West Pulaski Fire Department has spent the past several years working to improve the current fire protection classification assigned by the Insurance Services Office. This fire protection ‘rating’ can affect the insurance rates for property owners that buy insurance from companies that utilize the ISO classification. Strong improvements we have made to our response vehicles, equipment, search training, and best utilization of water resources in our area have definitely helped us IMPROVE the overall fire protection classification of our fire district. Fire pumpers, tools and improved water tankers have really helped ensure we have needed equipment to manage fire suppression. We are also pleased to have gained ISO points during the recent evaluation to help improve our fire protection rating. Recently expanded water districts have also improved available water supply for firefighting by bringing fire hydrants to areas that were almost entirely dependent on water from tanker vehicles. This new rating came very close to the next lower score, which we will continue to strive to obtain. WPFD is always working to improve our capabilities and gain credit for the water upgrades made to our service area. Even though we have made great strides to improve our capabilities, the Insurance Services Office that does the fire classification ratings for the insurance industry, has also made their standards for fire suppression capabilities more difficult. The means the ISO evaluation reinforced the importance placed on a property location and its proximity to its nearest fire station AND to an adequate water source, whether it is a pressurized hydrant or a dry hydrant that can siphon from a nearby pond. Because of the increased ISO standards, some residents will notice your rating will change from a Class 9 to a Class 10 if you are further than 5 road miles from a fire station, regardless of a close water supply. WPFD will now be associated with a Fire Protection Class 5/6. This split rating is dependent on the location of your property and criteria that applies based on Insurance Service Office requirements.

• Class 5 – For property owners that live within 5 road miles of a WPFD fire station AND are located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant (pressurized or non-pressurized/dry hydrant)
• Class 6 – For property owners that live within 5 road miles of a WPFD fire station AND are located greater than 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant (pressurized or non-pressurized/dry hydrant)
• Class 10– For property owners that live greater than 5 road miles of a WPFD fire station the ISO assigns a fire protection class of 10.

WPFD encourages you to contact your insurance provider or the Insurance Services Office about how this rating change affects you. To learn more about the ISO PPC program, visit their website at http://www.iso.com/faq/ISO-FAQ/The-Public-Protection-Classification-PPC-Program.html

Firefighter Dale White retired this year from West Pulaski Fire Department after 25 years of volunteer service to his community. Dale has seen much growth and many changes in the department since he joined up in 1987. He probably has a lot more response runs than he can recall. Dale served the length of his time with us at Station #2, try in the Ferndale area, tadalafil  as a firefighter and in various officer positions, including Assistant Chief. He responded frequently to other station areas to since he works in Ferndale as a custom cabinet builder. He was usually around to respond in the daytime when other volunteers worked out the area. We want to say thank you to Dale for the many years of service to our department and the community. If you see Dale around with “too much free time”, please tell him “Thank You” answering so many calls for help.

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SMART911 is a free enhanced 911 emergency calling program brought to you from the State of Arkansas that is being launched incrementally over the next few months. If you have an emergency, ampoule you will still need to dial 911 to reach an emergency operator; howev-er, advice you now have the opportunity safely store helpful information like driving directions to your home, description of your house, medical conditions, and other special circumstances that can be delivered automatically to responders if you need to call for help. So don’t de-lay in learning about how this new program will work to protect you and your family. Build-ing your enhanced 911 profile will help emergency responders, like West Pulaski Fire De-partment, ambulance services and sheriff deputies find you quicker in an emergency and serve you better. Begin creating your free user profile at www.smart911.com so your crit-ical information can be associated with the home and wireless phone numbers your family uses. WPFD will update you on our website at wpfirerescue.org and our facebook page as the services are rolled out to our fire district areas in the coming months. You can begin to benefit right now with a Smart911 profile should you have to dial 911 while in an area that has already launched their SMART911 Systems, like Searcy, Benton, North Little Rock. All of the information used for this program is stored in a safe and secure manner where it is only visible to emergency personnel for a very short time when you make an 911 call. Please do not wait to create your safety profile. Help first responders help you faster in an emergency situation. Visit www.smart911.com now to learn more. It might safe your life or the life of a love one. Please don’t delay. Learn more today at www.smart911.com Check out these links below:

Learn More About SMART911

Register for SMART911

For the past ten years, physician the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas has hosted the free, stomach weeklong residential, Rapid Response Team Camp certifying more than 400 Arkansas high school students, rising 8^th-11^th grade, in First Aid/CPR/AED courses plus disaster preparedness and emergency response.

Pictures from the event at this link : http://www.wpfirerescue.org/2012-events/2012-american-red-cross-disaster-preparedness-training/