WPFD Firefighters were dispatched for an emergency patient extraction from a heavily wooded timber area recently.  Responders coordinated efforts with MEMS Ambulance, Baptist Med-flight, Arkansas Game and Fish Officers, Saline and Pulaski County Sheriff offices to access extremely remote area within timber property to mobilize and extract the patient to a hilltop landing zone for emergency medical airlift to a hospital.

West Pulaski Fire Department responds to all emergency situations in our fire district area.  At the time you dial 911 for emergency assistance,  all necessary local (and sometimes state agencies) will be summoned as needed to begin the response, no matter what the call may be.

Choose Read More to see some images of the wildland rescue>>>>>>>

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WPFD firefighters, with the help of LRFD  Rescue 2,  LRFD Engine 21, and MEMS worked to extricate a fallen climber from Shinall Mountain that  suffered a broken ankle after falling 30 feet from a cliff area.  See the story below reported by KATV.

We are excited about a newer vehicle under final construction at Station #2 (Kanis Road). A truck chassis donated by the Arkansas Forestry Commission is undergoing major changes to be re-purposed as a Fire Tanker truck that will bring thousands of gallons to our fire responses. This vehicle will be designated as our new Tanker #2. Check out the progress on this vehicle that we hope will be in-service within the next few weeks.

Click this link below to see additional pictures that are available at our gallery page for Tanker 2- Retrofit:

http://www.wpfirerescue.org/photo-galleries/apparatus/before-and-after/

At the West Pulaski Annual Christmas Dinner, held December 12th, we all took a small break from the training, maintenance, and fire hoses as our firefighters and their families were able to sit down to celebrate the holiday season.

WPFD had a lot of activity this year.  Running a large volunteer organization like ours with multiple facilities is a substantial task considering your entire workforce is unpaid.  We could not function without the tireless efforts of all of our dedicated firefighters that are compensated only with the satisfaction of serving the public need and responding for our neighbors and brother/sister firefighters. Additionally, we wanted to recognize some individuals that went above and beyond in service to our organization. See the awards presented below. (more pictures will be posted later)

We truly hope for less emergency calls in the new year, but assure you we will be ready should you need us.  Best wishes to you and your loved ones from the WPFD family.

Department Firefighter of the Decade

Department Firefighter of the Year

Station Firefighters of the Year

WPFD was dispatched to a flooding situation on December 26, 2009 due to a levee break up stream from ponds and creeks that flow through drainage at an intersection of Lawson and County Line roads at the Pulaski and Saline County lines.  An 8-10 foot wall of water washed a passing car off the road without injury, but temporarily trapped the driver in the vehicle.

Even though the torrential rains had stopped for a few days before the incident, a series of levees had become rain saturated from constant water flowing into and over the retaining walls of 4 ponds in the area. As one pond broke, it sent a huge amount of water to the next in the series of ponds creating a chain reaction downstream to other water reservoirs.

Trees and power lines were down as secondary downstream levees threatened to break. West Pulaski Fire/Rescue crews were dispatch to various surrounding areas to protect property owners and evacuate danger areas until road and bridge crews from Pulaski and Saline County could assess the damage with Entergy and First Electric power crews.  No major injuries were sustained but at least one home and a few vehicles were damaged in the incidents initial levee break.  More information about this incident can be found at the following new sites as well as an interview with Chief Ronnie Wheeler.

http://www.bentoncourier.com/content/view/199559/1/

http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Levee-breaks-near-County-Line-Rd/lSX_aOsyA0OmwepSyEKGxQ.cspx

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=96615&catid=2

IF WE CAN’T FIND YOU QUICKLY, THEN WE CAN’T HELP YOU QUICKLY

What if someone in your home calls 911 for HELP!

Fire Department, Police and an Ambulance will respond, but need your assistance to find you faster!

What if:

• The weather conditions are bad and visibility is poor?
• You have let bushes, vines or weeds grow to hide the numbers?
• You have placed your numbers too low on the post and they have been covered by weeds?
• You have placed brass address numbers on your post which do not contrast with the background color and can’t be easily seen?
• You placed address numbers on the mailbox, but numbers are covered when flag is pulled down?
• You have not posted your 911 number by your driveway?
• Your address numbers on mailbox are small, obstructed and/or non-reflective?

PLEASE TAKE A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO ENSURE YOUR ADDRESS NUMBERS ARE PROPERLY POSTED AT YOUR HOME!

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West Pulaski Fire Department would like you to join us in supporting the efforts of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  NCMEC, with the U. S. Department of Justice and many wireless telephone carriers,  has developed a program for free wireless AMBER Alert Notifications to your wireless phone.  Please visit the link below to the organization’s website and sign-up today for a free text message notification when an AMBER Alert is issued in your local area.  Your participation will help find our nations children that are missing or abducted.  Someone’s child needs your help!

Sign up TODAY at www.wirelessamberalerts.org

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If you or someone you love needs emergency help, you would probably want help to get there as fast as possible. The best way to assist someone in need to receive emergency help is to Move to the Right for Sirens & Lights!

Some people might panic when an emergency vehicle approaches.  Please yield to emergency vehicles by pulling over (in a safe place) or stopping to allow emergency vehicles to safely negotiate  around you. Failure to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle delays in emergency responses by ambulances, fire engines and fire trucks arriving at the scene of an emergency.

Firefighters with WPFD are volunteers that respond from their home areas in a moments notice.  We only use our flashing lights when dispatched to an emergency scene and the situation is critical. You are asked to allow us to pass you SAFELY when driving marked fire vehicles and personnal vehicles that display flashing emergency RED lighting and/or sirens.  Sometimes we go directly to the emergency scene (if close by) or directly to our local stations to retrieve emergency vehicles. Your help is appreciated to help us get where we are needed in a quick and safe manner. 

