the way our water is worked out," Sierzchula said.
Grover
Township can pump water into its tanker trucks at access points along Bull
Shoals Lake, the White River and private ponds. The water is shuttled to
the fire scene and dumped into a portable "drop tank" that resembles an
above-ground swimming pool. Firefighters use water from the drop tank,
which is constantly replenished by tanker trucks, to fight the
fire.
"We've gone from 'Where in the world are we going
to get this water?' to 'We dare these buildings to burn,' " Sierzchula
said.
Grover Township also has automatic aid agreements
with the Bull Shoals and Midway volunteer fire departments.
Perkins predicted more departments in Arkansas will achieve lower
Insurance Services Office ratings in the near future.
"Most have been improving and making changes," she said, but they asked
for updated evaluations. Departments are realizing that a lower rating
means significant reductions in fire insurance premiums in their
districts.
She said Gangluff's office has done much to
guide departments toward success through education and support
programs.
Ganglulff "has really gotten the word out so
well and given the fire departments tools for success," she
said.
Sierzchula noted that most fire departments in
Arkansas are relatively young. Some of the oldest volunteer departments
were established only 20 years ago, he said.
Sierzchula
is a third-generation firefighter from LeMont, Ill. His father and
grandfather also served on the Lemont Fire Department, which is 130 years
and has been a paid department for the past nine years.
"But our ISO rating is below theirs," he said with a wink, but quickly
chastised himself for being "too cocksure."
"You don't
want to do that. Fire can get you anytime."