Firefighters are careful to avoid vehicle collisions by driving slowly when traveling against traffic, or coming to a complete stop at intersections. However, the cooperation of ALL vehicles on the roadway is essential.

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WPFD visited the 2009 Fire Show on October 31, 2009 that was presented by the Arkansas Forestry Commission in Greenbrier, Ark.   Firefighters representing departments from all over the state of Arkansas had the opportunity to see fire technology and equipment on display from vendors and departments that implement the tools we use.  WPFD took our Tanker #1 truck to be displayed. Demonstrations were also provided by AIR-EVAC (emergency medical helicopter transport),  chainsaw training,  and more.

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WPFD has been blessed by generosity from community support. We were recently asked if there was anything specific that we needed for any of our stations to help make our jobs a little easier.  We have 4 stations spread out across our large district. Usually, if we need one of ANYTHING, we need FOUR of them to equip each station.  So, we developed a list of a few donation items that we would love to receive, if anyone were so inclined to help us out.  Please let us know if you have any items on this list you would like to contribute. Thank you!

Items:  (3) Three Digital Cameras-   We need  3 more cameras to help us document fire scenes and collisions for our records.

Items: (4) Handheld Map-Based Global Positioning System (GPS) Devices. We don’t currently have any GPS units.  A few of our folks have personal devices, but we dont have dedicated devices on our rescue vehicles. These will be used for Search and Rescue calls as well as providing better coordinates for helicopter medical evacuation needs.

Items: (3)Chest  or Upright Freezers. Do you have a good working chest or upright freezer that you don’t use anymore? We have a need to store plenty of bagged ice for ice-chests/chilled water when we fight fires (anytime of year).  If you have a good working chest or upright freezer (large or small) that you would consider donating to our department, let us know. We will come pick it up for free if we can use it! (some size restrictions apply depending on storage  and use space)

Contact Lt. Jason Rogers at 501-519-2745 or email jmrogers411@aol.com if you have questions or wish to donate. Thanks!

WPFD worked to assist Crystal Fire Department with an active structure fire on Col. Glenn Road on Monday, Oct. 27, 2009.  Equipment and manpower were needed from many West Pulaski stations and Alexander Fire Department. The structure was considered a total loss, however, all occupants escaped without injury.

From Arkansas Democrat-Gazette dated 10/28/09:

The Red Cross of Greater Arkansas is helping a father and son after a fire Tuesday afternoon destroyed their home west of Little Rock in Pulaski County, sheriff’s office spokesman John Rehrauer said.

About 2 p.m., a fire broke out at the home at 13816 Colonel Glenn Road while John Cate was inside, Rehrauer said. He was able to get out of the house safely and attempted to put the flames out, but fire engulfed the home, Rehrauer said.

Phillip Cate, who also lives at the address, was not home at the time, Rehrauer said.

Fire crews from the West Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department, the Crystal Fire Department and the Alexander Fire Department eventually extinguished the blaze, but the home was “totally destroyed,” Rehrauer said.

No one was injured, Rehrauer said.

The Red Cross is helping the family with housing andbasic necessities.

“We are putting them up for a couple of nights in a hotel and have given them a debit card for emergency purchases,”Red Cross spokesman Brigette Williams said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Rehrauer said.

Follow the link below to read the story from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/oct/28/father-son-without-home-after-fire-20091028/

West Pulaski Fire Department Urges  Residents to “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned.”

Once a child touches a hot stove, as the cliché goes—he learns his lesson, stay away from a hot stove. This cliché does not take into account the pain and suffering from burns and burns should not be part of the learning process.

That’s why WPFD is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for Fire Prevention Week 2009 – October 4-10 – to urge our residents to “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned.” This year’s campaign focuses on ways to keep homes fire safe and prevent painful burns. Additionally, fire safety educators will be teaching our local school age children how to plan and practice escape from a home in case a fire occurs.

Demonstrations this week are being made at Baker Elementary, Lawson Elementary,  Robinson Elementary, and local daycare facilities to show the importance of awareness, planning, and safety.  Choose the  ”More” tab to see pictures of our presentation events and read more.

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West Pulaski Fire Department held its annual ‘All You Can Eat’ Chicken and Fish Dinner on Saturday, September 26th, 2009. We had a GREAT turnout and it was fantastic to see our friends and neighbors again this year for our annual dinner.  Thank you to everyone that helped sponsor and participate in our event that helps our department so much each year!

Select the “Read More” link to see pictures of our event ————————–>>> Read more »

A festival called ‘Ferndale POP’ (Property Owners Party) was held on Saturday, September 26th, 2009. Our Station #2 folks were glad to participate in the first annual event to bring friends and neighbors together for fun and festivities at the intersections of Kanis and Ferndale Cut-off. Activities included the Ferndale Crime Watch sign-up, Pulaski Sheriff Dept Deputies-SWAT Team-Patrol Boat, Vendors, Silent Auction, WPFD and more.

The day started off with a parade of police cars, fire trucks, horses, ATV’s and more. Following the parade through ‘Downtown Ferndale’, everyone got a chance to talk with our departments firefighters from Station #2, look over Rescue 2 and Engine 2, and see some demonstrations of our tools.

Choose the ‘Read More’ link to see more pictures of the event———->>

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Firefighters World held at Pinnacle State Park on Saturday, August 15, 2009. Chief Ronnie Wheeler and Station #3 personnel attended a presentation with Arkansas State Parks Interpreter James Mullins.  We gave out Fire Prevention and Safety/Fire Education coloring books and brochures to 80+ children and 70 adults.   Also sprayed water on anyone (lots of children) who wanted to be cooled off.